Understanding Meursault's Nature

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

Part 1, Section 1: We are first introduced to Meursault, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, where he is presented with his mother’s death. He doesn’t know exactly when she died, but just knows that she has passed. This then leads to his journey there, from asking for the day off from his boss, catching the bus, attending the night vigil for his other, and finally walking her to the funeral. Throughout this section he is very emotionless, almost distant about the whole situation. He doesn’t really have an explanation for not wanting to see his mother's coffin, or how he doesn’t know her exact age. Here we get a little glimpse of how amoral Meursault is, and we see a bit of foreshadow for what is to come.

Often times, people view individuals by the way they handle situations and their responses to others. Every character in a story can be summed up in about three to four characteristics based on their actions and speech. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator reveals his true character through the way he treats his younger brother. He possesses characteristics including authority, pride, and cruelty, and readers know these traits through Hurst’s dialogue and actions.

People experience different emotions that can drastically change within seconds and, cannot remain controlled. During the course of “The Most Dangerous Game”, “Scarlet Ibis” and “The Use of Force”, the author demonstrates how a person can change from calm and collected to an assailant. Sickness comes in many forms, both physical and mental. Together both can affect emotions, actions which those two then lead into flaws and faults being revealed. All humans have flaws and the authors are attempting to aid the reader in understanding flaws and that can be embraced or overpower a person. The narrators and characters of these stories have many flaws these faults which are both extremely subtle and obvious.

I didn’t think I would like this book simply because I knew that it has existentialist themes which I was never fond of. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was confusing and I probably would have liked it more if I saw it live as an actual performance. However, I do like how Meursault has clear actions and thoughts even though I don’t believe in all of them. Like when he is pretty much indifferent to Raymond’s abusive nature. But somehow he pitties Salamano’s dog. That whole point is confusing to me like I don't understand if Meursault is just bad at seeing the similarities or what.

The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many

The prosecutor often refers to Meursault's behavior at his mother’s funeral. Since Meursault showed no sign of remorse at her funeral, it was used against him repeatedly in the case that would determine his fate. This court case put Meursault in such a difficult and lonely situation, “Everything was happening without my participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion...whatever interest you can get people to take in you doesn’t last long”(Camus 98). Prison is where Meursault begins and finds his enlightenment, he spends his time there mainly thinking about the life one can experience as a free man, in prison it's where Meursault's real character shows in the entire book. Due to this, it feels like Meursault is reborn to the readers. Prison and the court case bring out a side to Meursault that was never really shown in the book, he begins to defend himself against all, “What did other people’s deaths...What would it matter if he were accused of murder and then executed because he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral”(Camus 121)? Both Siddhartha and Meursault go through solitude in different ways but end up revealing something about their character as if they are reborn, another step toward each of their enlightenments.

The critic begins with a nice summary of the plot and then moves on to the inconsistencies in the novel. An inconsistency he mentions is the apparent rapid development of the creature’s “habits” and “faculties” such

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

In his novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, irony within the protagonist’s ( Meursault ) contrasting perception of the human condition is used to illustrate and invoke the reader to question the contradictory nature of societal expectations. His indifferent and unprecedented reactions to experiences - relative to the characters that Camus laid before him - aid in displaying the absurdity of a world constrained by the chains of conventional wisdom. The contrasting nature of Meursault's demeanor in defying conventional wisdom in experiences such as love and death not only reveals the underlying hypocrisy of the human condition but further illustrates the arbitrary essence of defining a human life.

In the last chapter we see Meursault as he contemplates death and the future set in place for himself. He thinks about his parents, death, and his existence. Through Meursault's thoughts in the last chapter we gain new insight to his character as he becomes closer to death.

The first theme which is going to be analysed is the value of self-knowledge and moral integrity. This theme is explored in both texts through the development of the protagonist from someone self-centred and borderline narcissistic, to a more self-aware

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.

Widely recognized for philosophical writings as a French essayist and playwright, Albert Camus is a major contributor to exploring the absurd in modern Western literature. Characterized by highlighting the human condition, Camus’ writing style focuses on the everyday lives and inner psyche of individuals in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Such a character-driven writing style is most notably displayed in his 1946 work, The Stranger, a tale of an emotionally-detached man known as Meursault, who lives in French-colonized Algiers during the intermission of the two World Wars. Consisting of two parts—The Stranger first explores his daily life as a free man, and in the second, delves more into the character’s own philosophy as Meursault contemplates during his remaining time in jail. At its core, the story explores the relationships and interactions of the odd Meursault through the character’s inner monologue and dialogue with those around him. The story itself is very ambiguous in its’ nature, and the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and purpose is prevalent throughout The Stranger. Evidently, Camus writes Meursault as a man who believes that life has no meaning, and therefore people are free to do as they please. To supplement the protagonist’s view, the author also presents Meursault alongside various personalities of key supporting characters, each with their own unique personality, and differing outlooks on life. Doing so thus enables Camus to get readers to contemplate about meaning through multiple perspectives. Stylistically, through many devices that emphasize diction, imagery, and story themes. Ultimately, The Stranger is a way for Camus to convey that there are multiple ways to perceive the meaning of life, using Meursault to directly project a different view than what readers are used to. Surely, with the intent of crafting a protagonist so strange, that Meursault becomes comparable to other characters; less so as a reflection of what the author personally believes the meaning of life is, but more of what such exploration of the idea could be.

Meursault has no reason for his actions, including his inability to feign remorse at his mother’s funeral, his insensitivity and killing the Arab. Meursault’s indifference to his life implies that one is born, one is going to die, and one will no longer have any importance if he previously had any importance at all. Meursault’s indifference to his life was highlighted when he tells the Chaplin that he didn’t need anybody’s help and says, “ I just didn’t have the time to interest myself in what didn’t interest me” (117). Meursault was offered soul cleansing, catharsis, through having faith in order to help him through the execution process. However, Meursault rejects the help and is dehumanized by the Chaplin when he implies that he doesn’t care about the value of his life and the world, because the world is meaningless and everyone eventually dies. The implication of indifference contributed to Meursault’s dehumanization by the