Meursault's View Of Society

At the end of the novel, Meursault is able to understand the meaning of life. He was able to do so because he was approaching death, which is an existentialist principle, death is the one certainty of life. Before, when his mother died or when he killed the Arab, he did not have any feelings. When he thought about his own life and that he was about to die, he accepted it. He realizes that one can truly enjoy their lives when they approach and accept death. The understanding of this allowed Meursault to be at peace with himself. With this being said, this novel was an unusually good book, which made me think. A majority of the book made me feel like the rest of society, which was not accepting Meursault's behavior although analyzing gave me

In the last chapter we see Meursault as he contemplates death and the future set in place for himself. He thinks about his parents, death, and his existence. Through Meursault's thoughts in the last chapter we gain new insight to his character as he becomes closer to death.

In conservative societies, there is a strong pressure that forces individuals to think and act a certain way. In most cases, individuals from conservative societies are brought up surrounded by those morals and expectations. The process of development is key in developing individual thoughts and ideals, that in rare cases, ends up being the opposite of what is set in stone by a particular social construct. In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault, the main character, is molded as a rebel and outcast for his time. Throughout the progression of the novel, Meursault is widely condemned for his inability to meet the social standards and expectations that society has created: “Camus’s objective is to depict Meursault’s expurgation from French-Algerian

After accepting the universe’s truths and secrets, Meursault is now a completely changed man. Unlike before, he does not want to be lonely anymore. He wants to be with other humans and feel their presence: “For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, 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” (Camus 123). In order to understand the feeling of companionship, Meursault is willing to be with a crowd of people who hate him. Unlike before, he wants to live his final hours in the presence of his

“But everybody knows life isn’t worth living. Deep down I knew perfectly well that it doesn’t much matter whether you die at thirty or at seventy, since either case other men and women will naturally go on living- and for thousands of years. In fact, nothing could be clearer. Whether it was now or twenty years from now, I would still be the one dying.” (Page 114, Chapter 5)

Everyone will die. Meursault’s awareness of death contributes to his nonchalant attitude toward every death he witness or must endure in The Stranger. Death fails to upset Meursault. In The Stranger, Albert Camus emphasizes mortality in order to expose the ignorance humanity has towards the inevitable or unknown end.

Albert Camus’ The Stranger explores the philosophic ideology of existentialism in the character Meursault. Meursault is a man in the 1920s in French Algeria going through life seeing and acting through the lens of an existentialist. Without explicitly stating that he lives existentially, his life hits on many key characteristics of an existentialist. Perhaps the most defining of these key characteristics is that he does what he wants, because he can. He also does this because in existentialism there is emphasis on individual choice and freedom based on the assertion that there is no universal right and wrong. Meursault doesn’t always take into consideration what would be polite, or kind, but rather only

The prosecutor often refers to Meursault's behavior at his mother’s funeral. Since Meursault showed no sign of remorse at her funeral, it was used against him repeatedly in the case that would determine his fate. This court case put Meursault in such a difficult and lonely situation, “Everything was happening without my participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion...whatever interest you can get people to take in you doesn’t last long”(Camus 98). Prison is where Meursault begins and finds his enlightenment, he spends his time there mainly thinking about the life one can experience as a free man, in prison it's where Meursault's real character shows in the entire book. Due to this, it feels like Meursault is reborn to the readers. Prison and the court case bring out a side to Meursault that was never really shown in the book, he begins to defend himself against all, “What did other people’s deaths...What would it matter if he were accused of murder and then executed because he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral”(Camus 121)? Both Siddhartha and Meursault go through solitude in different ways but end up revealing something about their character as if they are reborn, another step toward each of their enlightenments.

