Death and Absurdism in Camuss The Stranger Essay Example for Free

Death and Absurdism in Camuss The Stranger EssayIn his novel The Stranger1, Albert Camus gives expression to his philosophy of the absurd. The novel is a first-person account of the animation of M. Meursault from the prison term of his mothers destruction up to a eon evidently just before his execution for the murder of an Arab. The central theme is that the significance of human invigoration is mum only in light of mortality, or the fact of death and in showing Meursaults consciousness change through the course of events, Camus shows how facing the possibility of death does have an effect on ones perception of career. The novel begins with the death of Meursaults mother.Although he attends the funeral, he does non request to see the body, though he finds it interesting to conceptualize close to the effects of heat and humidity on the rate of a bodys decay (8). It is evident that he is almost totally unaffected by his mothers death nothing changes in his life. In oth er words, her death has little or no real significance for him. When he hears Salamano, a neighbor, weeping over his garbled dog (which has evidently died), Meursault thinks of his mother and he is unaware of the association his mind has made. In fact, he chooses not to dwell on the matter but goes to sleep instead (50).It is when he is on the beach with Raymond Sintes and M. Masson and they confront two Arabs (who have given Raymond trouble) that Meursault first seems to think about the insignificance of any action indeed of human existence. He has a gun and it occurs to him that he could shoot or not shoot and that it would come to the same thing (72). The loss of a life would have no significance no affect on life as a whole and the universe itself is apparently totally indifferent to e genuinelything.hither he implicitly denies the existence of God, and thus denies morality, as well as the external kernel (if it may be so distinguished from the internal or individual exis tential convey) of life and death. (This latter, existential meaning is later affirmed, as we shall see. )Meursault kills one of the Arabs in a moment of confusion, partially out of self-defense, but does not regret it eve though it means going to prison and, ultimately, world executed. He has the fatalistic feeling that whats done is done, and later explains that he has never regretted anything because he has constantly been to absorbed by the present moment or by the immediate future to dwell on the past (127).In a mother wit, Meursault is always aware of the meaninglessness of all endeavors in the face of death he has no ambition to advance socio-economically he is indifferent about being friends with Raymond and about marrying Marie etc. But this awareness is somehow never intense enough to involve self-awareness that is, he never reflects on the meaning of death for him until he is in prison awaiting execution. Of course, the meaning of anothers death is quite difference from the meaning of ones own death. With the former, one no longer sees that person again with the latter, ones very consciousness, as cold as we know, just ends blit as a television picture ends when the set is switched off.Death marks all things equal, and equally absurd. And death itself is absurd in the sense that reason or the rational mind cannot deal with it it is a foregone conclusion, yet it remains an unrealized possibility until some indeterminate future time. The meaning of death is not rational but, again, is existential its implications are to be found not in abstraction but in the actuality of ones life, the finality of each moment. forward his trial, Meursault passes the time in prison by sleeping, by reading over and over the newspaper story about the (unrelated) murder of a Czech, and by recreating a mental picture of his room at home in complete detail, down to the scratches in the furniture.In this connection, it must(prenominal) be admitted that he is exte rnally very sensitive and aware, despite his lack of self-understanding and emotional response. This is evidence by his detailed descriptions. He is especially sensitive to natural beauty the beach, the glistening water, the shade, the reed music, swimming, reservation love to Marie, the evening hour he like so much, etc. He even says that if forced to live in a hollow channelize truck, he would be content to watch the sky, passing birds, and clouds (95). After his trial (in which he is sentenced to be executed), he no longer indulges in his memories or passes the time in the frivolous way he was accustomed to spend Sundays at home.At first, he dwells on thoughts of escape. He cannot reconcile the contingency of his sentence (Why wrong? Why sentenced by a French court rather than a Chinese one? Why was the verdict read at eight pm rather than at five? etc. ) with the mechanical certainty of the process that leads inevitably to his death (137). When he gives up try oning to find a loophole, he finds his mind ever returning either to the fear that dawn would bring the guards who would lead him to be executed, or to the hope that his appear will be granted.To try to distract himself from these thoughts, he forces himself to study the sky or to listen to the beating of his heart but the changing light reminds him of the passing of time towards dawn, and he cannot believe his heart ever stopping. In dwelling on the chance of an appeal, he is forced to consider the possibility of defence reaction and thus of execution in that locationfore, he must face the fact of his death whether it comes now