The Stark effects of being absurd in society- The Outsider
The Stark effects of being absurd in society- The Outsider
A long time ago, I summed up ‘The Outsider in a sentence which I realise is extremely paradoxical: ‘In our society any man who doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral is liable to be condemned to death.’ Albert Camus 8th January 1955
The novel ‘The Outsider’ establishes a being that is a ‘Nomad’ or existential in a sense of the society he lives in and the wandering on the cliff beside the sea of introversion and poignancy. Meursault is commonly misunderstood and is regarded as a reject. Furthermore he refuses to lie. A lie is a statement made by someone, in the expectation that the hearers may believe it. ‘In the case of the human heart saying more than one feels,’ Meursault conforms to the existential presuppositions; this is regarding reality as the state of being, the truth, often unheard of in politics and society. Consequently society feels threatened, by Meursault’s refusal to satisfy the feelings of others by showing little remorse for his mother’s death. His indifference leads him to be condemned by a trial.
In the early stages of the book Meursault is seen as an adverse individual towards society, one who speaks his consciousness. Camus creates a paradoxical character against the normality of society, which brings out stark differences through the use of Meursault’s ability to state facts. This narrative effect can be seen from the opening passage,
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
Most of the time, the writing is stylistically correct. In fact, the language flows very naturally and is often punctuated by more figurative, yet succinct phrases, e.g. “wandering on the cliff beside the sea of introversion and poignancyâ€Â. These are welcome touches in a literary essay at this level. However, there are some spelling and punctuation mistakes, which sometimes break up the flow of the writing, e.g. “He finds his mental process is altered, this comment on society shows (...)â€Â. The comma should have been a semi-colon. “Confirm†and “conform†are sometimes confused, the protagonist's name is misspelled (“Meurasultâ€Â), some apostrophes are missing or misplaced and the title of the novel is written without quotation marks. All in all, the essay gains a lot by some of the more abstract, yet succinct illustrations, but in order to score top marks for language, the writer would have to pay more attention to detail.
Level of analysis
Very good analysis throughout the essay; all the examples provided are suitable and well-elaborated upon. The writer has done a good job recognising and acknowledging various literary devices, such as the narrative voice, mood, sentence length and construction. Satire, a much more subtle aspect of the novel, is also pondered upon. The writer manages to nicely connect the cultural and historical context of the times (e.g. black vs. white people) to Meursault's strangeness, but he/she also contemplates Meursault as an individual facing other individuals – and aptly describes the differences between them, as well as the causes and effects of Meursault's “outsider†role. What really stands out in the essay is the first paragraph, where we can see an argument built on a close reading of the text – the style is analysed well and used to answer the essay question. Moreover, the sun does indeed affect Meursault to a broad extent, and the writer has spotted this use of symbolism and used it in reference to the question. The essay ends with a valuable remark on the protagonist's meeting with the priest – this moment in the novel is the last, and important, confirmation of how Meursault does not quite fit into the society he lives in. The conclusion seems rushed, but it makes all the necessary points and sums up the analysis well.
Response to question
This essay shows a clear sense of direction and a precise argument – the introduction guides the rest of the essay towards the question of truth and lying, as well as individual vs. socially accepted interpretation of events, while the main body eloquently expands on the issues it presents. Several pertinent aspects of the novels are illustrated, showing the writer's good grasp on both Camus' writing and the question itself. Indeed, although the question is rather vague (and thus it would have been easy to fall into the trap of description, rather than analysis), the writer has managed to pick out all the significant themes, symbols and events of the novel that relate to the question. The construction is clear, with a new point contained in every paragraph – this includes examples, explanations and analysis.
