...Albert Camus’s 1942 novel The Stranger deals with a myriad of pressing questions. Although The Stranger is relatively short, topics such as absurdism, mortality, and ethical decision-making are littered throughout. In addition, as is the case with great works of literature, The Stranger does not provide answers, but rather, opens the door for interpretation, discussion, and conclusions. Why does the protagonist of the novel, Meursault, feel a lack of remorse over his mother’s death? Why did Meursault choose to shoot and kill “the Arab” after attempting to convince his neighbor Raymond not to shoot? Lastly, if what Meursault believes is true, that the world and human existence has no rational purpose or higher meaning, then what is the reason...
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...In Albert Camus' The Stranger the Meursault is clearly disillusioned of life and two examples of this disillusionment occurred in the instances of his mother's death and an offer to be transferred to another work environment. The novel The Stranger by Albert Camus portrays how Meursault is disillusioned about things that seem to be the most normal basic human concepts of understanding such as his mothers death. With his mother's death, he seemed indifferent at the loss of her life in every way possible. He was so uninterested in her funeral that he remarked the following: "...I can be there for the vigil and come back tomorrow night" (Camus 3). His mother appeared to slow him down. As if he felt he had better things to do. He claimed he never went to visit her in the nursing home because she enjoyed it too much. Nonetheless, he admitted, that the visit "took up my Sunday -- not to mention the trouble of getting to the bus, buying tickets, and spending two hours traveling" (Camus 5). This shows the true lack of care in his mothers death. To further define his insensitivity, Meursault shed not even one tear in this part of the novel; moreover, he expressed no form of sorrow whatsoever. Secondly, Meursault's attitude and reaction toward an offer to be relocated to a Parisian location was a monumental indicator of his insensitivity. One would expect him to accept or decline the offer graciously and respectfully. Meursault proved, again, to be unpredictable when he states, in...
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...AP English The Stranger Novak (Practice AP samples) THE THESIS PARAGRAPH: • Society is like its own little exclusive club. If an individual fits the criteria, then that person is in; otherwise, an “unwanted” sign is put up, and the outcast is pushed aside. Through books and novels, alienation has revealed the true values of society by using a character’s status as an outcast to prove how un-adaptable cultures are. In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault’s creed is why is he shunned and not accepted by society. (What is that creed? What does society value?) • The common values of a society do not necessarily dictate how all its citizens will act. In The Stranger, Camus creates a society in Northern Africa where people live according to both their material and emotional needs. Meursault, however, illustrates a point of view that seems devoid of emotional need. Thus, he does not live in accord with the virtues of the same society that gives him his life and possessions. His decision to kill a man—a choice devoid of sufficient reason—is the pivotal point between his acceptance within his society and the malice he faces for violating the human right to life. Ultimately, Camus shows how the popular resentment of this murder is based on society’s ideals of justice, love, and a life of purpose—all virtues that Meursault does not have. (Very nice but mention Camus’s first name and introduce Meursault as a character.) THE THESIS STATEMENT: ...
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...Finding Joy in Albert Camus’ The Stranger: A Different Perspective Existentialism is often defined as a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes a few main points, such as the freedom to choose and how the choices you make should be made without the assistance of another person or standard. From the existentialist point of view, you must accept the risk and responsibility of your choices and follow the act and result to wherever it takes the individual. Someone that is put in a certain situation understands it far more than someone looking in on that same situation; one commonly used situation that appears often in existentialist works is that of death. The existentialist should learn to accept death when the time has to come and should know that the most important questions in life are simply inaccessible to reason or science. Acting on your own experiences is essential in arriving at the truth and "man is condemned to be free” (Sartre). As a result of the diversity associated with this term it is impossible to define precisely. As is evident through the root of the word, exist, there is an emphasis on fixed individual existence and freedom of choice. Certain aspects of existentialism are shown in Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Existentialists attempt to direct our attention to ourselves as individuals. They force us to think about our relation to such topics as the existence...
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...The Stranger, by Albert Camus, depicts a story about a young man named Meursault whose mother has just died. After his mother dies, he kills an Arab man senselessly so he is put on trial. Throughout the story of his trial, Meursault’s mindset is explored. In Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger, Meursault displays the theme of alienation. The main character isolates himself emotionally, from society, his friends and his significant other, Marie. Meursault does not give an explanation as to why he detaches himself from the world. However, the nonexistence of his father and detachment with his mother are key factors that correlate to his need to alienate himself. The absence of Meursault’s father plays into the one of the reasons why Meursault...
