Absurdism in Camus' "The Stranger".

by jake0723 (student)

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Povlow 1 CandidateNumber: N/a Jake Povlow Language A1 World Literature Paper, HL 3 April 2012 Reflective Statement – Absurdism in the Stranger Absurdism by definition is the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe. Meursault, the main character, goes through

This is a preview of the whole essay

this his whole life. In my opinion he pretends like he doesn’t care but deep down he has a little bit of care. The first example is when his mother died, he did not seem to show any remorse at all, the second example is with his girlfriend Marie. It seems like he does not care enough to love her and marry her, but when asked if Meursault wanted to marry her he said that it didn’t matter to him but sure. If he did not care at all he wouldn’t have added the last part in my opinion. A third and final example is Meursault’s encounter with Raymond’s girlfriend. Meursault agrees to write a letter to Raymond’s girlfriend, with the sole purpose of inviting her over so that Raymond can have sex with her and beat her up one last time. Meursault sees no reason not to help him, and does not express concern that Raymond's girlfriend is going to be injured. Meursault goes through life not caring about anything and only pays attention to the literal things in front of him, that is why he only enjoys sex and smells is because it is in the moment, and that is a definition of an absurdist. An absurdist generally does not care about consequences. Generally the only thing to get someone to not do something immoral is to threaten him or her with consequences, however when one does not care about consequences, it is almost impossible to get them to not do something bad. Meursault is one because he doesn’t really weigh the consequences before he does something, for example, the shooting of the Arab. He did not thing it was wrong when he re shot the Arab 5 more times after he already killed him. Meursault is considered an absurdist rather than a nihilist because he does have that slight bit of care. A nihilist by definition is someone who rejects all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless. Meursault does not care about most things but in the end he finds his true self and I believe that self still has a love for Marie and people in his life. Total Word Count: 389