Analysis Of ' The Stranger1 ' By Albert Camus Essay

The Stranger by Albert Camus focuses largely on the concept of absurdism. Camus uses family and personal relationships, or the lack of it thereof, to show the isolation that the main character, Meursault, undergoes in the novel and it’s effect on him overall. Camus utilizes the protagonists’ character development as a tool to further his plot of the novel. The absence of family and personal relationships tied in with the particular recurring topics of the novel are crucial in both the development of the protagonists’ characters as well as the plot as it affects the portrayal of the main character.

Albert Camus’s novel, The Stranger is regarded to the philosophical ideas of Existentialism, yet seems to also incorporate Absurdist tenets throughout the book that show ideals of being a unique type of individual with different actions that society disagrees with.

Albert Camus’s story the stranger is about a young man named Meursault who feels nothing after his mother’s death and ends up being sentenced to death by the end of the story. What should be taken from the stranger is the character development of Meursault presented throughout the story and how the settings effects the mood of the story. Albert Camus shows Meursault’s character development throughout the story by first making presenting Meursault as uncaring only to later present Meursault as content with dying. Albert Camus also changes the mood of the story by placing Meursault in many different settings.

In the experimental novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, he explores the concept of existentialism and the idea that humans are born into nothing and descend into nothingness after death. The novel takes place in the French colony of Algiers where the French-Algerians working-class colonists live in an urban setting where simple life pleasures are of the upmost importance in the lives of working class people like the protagonist of the novel Meursault. What is fascinating about this novel is that it opens up with a scene of perpetual misfortune for him through the death of his mother although he seems to express otherwise. The reader perceives this nonchalance as a lack of care. Maman’s death and its impact on Meursault appear in both the

Meursault is a psychologically detached man on trial for murder. However, it is ultimately his psychological detachment, not the murder of another man, that proves to be most damaging to his reputation and judicial case. Deemed a monster by society for his lack of emotion and general indifference, Meursault is sentenced to public execution by guillotine. The Stranger, a philosophical novel by Albert Camus, explores the concept of alienation as a result of failing to adhere to society’s accepted moral standards. Camus begins with the idea of extreme indifference in a world that expects deep human emotions and feelings, continues with the murder of the Arab man, and ends with the concept of human life ultimately having no grand meaning or importance

The story of The Stranger by Albert Camus is quite simple. Monsieur Meursault is a simple man, leading a simple, useless life until he makes some new friends and finds himself with someone else’s blood on his hands and his life on the line. Through Meursault’s reaction to his own impending death, Camus portrays the meaninglessness of human life.

In many works of literature, a character conquers great obstacles to achieve a worthy goal. This goal can be pointless or have a powerful meaning and help reader analyze the novel. In addition, these goal can be personal or based on the attitudes and beliefs of others. In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault has several goals that portray and contribute to an overall meaning in the novel. The novel is written by an author who some called an existentialist, and some called an absurdist. The author believed that life has a lesser meaning and that people have to choose the life they want to live

While studying many works of literature, several themes present themselves in in-depth readings, such as the theme of otherness in Albert Camus’ “The Guest”. This story centers on a character, an outsider, who is trying to fit into the society in the story. It may not be the fact that the stranger is different in looks, culture, or language like it is in this short story, but it is just the fact that they are not the same, which causes them to be the outsider and fulfill the role of the otherness. As we look through the short story ‘The Guest’, and through the short novel ‘The Stranger’, we can see that Albert Camus is working towards the idea of Otherness and how it can affect societies where the ‘otherness’ is seen as undesirable.

In his novel The Stranger, Albert Camus expresses his philosophy of the absurd. His absurdist views confused a society that looks for meanings behind actions. Meursault’s negative attitude towards life, the thoughtless decisions he makes, and the conclusion he makes regarding life itself all lead to the idea that he resembles an absurd hero. Throughout the novel, it becomes apparent that no one understands Meursault.

On a literal level, the nurse’s words describe the dilemma the weather presents: the heat’s influence is inescapable. But Meursault’s comment, “There was no way out,” broadens the implications of the nurse’s words. As Meursault eventually realizes, the nurse’s words describe the human condition: man is born into a life that can only end in death. Death, like the harsh effects of the sun, is unavoidable. This idea is central to Camus’s philosophy in The Stranger, which posits death as the one central, inescapable fact of life.

Death is a main theme that is shown everywhere in Albert Camus’s novel, The Stranger. The reader is automatically introduced to the oddity of Meursault’s’ character through the indifference he gives off in response to the death of his own mother. A string of deaths occur further into the novel, each given a different, yet alike in the aspect of indifference, response from Meursault, and through these events, we are able to detect a subtle change that gradually grows into an alarmingly obvious transformation in Meursault’s perception of life and death. Through the character of Meursault, Camus shows how the certainty of death affects ones standpoint in life.

In the novel, The Stranger, author Albert Camus confronts some important issues of the time, and uses the singular viewpoint of the narrator Meursault to develop his philosophy and effectively weave together themes of absurdity, colonialism, and free will. Through the progressive disruption of Meursault’s life and his characterization, Camus presents the absurdity of the human condition along with the understanding that a person can actually be happy in the face of the absurd. Camus also intentionally sets the story in the colonized country of Algeria, and hints at the racial tensions that exist between French-Algerians and Arabs.

In his book, The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the absurdist point of view to explore the concept of freedom and whether it is based on mental perceptions or physical conditions. More specifically, Camus examines his absurd character, Meursault, in prison and out of prison. In my opinion, Meursault is freer in prison. I think mental confines are stronger than physical confines and for a stranger like Meursault, society is extremely limiting. Meursault spends the majority of his life before prison as a nearly emotionless observer, who thinks more about others than himself.

Meursault doesn't care if they get married he just wants sex, so he says they can get married if it makes her happy. It makes no difference to him. The most mindless decision Meursault makes occurs on the beach the day of murder. At the beach where Meursault is most happy because of the sun and the water becomes the spot where his life of freedom will end. Raymond has an altercation with an Arab man and is hurt. The man is the brother of the woman Raymond abused. Meursault fueled this attack through the letter he wrote, this is his passive attitude coming back to affect his life for the first time of many. Meursault take Raymond’s gun and finds the Arab. He murders him without a second thought and throughout the scene he speaks of the sun beating down on him. His once warm friend has become his hellish enemy. Five times he shoots the man, four into his lifeless body. Meursault is the stranger as he commits murder paying no mind to the consequences. This is the first event that will truly begin to open his eyes to the world's true meaning.

Albert Camus authored the book The Stranger in 1942. This short fictional novel is authored from the viewpoint of absurdism, which is the idea that all things are meaningless. This paper seeks to prove the importance of the theme of the Camus worldview. Though Camus attempts to portray his view of absurdism, he reveals a great amount of uncertainty, which ultimately challenges his belief system.