The Stranger And Siddhartha

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.

I believe the overall message of Henry David Thoreau´s “Solitude” is to differentiate solitude and loneliness which are totally different. It is more of a state of mind than something real. People around by other people would feel more loneliness than people who are physically alone. For Thoreau being in solitude is the best way to discover your mind and spirituality and is the best way to know yourself.

“The Virtues of Isolation”, written by Brent Crane, states that under the right circumstances being alone can provide significant psychological help. The article stated that scientists often associate isolation with negative outcomes due to it having adverse effects on the minds of children. However, when it is voluntarily pursued, it can be shown to have significant befits—some would even say its therapeutic. That temporarily isolating yourself gives you a chance to take a step back and take a good look at yourself. It alleviates the stress on our everyday lives and lets us relax. That the difference between solitude as therapy and solitude as misery depends on the quality of self-reflection that a person experiences, and the ability to reintegrate into social groups when their ready.

Emerson’s Nature is often cited as a defining text within the transcendental movement. In the essay, he address man’s relationship with nature in the context of modern society in 1836; however, the ideas remains applicable for audiences today. In the same manner, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, while written in 1953, it is equally, if not more, relevant to man’s experience in 2015. These two texts share more than just their lasting impression; they also contain distinctly similar themes, which pertain to the core of the transcendentalist movement. Nature is a commentary of the modern man’s inability to go into solitude. Emerson points out that solitude is not only about being by oneself, but also completely shedding one's societal

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.

The solitude of man with the innate endeavoring nature to incessantly find passion, be fruitful, and embrace the tangibles causes us to lose focus of the scornful end. The condemnation we find ourselves in subsequent to the impotent attempts to satiate our inexplicable questions, is the puncture to our ideal notion . The disenchantment the truth of our obscure being offered is masqueraded with the absurdity through which we seamlessly wander through this life. The irrefutable desire to numb the conscious is the bittersweet burden which we carry to suppress the abyss of disparity which we are floating amidst. Monsieur Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger is the blaring anomaly. Fortifying himself through his indifferent nature and blunt honesty, Meursault is ostracized. Deemed with a psychosis he finds comfort in the unruly inescapable solace of life, death, which morphs into his gradual declination. The sun tracing his unusual circumstances, catalyzing his imminent reactions provides itself as the only paradigm to symbolize Meursault. The intricacies which unfold are reiterated by the Sun which juxtapose the indigenous contingency to find meaning. Meursault’s paradoxical compel and abhorrence to the sun highlights the idea that the what we choose to learn may not be abiding in beauty. Our choice in this duality sets forth the invitation to introspection offering its only absolute form through our own willingness. Meursault understanding himself is bonded to the sun

oneself alone, shows how solitary action and thought are so restricted as to be impossible to

Siddhartha leaves his home to search for Atman. Atman is referred to as the individual self. He is in search of finding Atman for himself. He is also drawn toward Brahman which is the “supreme universal soul.” Siddhartha loses himself when seeking for Atman and Brahman. (pg. 38) Siddhartha recites the verse, “Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul Brahman is the arrow’s goal At which one aims unflinchingly.” (pg.8) From this he is talking about how through meditation your soul shall reach enlightenment if you do this without hesitation.

“Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous - to poetry. But also, it gives birth to the opposite: to the perverse, the illicit, the absurd.” (Death in Venice, 78). Everyone in today’s society is supposed to fit the expectations that has been created, but this individuals to lose their ingenuity. Although many believe that the best ideas and realizations are conceived through the sharing of ideas between multiple people, in all actuality, some of the best inventions were created by single people. These actions can be seen from characters in “Anthem,” “The Odyssey,” “The Pedestrian,” and “Lord of the Flies.” Isolation leads to clarity due to the lack of external influences tainting one’s perspective.

From the beginning, one of Siddhartha's most resilient qualities that stick with him from childhood is his defiant nature. This defiance appears multiple times throughout the novel, and each time it’s used alludes to his eventual suffering from others defiance. “... the son stood with crossed arms, mute and motionless, the father sat on the mat, and the stars drifted across the sky…”(Hesse-9). This is the first look at the protagonist's thorn like mentality which is key to his transition to an all-knowing and pure state. Siddhartha plants his foot down in an attempt to convince his father to give him his blessing to go off with the Samanas. This concept of defiance is seen continuously throughout all the stages of his life, during his struggle to find enlightenment and the way that Hesse constructs the book

Meursault manager told him that he lacked ambition (41). He was caught up in the monotony of life, and before he knew it all he had taken for granted was soon taken from him. Meursault's imprisonment is physical as it is metaphoric. It's in prison that he accepts death and wishes through his execution that those that watch him will in turn learn that regardless of how one lives their life death comes for everyone. Meursault comes to the conclusion that it is only through an execution that life can truly be valued.

Despite the concept of there being “self-made” people, it needs to be understood that nobody gets to where they are alone. There is always someone or something that is there to help along the way. There are always teachers. In Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha himself struggles to realize this because he wants to reach enlightenment, and he believes the only way to do that is by doing it alone. Even as a young child growing up with highly educated Brahmins he sought more.

"Dive into the world of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse wrote. This book will transport you into a world between science fiction and fantasy. You will find all kinds of worlds that allow you to evader you and let your imagination run. Each chapter you will learn more about this mysterious heroine and her story.

Understandably, Meursault is a complex character—he is not a true hero nor a true villain,

The literary characters of Meursault and Tonio Kroeger are likely depicted as ‘outsiders’ in the novels The Stranger by Albert Camus and Tonio Kroeger by Thomas Mann. The novels can both be described as existentialist investigations. In the school of philosophy, existentialism seeks to investigate the relationship between individuals and the society, the meaning of life, and the unavoidable conflicts in interpersonal relationships among other inquisitions (Sleasman, 2014). Existentialism is evident in the two novels under review as the characters are treated as outsiders.