The Prison of Life

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

At the beginning of the chapter we gain insight to Meursault’s fear of death. He mentions that if he had paid more attentions to executions then “Maybe [he] would have found some accounts of escape in them” (108) implying that he fears dying and wants to find a way to avoid this fate. Meursault even recalls the story his mother told of his father going to see an execution. This story allowed Meursault to realize that “there was nothing more important than an execution” (110) displaying that Meursault thought he should have better followed his father's actions and then maybe he wouldn't be so near death. Overall, Meursault's fear allows us to see that he does fear death and therefore has more feelings than he lets on.

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.

The American Prison framework is coming up short us as a country. As exhibited by Brain Kincade the American restorative facilites framework is monstrous. The American Prison is enormous to the point that it's reviewed turnover of $74 million obscurations the GDP of 133 countries. The greater part of it needs to do with the way the American true blue structure works and how it has changed over the traverse of the most recent 40 years. The country detain masses has quadrupled to 2.2 million in which it has amplified all through the last a30 years. The American Prison is higher for blacks and Latinos more than whites. The miserable part is that numerous people in these therapeutic workplaces are moms, fathers, sisters, kinfolk, young women and

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

Is keeping inmates by the hundreds in prison cafeterias instead of cells becoming the norm? This is what a documentary, Life In Prison: The Cost of Punishment, asks. It explores the lives of incarcerated peoples in three California state prisons, portraying the dire consequences of prison overcrowding. As of 2013, the total prison population in the United States was 2,217,000. This is nearly five times the total of 1980, 503,586. The United States has the largest number of incarcerated people in the world, and more than the next two countries combined (China and Russia). Its rate of incarceration is 698 per each 100,000. The issue of overcrowding in jails and prisons has become a growing problem nationally since the early 2000’s. It relates to the policy areas of Corrections and the Criminal Justice system, two very complex subjects. The criminal justice system has two distinct parts: federal and state, which only exacerbates the difficulty of addressing prison overcrowding. Here we will look at and try to understand the causes and effects of the overcrowding issue, as well as analyze what possible solutions are already out there. We will show that prison overcrowding is caused by ‘tough on crime’ policies as well as a shift in corrections models, combining many solutions, will allow this issue to be controlled.

close he and Inez have become. In constant conflicts with one another, these characters present impetuous behavior that in turn evokes scenes of utter torture. The absurdity of a rapidly changing world is displayed when there are opposing views between these characters. Garcin and Estelle refuse to let go of their pasts, while Inez views her past as meaningless and chooses to exist in the present instead. Inez insists “all you own is here” which justifies her existence and essence to be in the present rather than the person she used to be.

To begin, Meursault was sent to jail for shooting an Arab man while at the beach with a few friends and Marie. Upon entering the jail, Meursault was stripped of his favorite pleasures such as smoking cigarettes, having sex, and walking along the beach. After befriending a prison guard, Meursault began to understand his punishment was his loss of free will. After a short withdraw period from thinking like a free man to thinking like a prisoner, (Camus, The Stranger, 77) Meursault’s perspective on prison begins to shift, if “…[he] had gotten used to not smoking”, it was no longer a “punishment” for him (Camus, The Stranger, 78). Meursault realizes he can adapt to any situation because he “often thought if [he] had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do…[he] would have gotten used to it” (Camus, The Stanger, 77). He starts to deplete himself of boredom by entertaining mind, reliving enjoyable memories, fantasizing about sex with women, and mentally redecorating his apartment. This allowed Meursault to not think about time and adjust to his new way of life in jail as if he was living in that dead tree trunk. After spending a “pleasant” year in jail, Meursault’s case was settled and he was sentenced to death. Since Meursault was an atheist, he denied seeing the Chaplin three times. He did not wish to talk to the Chaplin because “All [he] could think about was escaping the machinery of justice…” (Camus, The Stranger, 108). Shortly before his death date, Meursault had the chance to speak with the Chaplin. Meursault told the Chaplin that earth was not

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.

Meursault was introduced as a young man whom recently found out his mother, Maman, died. He was not the most emotional person, but he dealt with his feelings the best he knew how. Meursault lived his life on the verge of truth and honesty. He was honest within every aspect of life, from women to freedom. He was never certain about anything in life ,but one thing he was sure of, death was inevitable. After murdering an Arab, he was on trial in front of many people being interrogated with many questions about why he did what he did, but also to evaluate his psyche about the situation. Unlike others, Meursault did not hide from the truth and that is what others could not cope with. Living his life the way others were afraid to, Meursault was the outcast in his society.

(123) Meursault’s final encounter with the chaplain marks his anti-confession. Meursault becomes certain that he cannot have any hope because he is unable to escape mortality. The undeniable truth that death is unavoidable will be proven by Meursault’s execution and rouse disdain for Meursault by others in society because everyone will follow his footsteps and eventually die. Indeed, Meursault is hated because he does not follow the social norms.

What is equally absurd is that Meursault remains passive and detached over the course of a year of interrogations, and despite the pessimistic nature of his situation, he is able to feel a sense of comfort and belonging within the system trying to condemn him. Ironically, those witness testimonies that sought to free him prove to be the most damaging, and the religious people who surround him and purport to love all men unconditionally persecute him for his lack of belief. Everyone is astonished that Meursault has no emotions about the murder --no sense of remorse or desire to repent. Most men in his position find

This easy-going, pleasant hedonism is interrupted permanently by Meursault's murder of the Arab on the beach. Not only is he incarcerated, but also he must examine the reality behind the illusion of his trial and, ultimately, of his life. Introspection has not been his metier. It takes him a while to realize that the judge, the jury, the journalists, even his own lawyer, do not wish him well. Meursault finally realizes that he is going to be convicted, not because he killed an Arab but because he did not mourn his mother's death.

His background of living a poor life, almost near death from contracting tuberculosis, and working as a resistance fighter against the Nazis’, aided him in weaving in the theme of absurdism. Meursault’s view on absurdism that life is meaningless and death is inevitable allows him to believe he is normal, but creates separation from readers,