The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Word existence comes from the Latin root “ex” out, and sistere from stare, which means to stand (rise up). Existentialism literally means pertaining to existence or in logic, predicating existence. Philosophically existentialism applies to a vision of the condition and existence or lack of one, with God. According to Kierkegaard, Christian existentialism is all meaning and serenity which comes through one’s relationship with God by putting our selves in his hands and finding freedom from tensions and discontent and also praying to him in order to be bless and find peace within our selves. Jean Paul is the hierophant of modern atheistic existentialism and believes that fate is determined by human action, meaning that the individual creates whatever meaning he/she gets. Sartre’s vision of human existence is that we’re born into a kind of mud and it’s our decision weather to remain in this mud or rise out of it and move on. Albert Camus’ philosophy of the absurd is similar to Jean-Paul Sartre’s vision of human existence because he is being punished by the Gods to keep pushing a rock up to the very top of a heel until it falls back down. He had to do it over and over again for the rest of his life and by constantly doing this he became stronger that all the Gods. In the end of the novel, The Stranger, By Albert Camus, Meursault distinguishes himself from Salamano and Sintes by becoming conscious of the struggles he’s going through. He finally accepts that in the end his whole life has come to nothing. While on the other hand Salamano and Sintes remain in the “Mud”.

In chapter three one of Meursault’s neighbors, old Salamano who lives alone with his dog. The dog gets beaten and referred to as “Filthy, Stinking Bastard”. A...

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... what’s the meaning or reason to do things? Values are irrelevant to this worldview, and without them there seems to be no meaning or purpose to anything we do. From this perspective, all our actions, desires, and reasons seem absurd and pointless. The feeling of absurdity is closely connected to the feeling that life is meaningless and is not worth living. Once we have acknowledged the validity of the perspective of a world without values, of a life without meaning or purpose, there is no turning back. We must either remain stuck in the mud forever like Sintes and Salamano or pull ourselves out of the burden.

Bibliography:

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus

New York: Penguin Books, 1960.

Camus, Albert. The Stranger, Translation: Mathew word.

New York: Random House, 1988.

Cuddan, A.J. The Dictionary of literacy Terms.

New York: Penguin Books, 1991.