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...The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays his existential theme of the absurdity of the universe through the main character, Monsieur Meursault’s actions and his apparent lack of all human emotion. However, in this novel the reader will find that Meursault is oblivious to the absurd that Camus has falsified, but nonetheless Meursault is affected by the absurd. Camus explores this theme in order to explicate the importance of certain existential realities throughout his novel. For example, Meursault is always seeking logic in an illogical world; in addition, he sees no meaning in any of his interactions or relationships with the...
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...L’Étranger the original name of the book “The Stranger” explores the French novelist, Albert Camus, own philosophy on the absurdity of life. In other words, an absurd word is devoid of rational meaning. The protagonist, Meursault, is created, as an existentialist character showing us how Camus see’s the world, even if he later swore he wasn’t an existentialist. The themes of the novel are mostly based on the everyday life such as religion, the natural world, isolation, mortality, and the absurd life we live on. This plot is aligned with many events that occur by the cause of Meursault’s character to pursue the nonsensical things. The conclusion of this book is based on the fact that the world’s absurdity leads us to find out that there is no...
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...The Stranger written by Albert Camus, poses main character, Meursault as an individual whose persona and attitude go against society's norms, which impact how he is viewed from other characters. His view of living an existential life, portraying limited emotions based on his actions, and his overall personality of his interactions add on to his character, causing him to act in a way that readers and society fits unredeemable. Camus' use of narrator point of view and vivid imagery emphasize how Meursault as a person unfolds, giving readers a glimpse into the mind of a person who has a passive internal thinking process and how it can heavily effect the outside world. This comes to portray how societal standards can influence how one reacts to...
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...Major Themes and Symbols by Scott Charles This chapter is a free excerpt from Quicklet on Albert Camus' The Stranger. * * There are five main themes in The Stranger: 1. Alienation. Camus establishes Meursault as an outsider early on in the narrative. The first few pages of the book show Meursault at his mother’s funeral. Meursault watches people and events with no particular connection -- he is distant, feels out of place, feels nervous as he thinks people are staring at him. He does not exhibit any particular sadness at his mother’s death. As the story develops we notice how he comprehends facts but not feelings. He spends more time fixated on trivial physical characteristics than he does on emotional content. He is polite, and passive, but lacks empathy. He is like this throughout the narrative; his character doesn’t really evolve. 2. Time and circumstance. Camus uses some subtle literary tricks to get the reader to imagine that random events strung together are fateful. Meursault’s mother dies, he sees a movie with his girlfriend, he’s walking up a flight of stairs and a neighbor invites him to dinner, a man’s dog goes missing. In between unrelated events like these Camus weaves a simple story about a man who makes the fatal mistake of getting involved with a small-time gangster and ends up murdering someone almost by accident. Camus’ narrative brings the random events full circle as Meursault is convicted for being cold-hearted. In other...
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...In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the topic of religion comes up many times. In Part Two, it plays a major role in determining Meursault's outcome. Religion plays the role of a guide in this novel. Many characters who believe in God refer to him as a savior for any sins. The first example of a religious person is the magistrate. He talks about how God will forgive anyone. It does not matter how severe the sin. The only thing that matters is the person is truly sorry for committing such an act. Then, the magistrate brings up his reason for believing in God, “He said it was impossible; all men believed in God, even those who turn their backs on him. That was his belief, and if he were ever to doubt it, his life would become meaningless”...
