Meursault's Life In The Stranger By Albert Camus

In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.

the book “ The Stranger” by Albert Camus, the main character Meursault was questioning life

Monsieur Meursault is an emotionally detached, absurd, protagonist male character who exemplifies his own meaning of justice. Meursault demonstrates several emotionless, indifferent, nonchalant actions throughout this melancholic novel. He lives his life through his senses, rather than logical reasoning, which withdraws him from being apart of societal norms. The drinking and smoking at his mother's funeral, his response to the sun at the beach,

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 Stranger The conflict of personal integrity and social norms is one of the fundamental themes of Albert Camus’ book “The Stranger”. The title itself (The Stranger or The Outsider) puts Meursault outside of the normal world, isolating him from hope and understanding. And as an outsider, he displays behaviors that normal people do not understand and thus condemn in an irrational way. For example, during the trial, it was more important for the prosecution to emphasize the fact that Meursault did not cry after his mother’s death than it was for them to focus on the actual details of the murder case.

In our world, there are certainly expected manners of behavior ranging from emotional reactions to obeying laws. However, in The Stranger, Mersault lives his life detached from these societal constraints. Even though he lives an unusual life, he doesn’t completely alienate himself from society until he shoots a man. Later when he is in prison, violence erupts when he opposes the Chaplain’s Christian beliefs. Meursault’s rebellious actions in both of these scenes illuminate how society condemns people who refuse to conform to societal constructs.

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.

When Meursault’s mother passes away, he says “It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed”(Chapter 1 page 1). Meursault implies that he has no sympathy toward anything, only thinking about himself and acting like his mother’s death does not significantly mean anything. When Meursault is greeted by a soldier he says “A soldier smiled at me and asked if I’d been traveling long. I said, "Yes," just so I wouldn’t have to say anything else.” (Chapter 2 page 29).

In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, becomes drawn into a “senseless” murder that has to face the absurdity of life and because of his actions, Meursault is presented as a danger due to his lack of “morality” to society. Meursault who is not able to take control of his life but respond to what life offers him believes in the simplicity of life. He tries to understand the living through logic and objectivity, which ultimately turns futile, as he himself cannot maintain proper control over his thoughts and emotions. From the interactions between Marie, to the murder of the Arab, and the meeting with the Chaplain, Meursault overcomes his indifferent views to form an opinion about what life really means. The central theme presented by Camus is how the threat of mortality becomes a catalyst for understanding the significance of life.

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions to things like his mother’s death, Marie’s love, and the man he killed. Most people in his town, along with the reader at first, are not able to reason out his actions but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light.

After Maman died, Meursault met his girlfriend, Marie. She was as beautiful as he could imagine and he loved her company. As most people who possess very strong feelings for

The story begins with “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (3). The lines introduce Meursault’s key personality trait, his indifference. He simply states the facts and has little emotional expression when talking about his mother’s passing. At his mother's funeral, he felt others expected him to talk and show emotion and it made him uncomfortable.

   The Stranger by Albert Camus was published in 1942. The setting of the novel is Algiers where Camus spent his youth in poverty. In many ways the main character, Meursault, is a typical Algerian youth. Like them, and like Camus himself, Meursault was in love with the sun and the sea. His life is devoted to appreciating physical sensations. He seems so devoid of emotion. Something in Meursault's character has appealed primarily to readers since the book's publication. Is he an absurd anti-hero? Is he a moral monster? Is he a rebel against a conventional morality? Critics and readers alike have disputed a variety of approaches to Meursault. I believe he is the embryo

In “The Stranger” by Camus, Meursault’s actions throughout the story can be summed up in one word, absurd.

In the beginning of the novel, Meursault gets a telegram that says that his mother has died. When he attends his mother’s funeral, Meursault may be viewed as annoyed, or doesn't want to be there at all. “Then I felt like having a smoke. But I hesitated, because I didn’t know if I could do it in front of Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn’t matter” (Camus 8), this shows the reader that Meursault at some point did care about his mother, but gave up because he knew she was dead. Meursault at this point shows that he doesn’t care what people think about him, and that he would just continue living a normal life after this, nothing will change his perspective.