Absurdity in the Stranger

1072 Words5 Pages
The author, Albert Camus, has succeeded to present his philosophical ideas of absurdity and extentionalism very skillfully and gently through this novel. The Stranger (also known as The Outsider) is a first-person story of a French- Algerian man, Monsieur Meursault, who is psychologically separated from the world around him. He basically lives in his own momental zone where he doesn't care of the past or the present nor does he behave according to the social norms. The novel consists of two parts, starting the first part by the death of Meursault's mother up to the time where he killed an Arab. The second part continues from there until his execution for the murder. The main theme of this book is the meaningless of the human life. Camus here shows that there is no purpose in human's life. And we don't know if there is an afterlife. But the only thing we are certain about is death. And since everyone is going to die, it means that everything to do with them is going to end with death. So it doesn't really matter what anyone does, only live the moment and satisfy yourself. The book also puts a light on the absurdity of the world. This can be noticed through the emptiness and nonchalance in Meursault's character, where he doesn't have explanations for most of the things he feels or does. He thinks they just happened without any particular reason. While, on the other hand, humans, or the rest of world, try to make logic or reasons out of every behavior. We can sense this in the conclusions that are made by the opposing lawyer. He think he understands why Meursault is behaving the way he is, when in reality (according to the book) even Meursault himself doesn't know. The book begins with Meursault's mother death, which he attends her funeral. But he doesn't seem affected by it. Even when the old man attempts to expose the body to him he dissents. It's very obvious how
Open Document