Absurdity is defined as that which is contrary to reason; clearly untrue, unreasonable or ridiculous. It is often a topic in existentialist writings relating to life. This subject is prevalent in Camus’ “The Stranger” and “The Myth of Sisyphus.” Camus depicts absurdity bringing about happiness or indifference in each of these literary works. In “The Myth of Sisyphus,” it is made clear that Sisyphus is aware that his existence is absurd. He is sentenced to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a steep mountain only to let it roll back down when it reaches its peak. His tragedy lies in the fact that he is conscious of the extent of his own misery. What makes his struggle very absurd is that he knows that there is no death at the end of it. …show more content…
The fact that Meursault’s indifference led him outside the “conventional” moral code, was what brought about his death sentence. He was convicted because he admitted that he felt no sadness over his mother dying, not because he killed a man. The only thing that concerned him was his upcoming execution, and he felt that his stay in prison was the same as living in his apartment. The few hours before his death is when Meursault begins to “live.” He realizes the change that is going to take place is permanent and final. This is when he awakens to absurdity, believing that death is just as meaningless as life. His lack of understanding of change was what had caused his indifference. He realized that everyone is “privileged” with one unavoidable change in life, which is death. He never actually “lives” until change in his life is imminent. Meursault’s absurdity achieves happiness as well. He realizes that before he was imprisoned he was happy, he had a good job and a girlfriend and nothing really to complain about. Since he also realizes his absurdity and has a reason for his indifference, he is happy. Once he realizes that life or death will achieve the same thing in his situation, he’s not concerned with
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
Meursault's character is the determining factor in his conviction and sentencing. His social rebellion is deemed immoral and abominable. The reader and the novel's characters both try to rationalize Meursault's actions in order to give his life meaning. But according to Meursault, life is meaningless and consequently needs no justification.
Meursault is an independent and absurd guy who refuses to lie about himself to save his life. At the beginning of the book he avoids conversation and showed existentialism. For example, when the caretaker asked him, why he doesn’t want to see his mother’s body, he just simply said “I don’t know”. Another reason is when he would say, “marriage, no marriage, who cares.” Towards the ending of the book he starts to open up. In order for him to realize how wrong he was, he had to suffer the consequences. Meursault states, “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(2.5.165). “Meaning, he finally has awareness and is open-minded about his life.
By the end of the novel and during his trial, Meursault admits to himself he truly had no reason to kill the man on the beach. Perhaps it’s the over emotional society that causes him not to care or perhaps he truly, sincerely believes that it doesn’t matter. Either way, there is no doubt that the sensitivity of the culture around Meursault has molded him into the statue he depicts. To him, it was decision that had just so happened to end with the loss of a life. A heinous crime committed without reasoning, resulting in a debut in which he must pay for with his life, a price he doesn’t mind paying. Despite the unmissable fact that he had killed a man pushing him even further the boundaries of the cultural norms, it opened yet another door of indifference for Meursault: religion. In the process leading up to his execution, he is asked by the Chaplain if he believes in God. To which he replies with the same ambiguous statement, “It doesn’t matter” Baffled and confused, the Chaplain refuses to believe this answer, however Meursault withstands his position, no need for an explanation, it all just doesn’t matter to him. Nonetheless, the reasoning behind Meursault's strong disdain can be found within the culture around him. It is filled with people who rely wholeheartedly on the expression of emotions
Rubin’s dissection of Meursault in The Stranger details that he “is a man condemned to death not so much for a criminal act as for his attitude.” In regard to this statement, the reader is presented with the idea that he is being put to death as a result of his “attitude,” which is that of an outsider, or someone “removed” from society, and his motives were based on an absurdist mentality that leads one to think of death as “just another thing” because of the pointlessness of life, as there is no hope. We are lead to believe that Meursault is some “sick and twisted” person without realizing his indifference to the emotional expectations of society. The murkiness of his conscience is like a black and white film over his eyes that open to the
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 is psychologically detached from the world around him. Things that would seem to be very significant for most people, such as a marriage or a parent’s death, do not matter to him. He shot a guy 4 times even though the guy had died after one shot. Even though he killed a guy for no reason, I do not think Meursault deserved to be executed. Instead I believe he needs help with his thinking and emotions because his mindset thinks that killing someone doesn't matter due to the fact that everyone dies.
Camus explanations of the Myth of Sisyphus, presented the concept of the absurd by outlining the beliefs that an individuals life has worth but only his live in a world that denies such worth to survive. Therefore, the absurdity in the statement, explains the fact of a clash between the orders through which an individuals mind hard for, likewise the lack of order that we as humans find in the world.
In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus, a sinner condemned to eternally roll a rock up and down a hill, is believed to be a man who lives a meaningless life. Envision the idea that we are able to give Sisyphus a drug that makes Sisyphus want to roll a rock up a hill for all eternity. Would Sisyphus’s meaningless life be revived with meaning as a result? In this paper, I will explain what it means to have a meaningful life and argue that Sisyphus’s life will still remain meaningless.
The author, Camus, makes it clear to the reader that just like all people, Meursault was born, will die, and will have no further importance. I portrayed this view on the meaning of life, in my collage, with a picture of an instructor teaching her class. Through a diagram on the board, she shows her class that there is birth and death and what happens in between is just “stuff” that is not even important enough to
Meursault isolates himself from the lifestyle that the society attempts to condition him, but this pressure from society isn’t understood by him. One will not realize that they are breaking societal rules if they are entrapped into a world of their own and believe that that world is perfectly fine the way it is.
In part two of The Stranger written by Albert Camus, the society’s actions regarding Meursault’s trial symbolizes the irrationality of the universe. Earlier in the novel it was established that Meursault remained emotionless and he had a sense of detachment to the society. Because the killing of the Arabs had no meaning or explanation, the trial in part two of the novel represented the societies attempt to reveal the absurdity. The purpose of this essay is to prove that through the usage of symbolism, Albert Camus rationalizes how the society was influential in how Meursault reformed as a person.
Camus also plays directly into one of the prominent ideas of the “theater of the absurd” as Meursault believes that life is ultimately meaningless, we simply go travel through it and the only concrete thing is death. Death is humanity’s final destination as Camus wrote, “ ‘If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.’ She was right. There was no way out” (pg 17).
Part two could lead the book in two different ways, one that leads to Meursault's conversion, or the second way the way the book was actually written. The way the Meursault wasn’t able to grow as a person anymore and was executed because of his resistance to conform to others beliefs of how the world should operate. I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself- so like a brother, really- I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. (Camus, pg. 122-123) Knowing the truth about the world in the moment of living your life is a hard burden to carry. In the end Meursault was able to step out of the moment and experience the satisfaction his life deserved before he died for the public of a absurd
What is the absurd? Camus categorized as the “belief in the absurdity of existence must then dictate his conduct” (Camus, 6). What Camus means is feeling of absurdity goes hand in hand with having a meaningless life. We get so used to doing the same routine that, we as people don’t think we just act like a robot. Camus asks “Does its absurdity require one to escape it through hope or suicide? And does the absurd dictate death” (Camus, 9). Camus says, “An objective mind can always introduce into all problems have no place in this pursuit and this passion” (Camus, 9). The problem with this is if we were always based on facts then we would not be able to base our opinions on experiences. Camus also relates the feeling of absurdity to exile, we as people what to have meaning and or purpose in our own lives. The absurdity displaces us from having a meaning life. Camus says, “Mean who die by their own hand consequently follow to its conclusion their emotional inclination” (Camus, 9). Camus considers this an absurd reasoning because this feeling of exile can turn anyone crazy leading into suicide which both the absurd and suicide are linked together.