Albert Camus’ The Stranger reflects his existentialist philosophy. The novel follows Meursault’s point of view as he develops his perception of the world throughout the novel. In the first half of the novel, Meursault is purely subjective to the world around him; he is detached and emotionless. However, as the novel progresses, Meursault is faced with death, which evolves him to become introspective. The novel delineates that the turning point of the existential character, Meursault, is his death because he reaches a pivotal point known as the hour of consciousness furthering him away from being “the Stranger”.
Between the Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger, both the main characters reach a pivotal point in what Camus describes as the “hour of consciousness”. The term refers to the period in which Sisyphus must walk down the hill upon losing his grip of the boulder and must therefore push it back up; Camus argues that it is here in which Sisyphus “is superior to his fate” for he becomes aware of his hopeless existence (Myth of Sisyphus #4). Similarly, Meursault enters this phase in the second act when he lies in his cell well knowing he would face execution there his days in the cell “seemed like one and the same day that have been going on since [he’d] been in the cell” (The Stranger 74). The hour of consciousness becomes a monumental idea in Camus’s philosophy because it carries a means in which humans can …show more content…
Facing death propels him to the understanding that there exists a mutuality between the senselessness of the man and the nonchalance of the world such that man’s only action is to derive his own meaning. Meursault thus serves as the existential hero and becomes fully aware of the hollowness of existence, but finds a certain happiness for which he is comforted, knowing very well that though life may have no purpose, death can bring
Between the Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger, both the main characters reach a pivotal point in what Camus describes as the “hour of consciousness”. The term refers to the period in which Sisyphus must walk down the hill upon losing his grip of the boulder and must therefore push it back up; Camus argues that it is here in which Sisyphus “is superior to his fate” for he becomes aware of his hopeless existence (Myth of Sisyphus #4). Similarly, Meursault enters this phase in the second act when he lies in his cell well knowing he would face execution there his days in the cell “seemed like one and the same day that have been going on since [he’d] been in the cell” (The Stranger 74). The hour of consciousness becomes a monumental idea in Camus’s philosophy because it carries a means in which humans can …show more content…
Facing death propels him to the understanding that there exists a mutuality between the senselessness of the man and the nonchalance of the world such that man’s only action is to derive his own meaning. Meursault thus serves as the existential hero and becomes fully aware of the hollowness of existence, but finds a certain happiness for which he is comforted, knowing very well that though life may have no purpose, death can bring