The Stranger Existentialism Analysis

In the novel The Stranger, the author Albert Camus emphasizes the absurdities of life and he does this by striking the audience with Meursault’s blunt nature and his embodiment of existentialism. The novel explores existentialist ideology which represent the philosophy of life essentially being “pointless” .Since the message of existentialism can have a powerful negative connotation it can be surprising to understand how Meursault can be considered anything close to free especially , considering the freedom he gained happened after he committed murder but that’s what happened considering the sequence of events , since his routine hindered him from the enlightenment he gained from being captured. The Webster dictionary defines freedom as “the power or right to act, speak, …show more content…
For instance, when Raymond is first mentioned in the book he is described as someone that most of society looked down on and yet Meursault wasn’t apprehensive to be his friend or do favors for him. Although the judgement of others can seem harsh it can sometimes be used as a type of warning, yet Meursault doesn’t recognize this normal social phenomenon and becomes friends with Raymond seen by how he states “He asked me again if I wanted to be pals. I said it was fine with me: he seemed pleased.” (Camus 60) Meursault treats his relationship with others almost like his life in a very passive manner seen how he doesn’t agree to be pals with him because he wants to but just because he doesn’t seem to have a reason to disagree. His lack of understanding society around doesn’t correspond with him being true to himself since he isn’t doing it to rebel, or live as he wants, but rather because he’s unaware of how to live any other way. Since he is living passively and not genuinely he’s not truly free