“When comforting illusions are stripped away, life can seem to be completely devoid of meaning.”What comforting and conventional values are revealed in The Stranger and rejected by Meursult?
Life is beautiful and yet life is not a bed of roses. Though it is full of ups and downs, it has many facets of comfort and successes. To some people, life is hard, cruel and merciless. These set of people see life as punishment throughout their entire lives. But there are those who see life as a challenge, a prospect for success and a gateway to wealth. The comforting part of life is common among these people. To see a better part of the world, to have the spirit to look for happiness and pleasure is what keeps them going. To know that you have someone there for you, something you can look forward to, something that may shower your day with happiness is one of the illusions human being are attached to. But if these are taken away from us, there’s little pleasure to be found. Life would seem dull and meaningless. But, in Albert Camus' The Stranger (The Outsider), the protagonist Meursult is clearly disillusioned of life in general. He seems to wave all indulgence which life offers away from him.
Many people in society go through life-breaking crisis that takes them several weeks even months to get over, meanwhile Meursult goes through some of the most immense problems during his life, yet he shows little emotion toward his reality. Meursult seems not to have a sense of emotion for the occurring actions in his life, and as a result, Camus pictures him as a senseless man. Two examples of this disillusionment occurred in the instances of his mother's death and when he was offered to be transferred to another work environment. This incomplacency is paramount in discerning this meticulous, selfish Camus character.
In regard to his mother's death, he seemed indifferent at the loss of her life. He was so uninterested in her funeral that he remarked the following: "...I can spend the night there, keeping the usual vigil beside the body, and be back here by tomorrow evening" (Page 4). His mother appeared to slow him down. He claimed he never went to visit her in the nursing home because she enjoyed it too much. Nonetheless, he admitted, in addition, that the visit "meant losing my Sunday--- not to mention the trouble of going to the bus, getting my ticket, and spending two hours journey" (page 5). To further define his insensitivity, Meursult shed not even one tear in this part of the novel; moreover, he expressed no form of sorrow whatsoever. Meursault shows very little love or sorrow at the fact of his mother's death. A normal man would feel pain and regret for not being by her side while Meursult does not care much about the date she passed away. "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday , I can’t be sure. I got a telegram from the home: 'Your mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Deep sympathy. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday" (page 4). Meursult does not bother to call back and find information about this mother. Meursult shows no emotion or care for his mother because he sends her away for someone else to take care of her. During the last years of an elder person's life, they are invited to stay with the family in order to become closer with one another. Meursult could care less as he shows no sign of pain, and goes off to do something else.
Further, Meursult also displays the same lack of caring at his mother's vigil. He seems unaffected by the proceedings and he only concentrates on his physical discomfort. For example, when the gentleman asks him if he wishes to view his mother's body, Meursult refuses, "While he was going up to the coffin I told him not to trouble. 'Eh? What’s that? You don't want to"' he exclaimed. 'No' I said." (page 6). So early in the novel Camus shows us that Meursult has no feeling towards his mother, not even respect to look at his mother who loved him for so many years. Meursult even lights up cigarette in front of his mother's coffin. "…I felt like having a cigarette. But I wasn’t sure if I should smoke, under the circumstances- in Mother’s presence. I thought it over; really, it didn't seem to matter, so I offered the keeper a cigarette and we smoked" (page 7). Meursult does not know the meaning of respect and etiquette as it only takes less than a minute to go outside and have a smoke. Meursult figures with his mother already dead, smoking in front of her means nothing. Meursult said "it didn't matter" as if his mother didn't matter, as in she's dead and get over it. In fact everyone does die someday, Meursult proves to us that smoking in front of her does not bother him, nor does his mother's death affect the way he continues to live his life for the next couple of days. This reflects how he rejects to follow the conventional values one would rather get along with in such a situation.
