Absurdity in The Outsider
Albert Camus, one of the eminent French novelist, essayist and playwright is often considered as a nihilist, or extreme absurdist who believes that life is senseless and useless. ‘The Outsider’, Camus’s first novel is a representation of his absurd thinking about the world. The use of the term ‘absurd’ in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore and represent those elements in the world that do not make sense and ‘The Outsider’ is one of the beautiful representation of Camus’s revolt against the norms of the society.
In the very first line of the novel elevates the absurd concept, " My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the old people's home: 'Mother deceased. …show more content…
We find that when Marie asks him to marry her and he agrees, but feels a certain emotional distance. Here Meursault implies the word “meaninglessness” very well. To him the perception of marriage is different from the others. The certain social norms ‘love’ as a serious matter and ‘marriage’ as an important social institution are one of the ritualized beliefs which Meursault has given up earlier, even he gave up his ambition. Meursault had settled himself into a style of life in which inarticulate personal needs and satisfactions seek spontaneous responses to the demands of nature and others. In every part of this novel Meursault has retained his ‘unconventional’ attitude but the character proceeds toward a certain mental awakening to …show more content…
In William M. Manly’s work “Journey to Consciousness: The Symbolic Pattern of Camus’s L’Etranger” we find many characteristic similarities between the protagonists of these two works. Camus claimed that both of the works were not designed to reveal a “philosophie absurde” but a “sensibilité absurde”, which is evident in the intention and readily apparent in its poetic style and emotional tone. Although Camus’s personal point of view shows a deep sympathy with Meursault, it is evident that the quality of sympathetic awareness seems lacking in Meursault’s attitude toward his mother, Marie, Céleste, Raymond, and his life in the first section. In the light of Camus’s perception with different states of consciousness in Le Mythe de Sisyphe, it is suggested that Meursault’s early behavior towards the social norms falls into a symbolic pattern which is a characteristic feature of the novel as a
Albert Camus, one of the eminent French novelist, essayist and playwright is often considered as a nihilist, or extreme absurdist who believes that life is senseless and useless. ‘The Outsider’, Camus’s first novel is a representation of his absurd thinking about the world. The use of the term ‘absurd’ in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore and represent those elements in the world that do not make sense and ‘The Outsider’ is one of the beautiful representation of Camus’s revolt against the norms of the society.
In the very first line of the novel elevates the absurd concept, " My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the old people's home: 'Mother deceased. …show more content…
We find that when Marie asks him to marry her and he agrees, but feels a certain emotional distance. Here Meursault implies the word “meaninglessness” very well. To him the perception of marriage is different from the others. The certain social norms ‘love’ as a serious matter and ‘marriage’ as an important social institution are one of the ritualized beliefs which Meursault has given up earlier, even he gave up his ambition. Meursault had settled himself into a style of life in which inarticulate personal needs and satisfactions seek spontaneous responses to the demands of nature and others. In every part of this novel Meursault has retained his ‘unconventional’ attitude but the character proceeds toward a certain mental awakening to …show more content…
In William M. Manly’s work “Journey to Consciousness: The Symbolic Pattern of Camus’s L’Etranger” we find many characteristic similarities between the protagonists of these two works. Camus claimed that both of the works were not designed to reveal a “philosophie absurde” but a “sensibilité absurde”, which is evident in the intention and readily apparent in its poetic style and emotional tone. Although Camus’s personal point of view shows a deep sympathy with Meursault, it is evident that the quality of sympathetic awareness seems lacking in Meursault’s attitude toward his mother, Marie, Céleste, Raymond, and his life in the first section. In the light of Camus’s perception with different states of consciousness in Le Mythe de Sisyphe, it is suggested that Meursault’s early behavior towards the social norms falls into a symbolic pattern which is a characteristic feature of the novel as a