The Stranger Essay

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.

In Albert Camus novel, The Stranger (The Outsider), the main character Meursault displays a unique indifference to his surroundings and the world around him. It takes him a degree of time to come to terms with his indifference, but when he does he feels truly free from society's constricting bonds. He leads an apathetic lifestyle that is characterized by his constant lack of a definitive personality. Meursault wanders through life as if in a drunken stupor, living the life of a pleasure seeker. When he accepts his death he is relieved of the pressure of dealing with guilt and with relationships towards other people.

2. Why does Meursault become so upset with the priest who comes to visit him in his cell? What is the priest trying to make him do?

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.

7.Meursault realizing that the jury most likely thinks that he is guilty. This contributes to the conflict because during the trial, Meursault barely pays attention, but there is a moment when he realizes that because he hadn't yet found meaning in his life, others have tried to do it for him. The trial forces Meursault to confront his existence and as he listens to the opinions of others about him, he understands that there is a part of himself that he cannot control because it lies within the minds of those around him. This is significant to the conflict because he becomes aware that the people around him and within society have different views on his actions than he does, which results in his exclusion from

Marie’s feelings for Meursault are almost admirable. Even in jail she continues to put a smile on her face for him and visit him. She must really love him. His visit with her is odd because he cares more of what's going on around him than his time with her. It’s odd because he says he misses Marie and sex so much but he doesn’t even take the time to really look at her. I keep wondering where Raymond is. After all this was his fight to begin with, in my opinion he should have been the first visitor for Meursault.

1. Meursault is in a kind of sexual relationship. Everytime he sees her, he can’t stop his sexual attraction towards her. His thoughts are all about her physical features and sex. When Marie asks Meursault if he love her, he told her it didn’t matter. “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but I don’t think so” (35).

For a moment I had the ridiculous impression that they were there to judge me” (15). In this quotation Madame Meursault’s friends are positioned in such a way that they resemble a jury. This incident is a direct foreshadowing of Meursault’s murder trial which is paralleled in Part II. Meursault’s lack of emotion in both of these instances is brought up in Part II for his murder conviction. During his mother’s funeral, Meursault takes part in a few activities that to the reader seem quite unconventional and absurd. These include: smoking and drinking coffee at his mother’s vigil, showing no signs of mourning and beginning an affair with a woman the night after the funeral. The court uses these activities against him in his murder trial because they show disrespect and irrationality. Camus has purposely plotted these events and shows their importance through repetition to foreshadow their use in Meursault’s eventual

Albert Camus creates a series of characters in The Stranger whose personality traits and motivations mirror those that are overlooked by the average man. Camus develops various characters and scenarios that are considered rude and unpleasant, but because it has become common, society accepts it as norms. Camus incorporates atrocious personality traits of the characters, variety, consistency, and everyone’s fate through the creation of the characters.

Camus employs a change in routine, Meursault having food with other people, which reveals the cause for him becoming involved and encountering bad situations. Meursault mentions his everyday routine when saying, “I ate at the restaurant, at Céleste’s, as usual” (Camus, 3). The principal factor of his everyday routine which involves food, usually took place at Céleste’s. Meursault in the textual quote displays a shift in his food routine when mentioning, ‘I’ve [Raymond] got some blood sausage and some wine at my place. How about joining me’ (28)? Raymond’s invitation leads up to him becoming involved in a faulty situation. Meursault mentions the situation when saying, “He’d thought of asking me to write it for him. Since I didn’t say anything, he asked if I’d mind doing it right then and I said no” (32). Through the excuse of just having dinner with Raymond, it results in Meursault writing a letter to Raymond’s ex-girlfriend. Later the letter causes a quarrel which results in Meursault becoming a witness as well. Another instance of a change from Céleste’s restaurant is when Meursault consumes coffee at his mother’s funeral. Another change in routine is shown by Meursault when he mentions,

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.

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.

In “The Stranger” by Camus, Meursault’s actions throughout the story can be summed up in one word, absurd.

enjoys Marie’s company. But, it seems like her enjoys her as a woman rather than as an