or later. One he really, honestly admits deaths inevitability, he allows himself to consider the chance of a successful appeal of being set free to live perhaps forth more years before dying. Now he begins to see the value of each moment of the life before death.Because of death, nothing matters except being alive. The meaning, value, significance of life is only seen in light of death, yet most people miss it through the denial of death. The hope of longer life brings Meursault great joy. Perhaps to end the maddening uncertainty and thus intensify his awareness of deaths inevitability (therefore of the actuality of life), or, less likely, as a gesture of hopelessness, Meursault turns down his right to appeal (144).Soon afterwards, the prison chaplain insists on talking to him. Meursault admits his fear but denies despair and has no interest in the chaplains belie in an afterlife. He flies into rage, finally, at the chaplains persistence, for he realizes that the chaplain has not adequately assessed the human condition (death being the end of life) or, if he has, the chaplains certainties have no meaning for Meursault and have not the real value of, say, a strand of a womans hair (151). Meursault, on the other hand, is absolutely certain about his own life and forthcoming death.His rush of anger cleanses him and empties him of hope, thus a llowing him finally to open up completely and for the last time to the benign indifference of the universe (154). He realizes that he always been happy. The idea of death makes one aware of ones life, ones vital being that which is impermanent and will one day end. When this vitality is appreciate, one feels free for there is no urgency to perform some act that will cancel the possibility of death, seeing as though there is no such act.In this sense, all human activity is absurd, and the real freedom is to be aware of life in its actually and totally, of its beauty and its pain. ALBERT CAMUS THE STRANGER WHAT IF THE PAST HAS NO importation AND THE ONLY POINT IN TIME OF OUR LIFE THAT REALLY MATTERS IS THAT POINT WHICH IS HAPPENING AT PRESENT. TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, WHEN LIFE IS OVER, THE EXISTENCE IS ALSO OVERTHE accept OF SOME SORT OF SALVATION FROM A GOD IS POINTLESS. ALBERT CAMUS ILLUSTRATES THIS EXACT VIEW IN THE STRANGER. CAMUS FEELS THAT ONE EXISTS ONLY IN THE WORLD pers onalLY AND THEREFORE THE heraldic bearing OR ABSENCE OF MEANING IN ONES LIFE IS ALONE REVEALED done THAT EVENT WHICH HE OR SHE IS EXPERIENCING AT A partlyICULAR MOMENT. THESE THOUGHTS ARE PRESENTED THROUGH MEURSAULT, A MAN DEVOID OF CONCERN FOR SOCIAL CONVENTIONS FOUND IN THE WORLD IN WHICH HE LIVES, AND WHO FINDS HIS LIFE DEPRIVED OF PHYSICAL PLEASUREWHICH HE DEEMS rather IMPORTANTWHEN UNEXPECTEDLY PUT IN PRISON.THE OPENING LINE OF THE NOVEL SETS THE TONE FOR MEURSAULTS DISPASSION TOWARDS MOST THINGS. THE NOVEL IS INTRODUCED WITH THE WORDS MAMAN DIED TODAY. OR YESTERDAY MAYBE, I DONT enjoy (3). ALTHOUGH THE UNCERTAINTY ORIGINATES WITH AN AMBIGUOUS TELEGRAM, IT SEEMS THAT THE TON MIDDLE OF PAPER OR THEIR EMOTIONS IN GENERAL. HE DOES not FOLLOW CONVENTIONAL SOCIAL BELIEFS NOR DOES HE BELIEVE IN GOD, NOR SALVATION.MEURSAULT HOWEVER LOVES HIS LIFE. IT IS A PURE LOVE DERIVED FROM ENJOYING HIS EXISTENCE ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, RARELY LOOKING BACK AND NEVER LOOKING FORWARD. HIS LOV E IS NOT DEPENDENT ON DOING WHAT SOCIETY OR SOME RELIGION HAS DEEMED CORRECT, BUT ON WHAT HE FEELS HE WANTS TO DO DESPITE WHAT MOST WOULD CONSIDER COMMON. bailiwick CITED CAMUS, ALBERT. THE STRANGER. TRANS. MATTHEW WARD. NEW YORK VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL, 1989.IN ALBERT CAMUS THE STRANGER THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY MAN WHO GETS DRAWN INTO A SENSELESS MURDER IS TOLD. TAKING PLACE IN ALGERIA THIS MAN, MEURSAULT, IS everlastingly IN A CLIMATE OF EXTREME WARMTH, AS ARE ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREIN. THE cheerfulness, THE SOURCE OF LIGHT AND THE CAUSE OF THIS WARMTH, IS THUS A VITAL AND NORMAL PART OF HIS LIFE.IT BRINGS WARMTH AND COMFORT YET IT CAN ALSO CAUSE PAIN AND SICKNESS. THROUGHOUT MOST OF HIS LIFE MEURSAULT HAS LIVED WITH THE CONFLICTING FORCES OF THE SUN AND LIGHT, AS A plugger AND FOE. HOWEVER IN CHAPTER 6 THESE FORCES BECOME UNBALANCED AND THE SUN BECOMES AN AGGRESSOR CAUSING MEURAULT PHYSICAL PAIN AND JOLTING HIM INTO VIOLENT ACTION.ALTHOUGH THE SUN BECOMES INCREASINGLY assert ive AS THE NOVEL TRANSPIRES, IN THE BEGINNING ITS FORCES WERE BALANCED CAUSING SOME GOOD AND SOME BAD EFFECTS. THE MOST EVIDENCE OF THE SUN AS A FOE IS FOUND DURING MEURSAULTS MOTHERS WAKE AND FUNERAL. DURING THE WAKE MEURSAULT IS CONSTANTLY BLINDED BY THE BRIGHT LIGHT. THIS COMBINED WITH THE WHITENESS OF THE ROOM MAKES HIS eye HURT. HOWEVER, THIS SAME LIGHT ALSO CREATES A GLARE ON THE WHITE WALLS. fashioning HIM DROWSY AND ALLOWING HIM RESPITE FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS MOTHERS DEATH. SO, ALL AT ONCE LIGHT WAS GOOD AS WELL AS BAD FOR MEURSAULT. AGAIN, DURING THE FUNERAL WITH THE SUN BEARING DOWN THE HEAT WAS INHUMAN AND OPPRESSIVE, CAUSING MEURSAULT GREAT PHYSICAL DISCOMFORT. YET, IN THE SAME TOKEN, THE HEAT IS ALSO MAKING IT HARD FOR MEURSAULT TO THINK STRAIGHT THEREBY ALLOWING HIM AN ESCAPE FROM HIS MOTHERS DEATH. NOT ALL OF THE SUNS EFFECTS HAVE A FLIP SIDE HOWEVER THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL THE SUN DOES MEURSAULT A LOT OF GOOD, BY WARMING HIM AND MAKING HIM FEEL ALIVE. THUS, ALTHOUGH BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SITUATIONS COME FROM THE