Who Is Meursault's Irrationality?

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

The conviction of Meursault represents another main point of absurdism, that life is precious. It only takes forty five minutes for an entire jury to unanimously decide to send Meursault to the guillotine, which is unreasonable. Camus is trying to point this out as one of society’s wrongdoings. The prosecutor's argument had appealed to the jury's emotions and society’s standards rather than reason. If the jury had not felt the emotions that were supposed to influence their decision, the prosecutor's argument would have seemed completely irrational. In a rational world, Meursault's emotions regarding his mother or her funeral would not have influenced his verdict. Meursault commits a crime against an Arab, while Raymond, who had also done so earlier in the book, did not get into any trouble. He would still be found guilty, but only for the crime he committed. This would have definitely lightened his sentence; however, Meursault is sentenced to death. Camus proves the court’s hypocrisy and shows how human

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

Consequently, Meursault was put in jail and given a lawyer, but before given a lawyer he states how “I admitted I hadn’t hired an attorney and inquired whether it was really necessary to have one” which explains how indifferent this situation was to him (Camus 36). While if he felt any sadness the day Maman died, Meursault answers with “I probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything” therefore upsetting his lawyer because his answer was too truthful (Camus 65). After that answer it was apparent that his lawyer was upset and even asks Meursault if “he held back his natural feeling” which Meursault said no too, making the lawyer seem disgusted with Monsieur Meursault. This little dispute made Meursault conclude that “I made him feel uncomfortable” which isn’t unusual with Meursault and his way of communicating with others (Camus 66). After Meursault’s trial for cold blooded murder, he is sentenced to an execution, and that is when he realizes he can finally

Although Meursault is the title character and narrator of Albert Camus’ short novel The Stranger, he is also a somewhat flat character. His apparent indifferent demeanor may be a convenience to Camus, who mainly wanted to display his ideas of absurdism. And as a flat character, Meursault is not fully delineated: he lacks deep thought and significant change. His purpose is that of a first-person narrator whose actions embody the absurd, even before he has any awareness of the fact. Since Meursault is embodied absurdism, it is not necessary that he be hyperaware of his thoughts and intentions. His truth has already been built into his character by the

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.

Both Meursault’s lawyer and the prosecutor create explanations for Meursault’s crime that are based on reason and logic. The prosecutor even claims to have figured out the intent behind Meursault’s actions saying, “I have retraced for you the course of events which led this man to kill with full knowledge of his actions”(100). However, rationalizing behavior only serves to deny the alarming idea that the world is completely random. Therefore, Meursault’s trial shows absurdity and society’s futile attempt to impose rationality on every aspect of the universe.

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.

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

Before he shot the Arab on the beach, Meursault was spending time with Marie in the water and he thought multiple thoughts about them as a couple. When he was walking to the water he wrote, For the first time maybe, I really thought I was going to get married … Marie and I swam out a ways, and we felt a closeness as we moved in unison and were happy. (Camus, pg.50) Meursault understands the absurdity of the world, but the more time he spends with Marie the less it bothers him. The healing of the mind is a long process, and Meursault is only at the beginning with Marie.

The prosecutor accuses Meursault of, “Behaving at his mother’s funeral in a way that showed he was already a criminal at heart” (Camus 122). This statement shows how closed-minded society is in the book.   The fact that the prosecutor is using this as one of his main arguments, is one of the many reasons that Meursault is sentenced to death. With laws being rules and guidelines that are set up by the social institutions to govern behavior (www.), Meursault did not break any law by acting with no emotions at his mother's funeral.

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.

In The Stranger, Albert Camus allows the main character to tell the story in order to give the reader an experience of his own. Obviously, with a novel also comes language, which Camus incorporates cleverly as a way to indirectly illustrate Meursault’s thoughts about certain situations. Although the novel represents a postmodern setting, the author shifts the overall meaning. In The Stranger, Camus applies a unique literary style as a power that deflects blame from Meursault, the antiheroic character. In order to disclaim the fault of Meursault, Camus incorporates several instances in which he leaves a greater sense of authority to nonliving objects, while further drawing attention away from the main character. Based on the implication of

When he tells his boss that he needs two days off for his mother’s funeral, he immediately says it’s “not his fault.” The tone within this message is casual, as he associates himself with work, a daily task of the ordinary. This shows low morale because he uses his mother’s death as an excuse for something as trivial as missing days of work from the other hundreds of days on his schedule. The death of an individual is a sensitive topic and must be treated with sentimental feelings, and not be disregarded as something insignificant. When the policeman accuses Meursault of murder, he doesn’t take it seriously. This, again, establishes Meursault’s lack of morality because he doesn’t see the death of a person to be significant or meaningful, like his murdering wasn’t good or bad in any way; it was indifferent to him. In conclusion, Meursault characterization, is created by the narrator’s point of view and theme allowing Albert Camus to effectively deliver the notion that Meursault’s morality and humanity dies within the