The character of Meursault is misinterpreted not only in the book but also by the readers themselves portraying him as an immoral and insensitive murderer who is incapable of feeling remorse even at his mother’s funeral. Also, many of Meursault’s actions and thoughts are viewed as being nihilistic as he constantly mentions that ‘all is meaningless’. In the Afterword, we can see that Camus meant that the character of Meursault is ‘driven by tenacious and therefore profound passion, the passion for absolute and for truth.’ It is also mentioned despite not deserving his fate he ‘is condemned because he doesn’t play the game.’ Therefore, because of his “ill” character he visually deservingly receives the death sentence. In reality, Meursault is
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Knowing the absurdity of the world, Meursault is not afraid of expressing his opinion on matters concerning him. In fact, Meursault despises dishonesty as we see in the newspaper mentioning the story of a man wanting to surprise his mother and sister with his wealth by concealing his identity, but was killed by them in a robbery by them. Although many would pity this ridiculous death, Meursault thinks that ‘the traveler pretty much deserved what he got and that you should never play games (pg 80).” Another case when he is honest is when Marie ask if he loves her to which he responds that it didn’t matter to him and that he doesn’t love her, and he doesn’t care if they get married. Such a statement could depict Meursault as heartless and incapable of feeling love, but he is just expressing his opinion on the social construct of marriage and the hollow expressions of love. Understanding this, after the initial shock, Marie responds by stating that he is ‘peculiar’ and that ‘that is the reason she loved him’ (pg 42). A time when his sincerity backfired was during the trial when asked what made him kill the Arab; Meursault responded that it was the sun. Then, unsurprised he observed the courtroom filling up with laughter. However, what ultimately led to his execution …show more content…
However, when analyzing Meursault’s thought process, we see that he pays special attention to his senses. When he travels to his mom’s funeral, he complains about the smell of gasoline, the bumpy ride, and the glare of the sun causing him to doze off. After waking up he wanted to find th The book points out that Meursault didn’t want to have a confrontation in any way. He asked Raymond for the gun with the pretext that he will ‘let him have it’ (pg 56) if he attack with a knife, but most likely his intentions were to not let Raymond’s rage kill the Arab undeservingly. Meursault experience life through his senses without planning about the future. A contrast of his character is found in the ‘robot like woman’ at Celestes which was planning out which radio broadcast she would listen to while negating the food in the restaurant. He only lives in the moment. In addition, the chaplain’s way of life is similar to ‘a dead man’ (pg 120) as he is trying to life his now with the goal of being happy in the afterlife. When he shot the Arab, the weather was hot and the sun was burning his skin to the point of seeing it as if it was fire, and the day ‘had been anchored in a sea of molten lead’ (pg 58). As the Arab raised his knife in the air, the light reflected from it pierced his as if it was a ‘dazzling spear’ (pg 59). With this kind of
Knowing the absurdity of the world, Meursault is not afraid of expressing his opinion on matters concerning him. In fact, Meursault despises dishonesty as we see in the newspaper mentioning the story of a man wanting to surprise his mother and sister with his wealth by concealing his identity, but was killed by them in a robbery by them. Although many would pity this ridiculous death, Meursault thinks that ‘the traveler pretty much deserved what he got and that you should never play games (pg 80).” Another case when he is honest is when Marie ask if he loves her to which he responds that it didn’t matter to him and that he doesn’t love her, and he doesn’t care if they get married. Such a statement could depict Meursault as heartless and incapable of feeling love, but he is just expressing his opinion on the social construct of marriage and the hollow expressions of love. Understanding this, after the initial shock, Marie responds by stating that he is ‘peculiar’ and that ‘that is the reason she loved him’ (pg 42). A time when his sincerity backfired was during the trial when asked what made him kill the Arab; Meursault responded that it was the sun. Then, unsurprised he observed the courtroom filling up with laughter. However, what ultimately led to his execution …show more content…
However, when analyzing Meursault’s thought process, we see that he pays special attention to his senses. When he travels to his mom’s funeral, he complains about the smell of gasoline, the bumpy ride, and the glare of the sun causing him to doze off. After waking up he wanted to find th The book points out that Meursault didn’t want to have a confrontation in any way. He asked Raymond for the gun with the pretext that he will ‘let him have it’ (pg 56) if he attack with a knife, but most likely his intentions were to not let Raymond’s rage kill the Arab undeservingly. Meursault experience life through his senses without planning about the future. A contrast of his character is found in the ‘robot like woman’ at Celestes which was planning out which radio broadcast she would listen to while negating the food in the restaurant. He only lives in the moment. In addition, the chaplain’s way of life is similar to ‘a dead man’ (pg 120) as he is trying to life his now with the goal of being happy in the afterlife. When he shot the Arab, the weather was hot and the sun was burning his skin to the point of seeing it as if it was fire, and the day ‘had been anchored in a sea of molten lead’ (pg 58). As the Arab raised his knife in the air, the light reflected from it pierced his as if it was a ‘dazzling spear’ (pg 59). With this kind of