...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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...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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...The Stranger Final Reflection One of the main themes in Albert Camus’s The Stranger is that the universe is irrational and life has no meaning. Camus’s writing strongly supports the idea that a person’s life is meaningless and has no structure or real order. Over the course of the novel, the main character Meursault exhibits odd behavior in comparison to that of the other “normal” characters Camus introduces. The character that best relates to the idea of a rational universe is the Magistrate. Meursault first encounter with the magistrate reveals how unemotional and distant from the general principles of society he is. At the beginning of the conversation the magistrate asks Meursault whether he had hired an attorney. His response to the question is, “I said I thought my case was pretty simple.”(pg 63) One would think a normal and rational member of society wouldn’t flat out admit to their guilt. A person who valued there life and freedom would try at any means necessary to avoid imprisonment. In that same first interaction between the magistrate, Meursault displays another odd characteristic. As the meeting is adjourned he thinks of shaking the magistrates hand as if they had just had a formal meeting about something minute and unimportant. “On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man.”(pg 64) In reality Meursault was a criminal and had killed a man. Here, his thoughts clearly indicate his idea of life having no...
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...d. 14/9/2011 Essay 1 Living With Strangers The big city. Just the word gives a wealth of associations: The big city is noise and traffic, a lot of life. The big city is the anonymity in the crowd. The place where everything you do is not noted by others. The big cities came as a result of the increasing urbanization after the industrialization in the 1800s when a lot of people moved from the country to the cities to get a job. But the fact that you are now living with hundred thousands or millions of other people creates many challenges. It can especially be a problem how to deal with all the people who you do not know and who you do not manage to get to know. That is exactly the theme the American writer Siri Hustvedt takes up in her essay Living With Strangers published in The New York Times in 2002. The text is built up in three main sections. In the first part Hustvedt tells her personal story about her moving from the country where everyone knows each other and everyone always greets everyone, and to the big city New York where nobody greets each other and millions of people live side by side. She quickly learns the unwritten rule which says something like, pretend like nothing is happening, “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival in this town (…): PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING” (line 17-20). Hustvedt quickly captures the reader’s interest by telling this personal story in the beginning because the reader can identify herself with her and...
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...We are all strangers in some form or another. Whether it’s buying food from a store or at a party of some sort, we meet new people who we feel quickly connected to while conversing in topic after topic. This happens a lot and has its own excitement to it in some ways depending on the individual. However this doesn’t happen as often as we would think due to fear of not being accepted by others. In the essay titled “stranger,” Toni Morrison explains her experience with a stranger and what became of it. I agree when the author says that there are no strangers but our conscious that allows us to push others away. I disagree when she thought of the fisher-woman as deceitful after they had no chance of reuniting. In the essay titled “strangers” Toni Morrison concludes, “It took some time for me to understand my unreasonable claims on that fisherwoman...there are no strangers...only...
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...the sea, to sexual desire but is indifferent to any social event. He expresses no sorrow at his mother’s funeral. He admits they had no close relationship and that he did not know his father. When Raymond invited him over and asked to be his friend Meursault said yes because he had no reason to say no. He was indifferent about writing the letter, he was indifferent about getting married and the list goes on. Meursault is the character that goes with the flow and lives in the now. He doesn’t find himself submitting to any of society’s so-called ‘truths’. He doesn’t believe in marriage, doesn’t feel like one has to pretend to be sad when their mother dies etc. This makes him different than everybody else, it makes him a stranger. Alienating Mersault as a stranger is a tool Camus successfully uses to reveal the hypocrisy of society. Alienating him allows the readers to distance themselves from other characters rather than identify with them: That way we are better able to study and criticize our subjects as outsiders too, thus allowing us to think outside of the box. From that perspective, we see a bunch of ‘specialized’ people whether the lawyers, the judge or the priest all thinking they know the absolute truth but none of them really knows anything. This method thus allows Camus to reveal to, or remind his readers that all truths in the world are man-made. The alienation effect used by Camus also encourages us as readers to develop a rational view of history of cultures and...
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...Madison Heuer 12/12/14 P. 2A Emotionally Unavailable The wild and bizarre story of Meursault in The Stranger hints at many different teachings Camus might convey to his avid readers, but they can only be found by reading between his stories thought-provoking and intricate lines. Meursault is suddenly bombarded with situations that most people would find devastating and earth-shattering. However he seems to have no emotional matters to deal with. It’s a very shocking and peculiar situation to be immersed in for the reader. In The Stranger, the world he lives in believes him to be a cold-hearted, cruel, and unpleasant monster that should not walk freely due to the cause that he does not conform to how society believes he should be behaving. Meursault shows no sad emotion at his mother’s funeral, he then quickly sparks a romance with a woman he has no true love for and finally his controversial shooting of the Arab all lead to Meursault’s conviction and ultimately his death. At Meursault’s first trial he is attacked by the fact that he seemed to not be bothered by the death of his own mother. It was evident he wanted nothing to do with his mother since he didn’t even have the decency to take care of the woman himself. He relied on a home to take care of her and never gave her a second...
