The Stranger.
The Stranger Derek Goff English 24104 Mr. Venza 14 April 2000 Meursault as "The Stranger" The way a person reacts to ordinary situations determines the opinions of others based on their behavior. Yet, when this behavior is abnormal or different from the rest of society, it causes society to form an opinion based totally on a person´s behavior not their true personality. In Meursault´s case, his strange opinions and unexpected remarks put him in this position, without ever really giving him an opportunity to be truly understood. However, Meursault cannot change his actions and behaviors from the past, therefore making him responsible in the society he freely chooses to live in. Meursault´s complete indifference to society and human relationships causes him to appear as the actual "stranger" with those he encounters, which eventually leads to his incarceration and inevitable date with the guillotine. Meursault is definitely a man who is set in his ways. He has his own opinions and outlooks on life and because of that fact he is constantly reminded of his inadequacies within society. His refusal to look at his mother one last time after she had passed away seemed pointless to Meursault at the time, where as the funeral director viewed this as extremely odd: "We put the cover on, but I´m supposed to unscrew the casket so you can see her." He was moving toward the casket when
The Absurd Morality of Death
The Absurd Morality of Death Introduction In The Outsider by Albert Camus, death can clearly be seen as a significant image - there being six deaths mentioned in total. In Part One we are shown the natural death of Meursault's mother and Meursault's murder of the Arab, and in Part Two we are presented with the parricide of a brother/son and the subsequent suicide of the perpetrators, another parricide that is to be tried after Meursault's case and the death penalty pronounced on Meursault. Through these depictions of various deaths, Camus shows clearly the conflicting and often arbitrary treatment of death within society, a treatment that reveals a confusion between the motives behind acts and the subsequent response to the completed acts, which ultimately reflects the nature of the absurd prevalent in the novel. Section One: deaths directly linked to Meursault Mrs Meursault's Funeral Death, as an important image, is established in the very first sentence of the book, "Mother died today."1 The simplicity and directness of this statement is shocking for the reader, and leads us to try to understand what sort of man Meursault is - a task that we discover later has been laid as a trap for us. However, even though this first sentence is simple and direct, it is confused in the very next sentence, "Or maybe yesterday, I don't know."2 This confusion over the time of the death
Je Suis Absurde, Tu Es Absurde, Nous Sommes une Famille Heureuse - L’étranger
Je Suis Absurde, Tu Es Absurde, Nous Sommes une Famille Heureuse In L'étranger, Albert Camus anticipates an active reader that will react to his text. He wants the reader to form a changing, dynamic opinion of Meursault. The reader can create a consciousness for Meursault from the facts that Meursault reports. By using vague and ambiguous language, Camus stimulates the reader to explore all possibilities of meaning. Camus also intends to shock the reader into rereading passages. Through discussion of narrative structure, the opening lines, the role of pity, resentment toward Meursault's judges, and the relationship between murder and innocence, I will prove that Camus' purpose is to bring the reader to introspect on their own relationship with society. Through narrative structure, Camus invites the reader to create and become the consciousness of Meursault. Utah Sate University Professor David Anderson notices that "Meursault takes the stance of simply reporting these impressions, without attempting to create a coherent story from them." Indeed, in Part One, what Meursault reports are exclusively facts. Micheline Tisson-Braun comments that Meursault "registers facts, but not their meanings; ... is purely instantaneous; he lacks the principle of unity and continuity that characterizes man" (49). Through generalization, the reader links the details
“The outsider” - By Albert Camus
"The outsider" - By Albert Camus From the beginning of time society has developed and redefined the way people ought to live and act, and exercised the power to elevate or banish people as it pleases. Therefore citizens not living by this rigid prescriptive framework are seen as outcasts and are treated with disrespect and zero tolerance Comprehending and accepting are too very different things. We must first understand a situation before truly been able to accept it. Albert Camus mirrors this concept in the novel "The Outsider", by introducing us to a character that we must first understand and then accept. He welcomes us into the world of an Individual's struggle to cope with the callousness of the society in which he lives. Meursault, the main character, believes that all he said and did, throughout his life was rational and thus he was only found guilty, of his actions, after society judged him. When analysing the novel, the believability of Meursault's actions become more credible as the narrative develops. Consequently, by examining society's view of Meursault, his mother's death and in the end his own death, we are able to comprehend his point of view and accept it. The setting is very important when analysing the text's believability, Meursault is a French character who is ostracized by his own society for not complying with its rules. The French society has
The role of judgement in The OutsiderThe actions of Meursault, the protagonist in The Outsider by Albert Camus, are characterized by irrationality. For example, there is no clear logical
The role of judgement in The Outsider Pascal Geldsetzer English A1 Standard Level, Part 1 Laurie Tomin March 21st, 2005 The role of judgement in The Outsider The actions of Meursault, the protagonist in The Outsider by Albert Camus, are characterized by irrationality. For example, there is no clear logical reason for his decision to marry Marie or to kill the Arab. "That evening, Marie came round for me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said I didn't mind and we could do if she wanted to" (Camus 44). However, the idea that things sometimes happen for no reason is disturbing and threatening to society, because, as a logical conclusion from that, individual existence could have happened for no reason and would therefore be purposeless. Hence, society always attempts to find logical reasons for everything. In this novel, society superimposes its rational nature upon Meursault's irrational character, which has the consequence of society making judgements upon Meursault that are false, because the judgements do not agree with his irrational personality. The prosecutor's speech and the meetings between the magistrate and Meursault will be used as examples to show this. Before getting into them, it must be explained that the prosecutor and the magistrate both symbolize society, since they are part of the court, which stands for society as a whole. The idea of a court
Explore how the writers use the technique of defamiliarisation to reveal hidden truths about human conditions. Camus and Kafka use literature as a vehicle for revealing uncomfortable and normally hidden truths
