Absurdism

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…

Alexander the Great once said, “There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” The Underground Man criticized people for thinking they could do the impossible. He used many metaphors in criticizing the people, such as “since two times two is a fact of mathematics.” He used this metaphor to tell the readers that when something is impossible, it is always due to the laws of nature. He believed that reason had no place in society because it affected humans' aspiration for free will. The…

“The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The name of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile than he would have thought. How much was gone already? The sacred idiom shorn of its referents and so of its reality.” (McCarthy, p. 75) In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the narration above encapsulates a post apocalyptic world, which has been reduced down to its…

The story takes place when Meursault learns of his mother's death. When he goes to her funeral he has no emotions of sadness or grief. He was asked if he wanted to view the body. He said no, and instead, smokes and drinks coffee in front of the coffin. He then encounters Marie, a former employee of his firm. “There is not love of life without despair about life.” “Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter.” ― Albert Camus, The Stranger ― Albert Camus, The…

Novel Notebook: The Stranger 1. Setting/Matter: The Stranger by Albert Camus, is set in Algeria in the 1940’s. The setting is important to the story, because it sets the stage for….. 2. Plot: The story is about a man named Monsieur Meursault. In the first part of the book, it is revealed that he recently lost his mother. After her funeral, he returns to his normal routine of life, and he even gets a girlfriend, named Marie, and a new friend named Raymond. They all go to a beach one afternoon,…

The title of The Stranger, by Albert Camus, points out the disconnects between both the characters of the story and the characters disconnects within themselves. Throughout the entire novel the characters connect on a very shallow level and only when they are in need of something. This inevitably leads to them never really understanding each other but just being with each other to escape loneliness and fit in with the social standards. The novel also exhibits how the characters sell themselves…

“On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man." (Camus 64). Albert Camus wrote “The Stranger”, which is influenced by the philosophical view of existentialism. Existentialist believe life is not predetermined, our actions are independent of outside influence, humans are free to make life choices, and the significance of life is self-defined. The protagonist of the story, Meursault, is the worst existential mate due to his absence of…

The Magistrate’s crucifix in The Stranger by Albert Camus and the comparisons Santiago Nasar to Jesus and the priest in The Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez are religious instances used to highlight the inability of the protagonists, Meursault and Santiago, to conform with society. In these novels, religion is a major theme, in The Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Christianity is the practiced by the people in the town, the norms of their society were based around their…

Albert Camus uses the story, The Guest, to answer how the landscape and setting around civilization can demonstrate human’s absurdity. This absurdity is the ability of man to find a purpose in a world that neither knows nor cares that man exists. The moral dilemma imposed on Daru in the story highlights the essence of the absurd condition of the world and how it forces onto Daru a situation beyond his control, regardless of his moral attitude. In Daru’s land, drought is followed by snow and,…

In the existentialist novel, The Stranger, Camus uses the heat as a motif and symbol to focus on the day of his mother’s funeral, the day he committed the crime, and Mersault’s feelings that he cannot deal with. The novel was about a man whose mother had died and he didn’t believe that he cared until he got flashbacks and killed a man. Soon after his mother died Meursault is making friends and going out. He gets into some trouble and ends up in jail. He goes through trial and doesn’t make it.…