Conflict And Tension In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the murder committed by Meursault is questionably done with no reason. Although the entirety of the second part is spent in society’s attempts to find a cause, Meursault has a durable existential mentality that proves that even he knows that there is no true reason for the crime. Through the use of light and heat imagery and diction in The Stranger, Albert Camus comments on the duality of society trying to find a cause for the murder and Meursault defying this because of his existential mentality. These elements heighten Meursault’s negative outlook on life by

Albert Camus in The Stranger demonstrates how in French-occupied Algeria, Meursault, a French colonist, is on trial for his inconsiderate behavior in regards to his mother’s death, rather than being convicted for the murder of an Arab man. Over the course of the novel, Camus illustrates how this French-colonized society frequently takes advantage of Arabs, explicitly making note of the embedded racism during 1830 to 1962. In doing so, he makes apparent the demeaning attitudes towards Arabs; whereas Meursault does not undergo any reciprocated aggression for the crime he commits, alternatively being treated as a free man. As he internally becomes accountable for his actions, Camus insinuates how the white population is not aware of the present racial inequality until put in situations similar to those oppressed.

In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Camus uses a variety of literary devices in order to create a moment of inward reflection from readers, in which we reflect on just how absurd our existence is. Camus expresses his critique through one major character, Meursault, and a few minor characters as well. Camus’s use of irony pushed readers to look beyond the surface, and come to the conclusion of where the irony was displayed. Camus also made use of ironic moments in order to contrast the expectations of society, to how Meursault differs from that, all to gradually expose the hypocrisy of mankind. Camus generally uses this literary device in order make us evaluate our own selves and more importantly to display the fact that we as people can be truly happy, only if we accept our fate, instead of fighting it. In a way, he’s suggesting we be more like Meursault. Examples of this would be the funeral caretaker insisting that Meursault view his mother's body, and Meursault continuously refusing. Camus does this to make people think: what exactly is wrong with Meursault not wanting to see his dead mother? Through this technique camus shows societal expectations of how people are supposed to mourn lost, and certain responses to lost are deemed abnormal. Thus Meursault’s lack of grief automatically made him an outsider. Other uses of irony can be shown through Meursault's interactions with the chaplain, and the authority involved in his criminal case played out later on in the

The sweat blinding Meursault enables him from thinking clearly and reflects how powerful the sun is to throw him off of his usual train of thought. All Meursault can think about is the sunlight affecting his body and mood. All he can feel is “cymbals of sunlight crashing on [his] forehead” (59). Camus specifically describes where the particles of sun encounter his main character and how severely it bothers him. Still on the beach, his attention is on the “warm thick film” in his eyes (59). The sun throws off Meursaults’ focus on more than one occasion.

Truth and honesty is the aspired driving force within one’s life but it can be as destructive as deceit and dishonesty. People always yell, “Tell the truth, be honest with me!” but when all things are said, their first reaction is to call out the lack of sympathy of the person. In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault lives his life through truth and honesty but societal morals and values often bring him down in more ways than one.

In the novel The stranger by Albert Camus is about a young man named Meursault living in Algiers who loses his mother. Throughout her death and her funeral he shows no emotions over her nor grieve and ends up hanging out with a “pimp” that causes him to get into problems. He ends up killing an Arab and goes to court for his trial but during his trial the prosecutor focuses on him not being sentimental about his mother's death instead of him murdering someone. In the end he gets sentenced to death and Meursault starts to feel sorts of emotions by saying “I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”(page 123). This means that his life would have some meaning

Harsh Patel Mr. Bosworth English 4A 1/13/16 Fate Vs. Free Will in Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” Have you ever been influenced by fate in your life? In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, is a story of Meursault who is a victim of fate. The Stranger by Albert Camus was set in French, North America. The novel was printed in 1942, at which time Algeria was still under French run and World War II was attacking Europe.

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.

Albert Camus, with the release of L’Etranger, almost immediately created a name for himself in the world of writing. As for the style of his works, Camus often dwelled within short, simple, yet apt sentences, though he did often venture into flights of fancy when the feeling would have arose, of which a perfect example lies late in The Stranger’s Act I surrounding Meursault and the Arab on the beach, gun in hand, the setting sun beating at them in rogue waves of heat and light. There sits the beginning of his philosophy’s show - existentialism and the life’s spirals of absurdity - and it all fell on the assaulted Meursault. Irritated and stressed by the situation and the sun beating against him, Meursault would pull the trigger for the first time, silencing the man in the initial shot. To feel it beat again, the gun against his hand and the man’s knock at death’s door all the same, he pulled the trigger another time, and again, and again, and again. Having thus emptied the gun into the man without pause or relent, “...it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” (Camus 59). That continued firing with a lack of second thought or remorse sent Meursault down the spiraling path of the book’s second act. Jail, court, judging, jail again, and

