The Outsider

An outsider is defined as “a person who does not belong to a particular group.” In the book, The Outsiders, many of the characters can be described as being an outcast from the social society. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Cherry are outsiders in this novel because none of them really fit into the groups that they’re “supposed” to be in.

"The day after his mother's death, this man was out swimming, starting up a dubious liaison, and going to the movies, a comedy, for laughs. " The prosecutor uses Meursault's previous unusual actions as evidence that he is a threat to society. His actions are deemed monstrous by the jury and subsequently end in Meursault's conviction. Society uses the past in order to justify the present. It is incorrect for one to assert that Meursault has no emotion or incapable of emotion; it is simply that he fails to exhibit it for he feels it is meaningless.

He has no initial reaction to the news of her death, and at her funeral service he did not bother to even see her before she was buried. His lack of emotion is evident in the very first lines of the book, “Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.” This shows that Meursault is hardly caring for his mother. Society’s standards would result in him to be in absolute mourning and wanting to go as fast as possible to her body. This is not the only example of Meursault’s lack of emotion and care for factors in his life. He does not care for love and marriage after having intercourse with someone; the society standard at this time was to get married if two partners had intercourse. He does not care for promotion and career advancement when his boss offers him a better job opportunity; the standard at that time and right now is to pursue the best career possible. In these scenarios Meursault is living free from the chains, and does whatever he thinks is right to do. Eventually, society rejects him and his ways, and he gets in trouble with the law. He is judged by society and his ways are ridiculed, making Meursault appear to be a monster.

No matter where one goes on this dismal chunk of rock, one will probably encounter an outsider. In high school lunchrooms there is always at least one poor, sad teenager who has the unlucky seat next to the trash can. In parks and school playgrounds there is always that one melancholy kid that provides a stark contrast from the joyful shouts and screams coming from the other playing children. The experience of being an outsider is an inescapable universal condition that can be caused through social class, appearance, or other factors.

An outsider is someone who stands out from the crowd. They have their own beliefs, their own way or thinking. Standing out is often thought of in a negative way, but it can bring along many positive things. During the time period of Martin Luther King Jr., there were many protestors who began to stand up for themselves and their race. Even though many people did it, there were only a few people who started the movement, and those people, were outsiders. Two people who were outsiders from that time period were Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks. They stood against normal beliefs and tried to change the way of life, which is what many outsiders do. An outsider is not simply someone who is misjudged or misunderstood.

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton and The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho both center around the motif of being an outsider. The theme of both books is that you are never an outsider when you have friends and family. This is shown through the two main characters, Dara and Ponyboy. While they share similarities, the two are also vastly different.

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

In The Stranger by Albert Camus. Meursault does not feel any great sadness over his mother's death, yet everyone in the novel seems to try to justify his actions. Why doesn’t Meursault feel any type of sadness or remorse for this mother's death? He seems to not have any kind of feelings or nothing for his mother's when she was alive if he did, he would not have been more remorseful for her death. Meursault acts as though he was not close to his mother's and like he didn’t want to attend her funeral. His friends also seem to back him up by defending him in saying reasons why he shows no feelings or sadness for his mother's death, they say “that’s his way of showing how he feels everyone shows how they feel in different ways”.

The first area of judgment is at his mother’s funeral where he shows very little emotion in a situation that would typically elicit deep emotion. During the funeral he did not cry or show any sign of emotion. Meursault even states “soon one of the women started crying… I thought she’d never stop…The woman kept on crying… I wished I didn’t have to listen to her anymore. But I didn’t dare say anything”(Camus, 10). This shows us how unattached to emotions he is because he cannot comprehend why this women who loved his mother, and claimed that she was her only friend is showing such great emotion and that it is an annoyance to him. During the service he even takes the time to smoke a cigarette with the caretaker.

A majority of people today as well as in Meursault’s time know that lying is wrong, but it is better than dying as a consequence of one’s actions. However, Camus creates a man that is a foil to this idea, and Meursault is made an outsider due to his difference in moral standards, bringing

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.

Primarily, Meursault’s aloofness towards the world started to crack after experiencing Maman’s funeral. In the beginning of the novel before the funeral of his mother, Meursault’s desire to “ [see] Maman right away” (Camus, 4) so that he can leave as soon as possible expressed the height of Meursault’s absurdism. Even during the funeral Meursault seemed to care more about “[Perez’s] ruined face”(Camus, 18) than his mother’s casket. However this changed during the sunday after the funeral when Meursault seemed to finally take notice of his mother’s absence from his life stating how his apartment was “just the right size when maman was here”(Camus, 21). This quote is significant because previously Meursault stated “ I didn’t go [to the old

He believes that death is part of the human life, we are born and then we die, as simple as that. He doesn’t try to understand death, he simply accepts it. Most people do not like to accept that death is something that will eventually happen to them, which completely terrifies them. This is why everybody would describe Meursault as unsentimental because he is not scared to death and he accepts that the time on earth is limited. Not only is Meursault indifferent from society’s standards, but he refuses to lie. He refuses to hide his true feelings regarding his mother’s death by pretending to cry at her funeral. Hence, supporting Camus’ idea that “To lie is not only to say what isn’t true…to say more than is true, and, as far as the human heart is concerned, to express more than one feels”. Meursault certainly challenges moral standards created by society by being honest, which gives him an image of an apathetic man.

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.

Meursault is seen to be indifferent in the beginning of the novel, when he is informed on the death of his mother by a telegram from the funeral home, and he does not recall whether or not it occurred today or yesterday (Camus 1). This introduces Meursault’s lack of emotion and unconcern toward the death of his own mother. It reveals his absurdist outlook on life, and how his feelings are very apathetic towards the death of a family member which has no real significance to him. Later in the story while Meursault is engaging in a conversation with his girlfriend Marie, his absurd emotions become apparent when Marie asks Meursault if he wanted to marry her he responded by saying it doesn’t make a difference to him. When she asks if he loves her he says that it doesn’t mean anything to him, but he probably doesn’t. (Camus 43). Meursault's reaction reveals his emotional detachment in relationships with people, having no compassion towards others. It shows how he feels that there is no meaning in life, and that marriage or love is not important to him. According to Robinson “Meursault is judged instead, because he challenged the convention regarding the proper respect a son shows his mother (Robinson). His lack of sympathy for his mother's death portrays how his emotions are seen as absurd and indifferent to other individuals in society. Later in