I will be working on “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, and discussing it’s themes of absurdism and “otherness.” The main character within the text is called Meursault, and he doesn’t fit anywhere near the norm of a regular character with regular emotions. He is consumed with ideas of absurdism, which is a philosophical principle that states, “the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe.” The story takes place in Algeria, when the French had colonized it decades prior.
French and Algerian people were allowed to travel between the two countries interchangeably. Meursault works day to day to support himself, does not allow himself to feel love, compassion, guilt, etc…, and leads an objectively normal life, meaning he works, has a girlfriend, lives on his own, and has friends. However, his ideals are what lead him to receive the death penalty for murder and lack of empathy for the man’s life he took. He does not grasp the concept of emotion or why people around him are acting differently around him. His ideology is that, since we are all meant to die, there is no meaning to anything. However, when he is waiting for his death penalty, in the last two pages of the book, he realizes that life is incredibly precious and should not be taken advantage of. He has an interpretable revelation that changes his entire perspective and ceases his being of “other.”
Primary Source:
- Camus, A., & Gilbert, S. (1954). The stranger. New York: Vintage Books.
Secondary Sources:
- “Washington Independent Review of Books.” The Meursault Investigation | Washington Independent Review of Books, www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/bookreview/the-meursault-investigation.
- Death and Absurdism in Camus’s The Stranger by Alan Gullette, alangullette.com/essays/lit/stranger.htm.
- Aronson, Ronald. “Albert Camus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Apr. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/.
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