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...Ashley Collins Mrs. Buckley World Literature 24 November 2014 Living in a Meaningless World In his existential novel 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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...The Stranger There are many things that make a novel a classic. The ones I believe make “The Stranger” a classic are: the book’s character conflict and how the conflict is resolved, the setting’s ability to relate to issues in todays society, and also how the book appeals to readers of all times in terms of the theme in humanity. One of the reasons “The Stranger” becomes a classic is due to the way the Meursault deal with his internal and external conflicts. In my book, Meursault and his friend were strolling on the beach, when they got into an altercation with two Arab men. Following that, one of those Arab men pulled out a knife. Therefore, Meursault drew out a revolver that he had in his pocket and shot the Arab man four times. As a result, Meursault then deals with an internal conflict of killing another individual. He has an extremely difficult time dealing with this shame. He stated after he shot him four times; “It was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” (Camus 59). Meursault also deals with an external conflict of a penalizing set by the court, the death penalty. Because of this, he felt highly defeated and miserable; he didn’t want to speak to...
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...Marlon Straker Ms. Tobenkin AP Literature, Period 1 1 May 2016 The Stranger Essay While Meursault is walking down the beach, he is creating a tension that leads him to the killing of the Arab. By walking down the beach, he is using this to demonstrate his freedom and independence towards the Arabs and the readers. While he is walking down the beach, the Arabs are following him but they are not threatening or doing anything to harm him. But for safety reasons, Meursault decides to take a gun which he uses to kill one of the Arab. When Meursault shoots the Arab, Camus creates a tension that builds onto the climax of the story. “All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear...
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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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...After wrapping up the first chapter of Albert Camus’ The Stranger, I find myself questioning the heart of man. The opening lines stated “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure” (Camus 4). Reading about a man who is not affected by the death of his own mother is quite sickening. The opening scenes of the novel seem quite morbid and I am nervous to continue reading. Meursault seems like a guy that has mental problems and could possibly be very dangerous. Potential conflicts in this novel seem to be quite obvious. Meursault will most likely have a conflict dealing with himself and he will have to find what it is to do to spiritually heal himself and those around him. His lack of interest in the world will render him weak in...
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...There is always that one annoying “I am different and unique” kid that nobody likes or understands. In Albert Camus’s novel “The stranger” he explores the other side and allows us to see through that one kids eyes of what it is like to live alone. Furthermore, showing us the most predominant theme in the novel “The Stranger” is being alone and alienated is a painful existence. Right off the bat the book is showcasing the predominant theme throughout the entirety of the first scene. Mersault in the first scene is physically alone. He is sitting by himself at the wake and receives the pain itself of alienation. As stated in the novel on page 10 “It was then that I realized they were all sitting across from me, nodding their heads, grouped around the care taker. For a second I had the ridiculous feeling that they were there to judge me.” The death of his mother had not altered his emotions in any way, and he was being excluded or separated because of it. This separation continues to the next scene, the funeral. He walks lengths ahead of the group and is mostly entertained by the thought of going home as seen on page 18 “Maman’s casket, the white flesh of the roots mixed in with it, more people, voices, the village, waiting in front...
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...Hard-Boiled Fiction 1. Hostile, violent environment. 2. Traditional moral codes don’t work. 3. Isolation and alienation of characters. 4. Distrust in official institutions and values. 5. No commentary, just reporting. 6. Cynical, but honest. 7. Protagonists fight against systems rather than individuals. 8. Male-centered. 9. Apathetic approach to life. Paragraph How the characteristics of hard-boiled fiction relate to The Stranger by Albert Camus can be seen easily throughout the entire story. Knowing that this form of writing was widely popular during that time period where dark fiction promoted readers to dive into a world where conventional attitudes and ways of life were being contradicted. This novel achieves the contradictions of a hard-boiled fictional piece and targets masculinity making it play a large role in the reasoning behind events. Firstly the male centeredness along with the hostile and violent environment typical of hard-boiled fiction is portrayed in The Stranger using the characters of Raymond and Mersault himself both showing different versions of male violence within the environment of the story. Raymond, a domestically violent individual who believes women who cross him deserve beatings as a form of punishment, perfectly sets the brutal theme that later leads into Mersault’s crime of murder. “The sun glinted off Raymond’s gun as he handed it to me.”(Camus 56) Raymond provides the hostile and violent environment in...
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...Certain novels include a character who, based solely on his 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...
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