Explore how the writers use the technique of defamiliarisation to reveal hidden truths about human conditions. Camus and Kafka use literature as a vehicle for revealing uncomfortable and normally hidden truths about the human conditions and the state of man. Arguably the most significant technique they employ is the use of defamiliarsation. Certain truths are often hidden or disguised because certain 'dark' cause uncomfortable feelings or what is thought to be unconventional, often does not conform to social norms. Naturally, all individuals can form their own code of ethics but society creates a set of supposedly 'objective' truths and does not allow subjective truths to surface. In The Outsider, Camus creates Meursault, a character who is shockingly blunt through his lack of 'artificial' social masks. The apparent callousness of Meursault's reaction to his mother's funeral is shocking to the reader, "She (a funeral attendant) was crying regularly... I thought that she would never stop"1 Meursault does not once grieve for his mother's death even though society expects him to and his annoyance towards the woman is thought to be extremely 'unacceptable'. However through defamiarising Meursault's behavior at the funeral we are given insights into the absurdity of the whole ceremony of death. To Meursault, death is the end and the weeping is a social artiface rather than a
EXISTENTIALISM IN THE OUTSIDER
Camus' exploration of existentialism through Mersault's views and thoughts on life and death, throughout 'The Outsider' The Outsider, written by Albert Camus, revolves around a protagonist - Mersault. The major theme the book explores is existentialism. 'Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views human existence as having a set of underlying themes and characteristics, such as anxiety, dread, freedom, and awareness of death. It is also an outlook, or a perspective, on life that pursues the question of the meaning of life or the meaning of existence.' There are a lot of references to death in the book - Mersault's mother dies in the beginning, later on, Mersault commits murder killing an Arab man, and near the end he is sentenced to death. Mersault is Camus' symbol for portraying the Absurdity in life, and telling the readers that death is an inevitable part of the life that we are all living. Mersault acts completely irrationally in the book, according to rationality as we know it, at least. He is emotionless and numb. He shows no remorse to his mothers death, nor to the murder he has committed, Camus says, he feels more an annoyance rather than regret, after the Jury asks him to justify his murder. It turns out it was rather a random act of terror. As we read, we too explore the absurd through Camus' writing. Camus utilizes vivid descriptions - that is, imagery
A Man On an Island: An expedition for true happiness
World Literature Essay Name: Audrey She-Sum Lai Subject: English A1 Higher Level Title: A Man On an Island: An expedition for true happiness Although the renowned poet John Donne from the Renaissance had pointed out that "no man is an island"1, isolation is a part of the quest for true happiness. It allows us to see how sensual stimuli have diverted our attention from spiritual realization. Human are indeed connected to one another as a whole. Yet, no matter how close we are physically, we are the only ones who are accessible to our own mind. Exploring for the truly happy mind is like a solo on an isolated island. In the novels One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich2by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Stranger3 by Albert Camus, and Metamorphosis4 by Franz Kafka, three men's expeditions for their true happiness on their isolated islands are revealed. The nature of their isolation, the process of their realization, and their achievement of happiness are shown in front of our very eyes. First, let's compare the nature of the three protagonists' isolation. All three men were on an "island" isolated from the society, in which sensual stimuli like warmth, cigarettes, food and sex were reduced to the minimum. In ODITLOID, Ivan was a prisoner in a concentration camp in Siberia. Apart from its remoteness from cities, the camp was surrounded by fencing and barricades and
People's perception of the protagonists as being indifferent in "The Metamorphosis" by Kafka and "The Outsider" by Camus is what makes Gregor and Meursault heroic. Discuss.
People's perception of the protagonists as being indifferent in The Metamorphosis and The Outsider is what makes Gregor and Meursault heroic. A definition of a hero is "a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who [risks] or [sacrifice their] life.1" Both Gregor and Meursault fit under the category of heroes because of their characteristics and actions. Franz Kafka and Albert Camus fundamentally use the perceived indifference of the protagonists as a method to make them powerful and provocative. It is often easy to misinterpret the heroic qualities of the protagonist as indifference. Being indifferent is when individuals feel that things does not matter one way or another2 or "having no particular interest or concern3." The idea that the protagonists are indifferent is through our eyes and standards. We have our own perceptions of how people should react to particular situations, and when the criteria are not met, we judge the person to be an outcast. However, from the characters' viewpoint, their behavior is considered normal. The protagonists have disparate principles than differ from ours, which makes it hard for us to understand them. Through our judgment of Meursault and Gregor as being indifferent, we are able to learn of their strengths. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is the hero who undergoes death twice. The first death is
A Comparison of the Narrative Structure of ‘The Outsider’ (Camus) and ‘Metamorphosis’ (Kafka)
A Comparison of the Narrative Structure of 'The Outsider' (Camus) and 'Metamorphosis' (Kafka) Narrative structure is an important element in every book written, it contributes to both layers of meaning and the readability of the book. Through this essay I will explore the narrative structure of Metamorphosis and The Outsider and the layers of meaning that it adds to these two books. The Outsider is carefully and formally organised. The two main parts of the novel are of equal length. Death is a central motif; at the beginning there is the mother's death, in the centre that of the Arab and at the end Meursault himself is awaiting execution. Each of these deaths affects Meursault in a different way. Although the first is the death of his own mother he appears to show no emotion and to have no experience of how to show emotion. At the second death, the murder of the Arab, he also shows very little emotion, he believes the case to be 'very simple' and he has to remind himself continuously that he is a murderer, 'On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but I remembered just in time that I'd killed a man.' At the end his own impending death causes him to feel and show emotion, then accept the inevitable, death. After the novel is finished Camus has included an Afterward, which ensures that the reader understands his view of Meursault and the message of the book The