In Sartre’s definition of existentialism, “man is born into a kind of void, a mud. He has the liberty to remain in this mud and thus lead a passive, supine, acquiescent existence” (Cuddon 317). People are born in certain conditions in life, which they have the freedom to stay in or get out of. In order to get out of the mud, one must take responsibility for their own fate. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault tries to escape the mud to make the magistrate confront his meaning of existence. Although the magistrate cannot achieve truth and justice, because he cannot be honest with himself about the uncertainty of his own faith, irony and diction reveal that when Meursault takes responsibility for his crime, in reality he achieves justice

Many people often base their opinions on a person by judging his whole life in general and his attitude towards life without caring about who the person really is deep down inside. This unfair reasoning can occur in the courtroom when people are put on trial and the judge and the jury must delve into the life of the accused and determine if he is a hazard to society. Occasionally, the judge and jury are too concerned with the accused’s past that they become too biased and give an unfair conviction and sentencing. In his novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the courtroom as a symbol to represent society that judges the main character, Meursalt, unfairly to illustrate how society forms opinions based on one’s past.

Throughout the novels Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Stranger by Albert Camus, sun, heat, and light play a significant role in the development and understanding of the novel and the characters in it. Upon the initial reading of The Stranger, the reader may have a general acknowledgment of a relationship between the novel’s protagonist, Mersault, and the sun and heat, either proceeding or following one of the novels significant events. What is harder to understand on the first read, is the reason why this is important and what it means. On the opposite side of the field is Crime and Punishment. The imagery relating to weather and heat have an obvious connotation and importance, as they generally appear before an important

Widely recognized for philosophical writings as a French essayist and playwright, Albert Camus is a major contributor to exploring the absurd in modern Western literature. Characterized by highlighting the human condition, Camus’ writing style focuses on the everyday lives and inner psyche of individuals in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Such a character-driven writing style is most notably displayed in his 1946 work, The Stranger, a tale of an emotionally-detached man known as Meursault, who lives in French-colonized Algiers during the intermission of the two World Wars. Consisting of two parts—The Stranger first explores his daily life as a free man, and in the second, delves more into the character’s own philosophy as Meursault contemplates during his remaining time in jail. At its core, the story explores the relationships and interactions of the odd Meursault through the character’s inner monologue and dialogue with those around him. The story itself is very ambiguous in its’ nature, and the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and purpose is prevalent throughout The Stranger. Evidently, Camus writes Meursault as a man who believes that life has no meaning, and therefore people are free to do as they please. To supplement the protagonist’s view, the author also presents Meursault alongside various personalities of key supporting characters, each with their own unique personality, and differing outlooks on life. Doing so thus enables Camus to get readers to contemplate about meaning through multiple perspectives. Stylistically, through many devices that emphasize diction, imagery, and story themes. Ultimately, The Stranger is a way for Camus to convey that there are multiple ways to perceive the meaning of life, using Meursault to directly project a different view than what readers are used to. Surely, with the intent of crafting a protagonist so strange, that Meursault becomes comparable to other characters; less so as a reflection of what the author personally believes the meaning of life is, but more of what such exploration of the idea could be.

In the novel, The Stranger, the author, Albert Camus, creates a world of ironic dynamics between characters, while challenge the non-conformist protagonist, Meursault, to live in the same world aware of said dynamics. Camus introduces the readers to characters like Raymond Sintes and old Salamano, who live these ironic dynamics to a great extent. They both physically punish their problems: for Raymond it is his ungrateful-cheating prostitute, and for Salamano, his dilapidated spaniel. Despite their apparent distaste and hatred for them, once they lose them, they seem to develop a need to have them back in their life, their routine. They essentially lose whatever power they have over them, and feel powerless without them. Camus also provides the reader with a very subtle example of irony in Maman's late relationship with her fiancé, Thomas Pérez. Living in a retirement home, Maman experienced many of her peers pass, or come close to their death, illuminating the mortality in the human condition: death is inevitable. By accepting death as inevitable Maman was able to take another chance at life, giving her a reason for taking on a fiancé near her end. After being imprisoned for murder, Meursault feels he did nothing wrong, even realizing he has been right his whole life about everything before his execution. Through the implementation of such ironic dynamics, of which contrasts with Meursault's own dynamics, Camus illustrates how others denounce Meursault for his

“Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.” Henry Miller