The Stranger By Albert Camus

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

Later on he commits the crime of shooting an arab man, whom was the brother of his friends ex-partner. Yet again he showed no emotion whatsoever even after what he did. Since he had already had a bad reputation for not mourning his mother’s death, not feeling sorry for killing a man made it all worse. No one felt pity for him whatsoever, not even his lawyer who was suppose to be on his side. Meursault is considered a threat because of his lack of moral feelings www.sparknotes.com. He is found guilty and sentenced to prison, where in time he learns to accept himself, and his way of viewing life, and for the first time feels happy.

Camus published “L'Etranger” or “The Stranger” during World War II, and it became one of his most discussed works in Europe (Rhein). The popularity of Camus’ work can be attributed to the overall feelings in Europe brought by the havoc of war that had left the lands marred. Many people throughout Europe were hurt by the war and began to question the point of life amidst such destruction. This resonates with the modern audience as well because “The Stranger” continues to play on themes that can be seen in the horrifying occurrences that fill the media today (Rhein). Many atrocities allow a modern audience to relate to the events of WWII, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Haitian earthquake, which leave many questioning

Meursault is amoral. This means he simply does not make the distinctions between good and bad in his own mind. "Take him on man to man and give me your gun. If the other one moves in, or he draws his knife, I'll let him have it," says Meursault. “Then he told me that as a matter fact he wanted to ask my advice about the whole business since I was a man, I knew about things, I could help him out, and then we'd be pals." To describe these quotes, Meursault agrees to help Raymond, this leads to the murder. Meursault can’t comprehend the difference between right and wrong in his own

Albert Camus’ The Stranger: Isolation within a Literary Classic In Albert Camus’ Nobel Prize winning novel The Stranger, we are introduced to a dynamic character named Monsieur Meursault. The way Camus writes the novel is by starting with a character that really doesn’t make decisions or give importance to any one or to any of the things happening around him; he is an isolated man. All the feelings or thoughts that he has are very passive; he gets over them very quickly. But going on an unexpected long get-away with his friend Reymond and girlfriend Marie, started to change the type of man he use to be. Finding one of Reymond’s old enemies, an Arab and his gang, made Monsieur, the once innocent man, a murderer.

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

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions to things like his mother’s death, Marie’s love, and the man he killed. Most people in his town, along with the reader at first, are not able to reason out his actions but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light.

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.

In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the main character Meursault kills an Arab man after the man attacks his friend and ends up in prison, condemned to death after the jury finds him guilty almost solely based on the fact that he was insensitive at his mother’s funeral. While in prison, Meursault has several epiphanies, that is, he has several moments when he feels a sudden sense of understanding about important aspects of his life that help him make peace with the fact that he will die soon. The epiphanies that Meursault reach parallel the epiphanies that I have reached during my lifetime in that we both realized that there are lives that exist independently of ours and that in the big picture, the lives we are living are

Do to the murder committed by Meursault, with motive it demonstrates that he has no sympathy toward the consequences of his actions, because of the fact that he needs psychological help. An example that demonstrates that Meursault has no concern for the consequences would be when he chose to execute the person on the shoreline and instead of fleeing like every other person he decided to hang out in the same area he slaughtered the person because he didn't care that he killed the guy,because he thinks it doesn't matter due to the fact everyone dies at on point which is a twisted way to think.

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.

When he returns home to Algiers, Meursault carries on with life as normal. Over dinner one evening, his neighbor Raymond tells of his desire to punish his mistress for infidelity, and asks Meursault to write a letter to the mistress for him. Meursault agrees, saying "I tried my best to please Raymond because I didn’t have any reason not to please him" (32). While Raymond is a man of questionable morals, he acts with purpose. Meursault, on the other hand, acts with mostly passive indifference, doing things simply because he doesn’t have a reason not to do them.

I agreed to act as a witness for him” (37), the contextual evidence proves that Raymond only uses Meursault for his own benefit by making him his witness. In this relationship, Camus presents Raymond with selfish-like characteristics for using Meursault for his own benefit and not returning the favor to Meursault.

Meursault begins The Stranger devoid of human sympathy and emotions. He demonstrates such blank indifference in the situation when Raymond brutally beats his girlfriend. Marie “asked [Meursault] to go find a policeman, but [he] told her [he] didn 't like cops.” (Camus, 36) When encountering cruel domestic violence, he shows no feelings of sympathy or disgust. He has no motivation to act, allowing a mere dislike of police to trump his ability to end senseless conflict. Meursault also murders a man in cold blood. Not only does he whimsically allow the mere shine of sunlight to give him justification to end a man’s life, he further illustrates a lack of human emotion, calmly firing “four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace.” (Camus, 59) He remains the same blank slate, without any regret or sadness for what he has done nor fear of the consequences. Although Meursault looks human, he is clearly monstrous and lacks all emotions commonplace to people.

Many people often base their opinions on a person by judging his whole life in general and his attitude towards life without caring about who the person really is deep down inside. This unfair reasoning can occur in the courtroom when people are put on trial and the judge and the jury must delve into the life of the accused and determine if he is a hazard to society. Occasionally, the judge and jury are too concerned with the accused’s past that they become too biased and give an unfair conviction and sentencing. In his novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the courtroom as a symbol to represent society that judges the main character, Meursalt, unfairly to illustrate how society forms opinions based on one’s past.