Meursault from The Stranger and Truman from The Truman Show are characters from two different stories which display strong themes of existentialism. Existentialism is the mysterious idea that people determine the development of their own lives by their own choices and that life is absurd. The Stranger is about a peculiar man, Meursault, who strongly seems to believe these themes of existentialism. On the other hand, in The Truman Show, the main character, Truman, is trapped in an existentialist environment. Although Meursault and Truman are both existential heroes, through their relationships with others, their environment, and their views of their own lives, it is clear that they are vastly different in a multitude of aspects. Meursault and
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Truman is always cheerful when he greets his neighbors in the morning: “‘Good Morning!...Oh! And in case I don’t see ya’! Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!’” (The Truman Show). This not only shows his personality, but, through that personality, also his interesting view of life. He believes that he should act with this enthusiasm as he lives life. He is interested in interacting with others. This is very different from how Meursault thinks about his life; as Meursault is pondering about something that his friend asks him, he says “when I had to drop my studies, I very soon realized all that was pretty futile” (Camus 28). Through what he says, it is inferable that Meursault had, at one point, tried and cared, but a devastating event caused him to change to what he is in the story. His life is lived through with an extremely existentialist way of thinking. He believes in the absurdism of life, and, as a result, he lives with the uninterested passiveness of someone who has given up and does not care much about anything
Truman is always cheerful when he greets his neighbors in the morning: “‘Good Morning!...Oh! And in case I don’t see ya’! Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!’” (The Truman Show). This not only shows his personality, but, through that personality, also his interesting view of life. He believes that he should act with this enthusiasm as he lives life. He is interested in interacting with others. This is very different from how Meursault thinks about his life; as Meursault is pondering about something that his friend asks him, he says “when I had to drop my studies, I very soon realized all that was pretty futile” (Camus 28). Through what he says, it is inferable that Meursault had, at one point, tried and cared, but a devastating event caused him to change to what he is in the story. His life is lived through with an extremely existentialist way of thinking. He believes in the absurdism of life, and, as a result, he lives with the uninterested passiveness of someone who has given up and does not care much about anything