Theme Of Death In The Outsider

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

This excerpt from the novel shows his overall attitude towards the death of his mother, not wanting to see her for the last time before she is gone forever, which leads the reader to question the personality of this man. With the death of Ramone’s dog, Meursault “realized [Ramone] was crying” which in turn led him to “[think] of Mama”. However, he overcomes this thought by telling himself that “[he] had to get up early the next morning” and therefore “[he} went to bed without any dinner”. Camus incorporates the death of Ramone’s dog in order to once again display the strong contrast between Ramone’s reaction to his dog’s death compared to Meursault’s reaction to his mother’s death. Ramone is mourning over a member such as his dog passing away, and on ther other hand Meursault is indifferent towards the death of his mother. This greatly works in the development of the plot of the novel throughout the novel as he is indifferent towards other aspects of society as well and is condemned for his attitude towards his mother when he is put through trial. Keeping this in mind is essential in the understanding of some ideas presented later on in the novel.

From page fifty-eight to fifty-seven of Albert Camus’s The Stranger he uses the relentless Algerian sun as a motif for the awareness of reality that pursues the main character, Meursault, throughout the passage. When each motif appears in the novel such as this passage, Meursault’s actions change. This exemplifies that the light, heat, and sun trigger him to become debilitated or furious. Albert Camus sets up this motif in the passage to indicate to the reader that this motif shows the major themes of this novel. This motif shows Meursault’s emotion, how the imagery of weaponry affects Meursault’s actions, how the sun is a representation of society, and how the sun weakens Meursault.

In “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, the juxtaposition between Chaplain’s morals and the Meursault's are symbolic of the acceptance and rejection of social constructs like religion, showing how adhering to one’s own values are ultimately more rewarding. Throughout the novel, Meursault is defined his actions driven from prioritizing his physical needs first. This mentality lands Meursault in jail for killing an Arab because he was distracted by the sun. As he is about to approach his death sentence, the Chaplain attempts to get him to convert to religion and become a believer in his final moments, as “he was expressing his certainty that my appeal would be granted, but I was carrying the burden of sin from which I had to free myself. According

Camus’s emphasis on time accentuates Meursault’s indifference. This indifference reveals that death occurs inevitably, regardless of time. The first thought that the audience reads, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday,” immediately exhibits that when Maman died does not

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.

The mood of the passage when Meursault is alone on the beach is established on the first line, “There was the same dazzling red glare” (Camus 57). Immediately, the sun is placed at the center of attention as it is the origin of the glare that Meursault was referring to. This makes the mood feel arduous due to the intensity of the sun’s “dazzling red glare” in addition to the fact that the sun stays up for a significant period of time during the day (Camus 57). As a result, it creates no expectations that the sun will cease its effect on Meursault soon and a precedent is created that the persistent effect of the sun will have a significant impact on his future decisions.

The sun is a reliable indicator of Meursault’s feelings. It can make him sleepy, angry, happy, or even resentful. This is very important for a man with such a limited range of emotions. It seems as if he uses the sun to justify the feelings he experiences, as well as the murder he commits. The sun plays a key role in not only his feelings but also in his decision-making. He said, “… my nature is such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings.” This is very important in seeing just how significant the sun is in relation to Meursault’s actions.

Before I started reading this book I expected nothing more than a dry book from the 40’s that would bore me to death. However I was surprised to find the book filled with symbolism and Camus’s existentialism that has changed the way I look at life. The enjoyment of this book largely relies on the type of person you are.It might : depress you,make you happy, make you want to think for a while, or make you angry. It all depends on what message you take away from it.It makes you think about what life truly is and how you should live it. Each chapter builds on Meursault's character and reveals his thoughts with interactions with other characters. This book emphasizes on what the characters don’t say allowing you to draw your own conclusions on

This brings up the theme of absurdity. Meursault acknowledges that the weather causes him to kill the Arab in an impulsive manner, rather than saying that the murder is premeditated. He fails to justify his claims because the court cannot trust the absurdity of the argument. Even while Meursault is on trial, Meursault emphasizes on the Algerian heat: "But it went on much longer than when he was talking about my crime--so long, in fact, that finally all I was aware of was how hot a morning it was" (Camus 101). He worries about the heat and not about the trial and the prosecution. He does not concentrate on the prosecution, and cannot express clear responses to the questions the judges ask him. More heat is brought in when the judges and people in the courtroom start fanning themselves, which is another indication of the intense heat. Many readers see the sun as an object of beauty and providing warmth, not a symbol of aggression. The weather shapes Meursault into becoming more apathetic and so he does whatever he wants to do. He does not consider the consequences that will come in the future. Meursault does discover the beauty of the sun in prison and that he has to supply meaning and purpose to his life. However, in the end, he realizes that the universe feels indifferent about him: "I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like

The sweat blinding Meursault enables him from thinking clearly and reflects how powerful the sun is to throw him off of his usual train of thought. All Meursault can think about is the sunlight affecting his body and mood. All he can feel is “cymbals of sunlight crashing on [his] forehead” (59). Camus specifically describes where the particles of sun encounter his main character and how severely it bothers him. Still on the beach, his attention is on the “warm thick film” in his eyes (59). The sun throws off Meursaults’ focus on more than one occasion.

In The Stranger, Albert Camus writes about a detached yet normal man, Meursault, who encounters unusual situations that evidently leads to his demise. From cover to cover, it was established by the author that Meursault had an unusual way of thinking and that he was continuously revealing his peculiar perspective on life and death. Throughout the novel, Meursault is reminded of death and continues to be judged by everyone in the society that he lives in, for instance, when he was put on trial for shooting an Arab man. Camus writes about the main character by describing his absurdist mindset. It is through the focus of funeral scene, however, that Camus is able to formulate the values of the character and the society in which they live in. This scene was able to reveal Meursault’s perspective on life as well as death.

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

In the beach scene with Meursault, Masson and Raymond, and their fight with the Arabs, Camus’ motif of heat represents tension and foreshadows conflict between the two groups to show that tension leads to conflict and to build suspense. During this scene, the motif of heat specifically symbolizes cultural tension as well as foreshadowing physical conflict. When walking with Masson and Raymond in the beach scene, Meursault noticed that the “the sand was starting to get hot underfoot” (Camus 50) and it was “hard to breathe in the rocky heat rising from the ground” (Camus 50, 52). Camus uses the diction of underfoot to show that the heat is not there yet, but it is about to come. Furthermore, the diction of "rocky heat rising off the ground" shows that the heat is no longer under them, but now something that they are in. By using this kind of diction, Camus shows a transition in the state of heat which parallels the growth in tension in the Pied-Noir of the approaching Arabs. Due to its placement previous to conflict, it shows that tension leads to conflict. Another example of this theme is the inclusion of “the blazing sand looked red to me now” right before Raymond and Masson attack the Arabs with