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The Existential Movement Of The Stranger Essay

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Sometimes life can be a confusing series of people, emotions, and experiences, which can lead many to struggle with their purpose in this world. Therefore, many look to the philosophies and writings of ancient and modern philosophers in order to piece understanding into their lives. A very prevalent philosophy that had roots in early Christian and Buddhist writings, but exploded in Europe during the 1940’s and 1950’s, was Existentialism. The Existential movement focused on the ideas of individual freedom, absurdity, authenticity, individualism and alienation. This was both a movement of literary and philosophical greatness, with many writers expressing their philosophical beliefs through their literature. These writers believed that there was no greater purpose in a person’s life and that there was almost no point in existence. Moreover, these authors both valued authenticity and created a sort of absurdity to the society they lived in. Therefore, this struggle to grasp the meaning of life can be seen through an existential light in many novels with authors such as Camus. In Camus’s novel The Stranger, Camus explores the existential ideas of absurdity and authenticity through the actions and ideas of the main character Meursault. Existentialism is the main theme of Camus’s novel The Stranger, which relies heavily on absurdist ideas to assess the meaning of life. However to understand Camus’s meaning of life, one must understand the definition and traits of absurdity. Many

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