In “The Strangers” the theme is an individual life has no rational meaning or order. Albert Camus uses the word and actions of Meursault to show how an individual does not care about life. He creates the character as a passive and things come upon him. The quote in “The Strangers”, “To another question [the director of the home] replied that he had been surprised by my calm the day of the funeral. He was asked what he meant by "calm." The director then looked down at the tips of his shoes and said that I hadn’t wanted to see Maman, that I hadn’t cried once, and that I had left right after the funeral without paying my last respects at her grave”, This quote shows that Meursault doesn’t even have any emotion for his mother’s death and when he’s at the funeral, he act like a normal being, just moving on as it just happened. Meursault is really insensitive to things happening around him, he believes life will move on and everyone will die later on in life. Meursault watches a girl get beat and doesn’t do anything about it because he does not care and he beats the girls to. When he goes to jail for killing an Arab, he is sentenced to death but it doesn’t matter to him as he imagine

Meursault often acts without any real reason, yet society, represented by the judge, jury, and prosecution, attempt to come up with rational explanations to behaviors that are ultimately irrational. The theme of the meaninglessness of human life is a concept that Meursault wrestles with throughout the novel and finally comes to terms with after his last conversation with the chaplain. Eventually everyone will die and the lives of everyone on Earth will go on just as they had before; therefore, our lives are essentially meaningless. This is a story of indifference in a world where any misstep outside of society’s moral standards is

In the beginning of the book before brutality occurs, Camus depicts actions that set Meursault apart from humanity. When Meursault’s mother dies, he shows indifference because he is unsure of her age or when she dies, he smokes, and he drinks coffee. He also doesn’t care if he gets married to Marie. Emotionally, this portrays him as an outsider in society.

The chaplain comes to see Meursault against Meursault’s own wishes and the chaplain tells him that he should turn to God for comfort in his final days. Meursault does not believe in God and he tells this to the chaplain. The chaplain seems so sure about everything in life and about everything that will happen but to Meursault, the only certainty is that everybody dies. If it does not happen today, it will happen tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. Life is indifferent to everybody and nothing in it is important unless the person makes it important. There are no pre-set values that everyone must believe in when they are born. The choices a person makes are what define him because existence precedes essence. If someone chooses to value love, then it is important to him or her and he or she should care about it. If someone chooses to believe in God, then He is only important to him or her and only he or she should care about Him. The reason that he did not cry at his mother’s funeral is because he does not believe that this is the appropriate reaction since everybody dies at one point or another. The reason that he said that he probably does not love Marie and that it is not important, is because he does not have love as one of his values; therefore, he should not care about that emotion. Finally, the reason he did not show remorse for killing the Arab is because he did not feel that emotion. What Meursault does value is the truth. He

In The Stranger, Albert Camus writes about a detached yet normal man, Meursault, who encounters unusual situations that evidently leads to his demise. From cover to cover, it was established by the author that Meursault had an unusual way of thinking and that he was continuously revealing his peculiar perspective on life and death. Throughout the novel, Meursault is reminded of death and continues to be judged by everyone in the society that he lives in, for instance, when he was put on trial for shooting an Arab man. Camus writes about the main character by describing his absurdist mindset. It is through the focus of funeral scene, however, that Camus is able to formulate the values of the character and the society in which they live in. This scene was able to reveal Meursault’s perspective on life as well as death.

The chaplain sets out on a quest to seek some part of Meursault’s humanity that must be spiritual. When the chaplain accomplishes this task, and manages to extract a portion of Meursault’s worldview that is religious, Meursault admits to being able to picture an afterlife, but only an afterlife in which he can recount his memories on earth. In his version of the afterlife, a spiritual existence is only possible if he is able to perpetually recount his physical experiences prior to death. Meursault, whose values specify the importance of being the physical and feeling man carry with him into the afterlife, illuminates the importance of the persistence of one’s personal values to follow him

In addition, Meursault cannot find a solid place in society. He lives alone due to the death of his mother. Society cannot accept the manner in which Meursault addresses his mother’s death. Since he thinks that “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, [he doesn’t] know” (Camus 3), society believes that he does not care that his mother dies. Everyone judges him because he does not relate to the rest of the people. Meursault receives immense criticism at his trial concerning his murdering another man. At his trial, Meursault can “feel how much all these people [the jury] hated” (Camus 90) him. The jury does not commend him or even regard him with understanding about his mother’s death. Some people react to death without actually reacting to it; Meursault subconsciously chooses to do so but receives condemnation. Both characters experience isolation from society.