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...EXISTENTIALISM IN THE STRANGER Albert Camus born in Mondovi, Algeria, in 1913, spent his early years in Algiers. He completed a doctorate in philosophy, then worked at various jobs, establishing his own theatrical company in the 1930s. At the age of 24 Camus became severely ill, a victim of tuberculosis. During four years of recovery, he formulated his existential philosophies and began his writing career. Most of Camus’ works are representative of the philosophy of existentialism. His well-known fictional piece is “The Stranger”. Meursault, the narrator of The Stranger, is an existential anti-hero. Locked into the routine of daily existence, his life is a shapeless void without ideas, preferences, goals, or emotions. Like a robot, Meursault responds to everything automatically, neither feeling nor caring. When he is offered a job transfer to Paris, Meursault says he does not care where he works; yet he does not go because moving would be too much trouble. His mother’s death is met with similar lack of response: he feels no despair or grief. Occasionally, Meursault lacks motivation to do anything, so he spends the day sitting at his bedroom window, smoking cigarettes more out of habit than desire. Meursault utilizes all of the six existential themes: Freedom, Contingency, Individuality, Existence, Reflection, and Nihilism. The first existential theme is freedom. Freedom means that whatever happened prior to now does not influence what your next choice in life will be,...
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... Right and Wrong The Stranger by Albert Camus shows plenty of irony because Meursault was killed unjustly. The crisis of Meursault being killed is a serious problem because he is mentally unstable and the jury should have acknowledged it. Through Meursault’s death Albert Camus suggests that he was unlawfully killed. The author uses irony to illustrate how people can be wrongly convicted in the federal justice system. For example the speaker says, “I heard ‘guilty of murder’... ‘premeditated’ … extenuating circumstances (106).” In other words the speaker was accusing Meursault of committing many crimes but Meursault was just mentally incompetent. He should be given extra help,...
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...As Albert Camus said in one of his writings, “The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth of life.” The famous masterpiece of Albert Camus, The Stranger, gives us the true taste of existential philosophy and teaches us about the universality and inevitability of absurd in humans’ lives. However, one can meet very similar concepts and ideas illustrated in another piece of art, which is the movie “I Heart Huckabees” by David O. Russell. This philosophical comedy does, indeed, share many similarities with The Stranger. The four main principles of existentialism similar in the book and the movie are observation, meaning of life, coincidence, and absurd. The best place to start is one of the most important aspects of existentialism and absurd as well as of The Stranger, observation. In The Stranger, we read about the constant observation that is done by the main...
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...actions, would appear to be evil, but in an in-depth examination, can be seen in a different, more sympathetic light. The character Meursault, in Albert Camus’s The Stranger, is notable for this description. While his murderous crime and indifference to emotions make him seem to be cretinous, his dramatic transformation at the end of the story make us feel for him. When he finally grasps the theme of the book, embracing the “gentle indifference” of the universe, he also grabs our hearts, in becoming an “absurd” hero. To begin, the outside observer of Meursault would find him a distressingly hardened criminal. Most notable, of course, is his cold-blooded murder of the Arab. When he declares that it was “because of the sun,” he is labeled “a monster,” by the prosecutor, and our minds. His other so-called crime is being found guilty of indifference. All throughout the book, Meursault refuses to open any part of his self to the emotional world. “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday,” symbolizes his lack of regard for the people in his life. Later, when he sheds no tears at the funeral and answers nonchalantly to Marie’s talk of marraige, we come to realize that he is without the vital passion that fuels human existence. So, it would appear that the cards are stacked against Meursault in his initial description to the audience. Yet, Camus manages to add subtle details to the story, which give us a reverse impression. For one thing, Meursault is surrounded by a cast of strangely eccentric...
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...Albert Camus begins his chronicle, The Stranger, displaying his protagonist’s disturbed concept of reality. Locked into the routine of daily existence, Meursault does not find value to his life. He lives without any ideas, preferences, goals, or emotions. Like a robot, Meursault responds to everything automatically, neither feeling nor caring. Camus suggests that although Meursault seems absurd, in actuality he is the epitome of a typical human despite his differing characteristic: he cannot lie. He attains the same faults as an average human being suggesting that he often focuses on achieving his physical desires comparatively to emotionally satisfying himself. Although Meursault unchanged by the world around him, his isolation does not stem from his conscious intentions to withdraw himself from society. He strictly wanders around, never facing or avoiding a challenge. Meursault believes that life is not worth the trouble of making decisions or being committed to anything so he continues to live his life wandering around the world of unknowns. Camus divides his novel into two parts. In Part One the reader is given insight into the existential predicament that Meursault finds himself in and Part Two Meursault himself begins to understand the predicament that is now his life. He is overcome by his thoughts and decides that his suffering is inevitable, yet vain. Thus he decides to overcome these sufferings and accepts his reality deciding that he has potential to create an alternate...
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