World Literature 2 (c)-Commentary on an extract

Meursault’s disdain for the chaplain made him question the independence of the chaplain’s existence. Since the chaplain was escaping the ultimate truth- the absurd life- all his convictions were worthless. The metaphor- “hair on a woman’s head” negates all of the chaplain’s and indirectly society’s certainties.  Meursault felt, that by adhering to societal norms, the chaplain allowed society to dictate his life and hence was no better than a dead man. A combination of metaphor and paradox used here (“living like a dead man”) emphasises the meaninglessness of a societal life.  Contrary to the chaplain’s life, Meursault felt that at least he had led a truthful life, and that was paramount.  To the reader, the entire situation was ironical. It was Meursault who was sentenced to death, not the chaplain, yet, it was Meursault who knew the truth, not the chaplain. This realization made Meursault think “…, I was always right.” He seemed to be justifying his own existence while discarding the chaplain’s. Camus use of a series of repetitions (particularly the words ‘sure’ and right’) reiterates the validity of the absurdist truth and Meursault's convictions in it.

Armed with the knowledge of leading a ‘truthful’ life, Meursault felt that “Nothing, nothing mattered…”  Since nothing mattered in his absurd life, Meursault understood the futility of all the years he had lived and could be living (if not for the sentence of the jury). The repetition of the word ‘nothing’, emphasises the same; reflecting a pure absurdist outlook.  The ‘vague breath’ symbolizes the absurdist force pervading all the years of his life and all the years promised to him. The feeling of this absurdist force apparently nullified all his experiences.  

Having had his own experiences annulled, Meursault turned his attention to mankind in general. According to Meursault, none of the lives chosen by men for themselves really mattered because death was the only privilege guaranteed to them. An absurdist life’s final destination is death. When man himself no longer existed, then the absurd could not be born since the absurd only arose as a result of man’s existence in the universe. “Indeed, the absurd man recognises no master except the absurd and death,…”. This recognition of death- as the ultimate destiny- made Meursault understand the futility of life itself. “The events of the external world as well as the events of his personal life have no meaning to Meursault.” When death was the final destination, all events were illusory and “all experiences become equivalent and [were] measured quantitatively”  rather than qualitatively. The lines “What did it matter if he…had a new Meursault to kiss?” sees Meursault measure all experiences on the same scale. Apparently, the realization of the ultimate privilege (death) had made all value scales disappear and Meursault saw all experiences as the same. More importantly he repeatedly asked “What did it matter?” thereby negating all his experiences and reinforcing his absurdist philosophy. Meursault’s rhetorical questions reinforce the fact that nothing truly mattered. One of his most striking thoughts was “what did his God…matter to me?” The reader realizes that Meursault was not an atheist, he simply did not have any interaction with God and thus he called ‘Him’ his [the chaplain’s] God, not his own. Since Meursault only recognised death as his master, he refused to recognise the supremacy of God. As John Loose tells us, “The absurd man is the individual who does not nullify eternal values but he has no transactions with them.”  When Meursault viewed all experiences as equivalent, values became insignificant and thus there were no transactions with them. Meursault was ultimately neither moral nor immoral- simply absurd. This view is reinforced when he told the chaplain “…I didn’t know what a sin was.” 

Meursault’s rejection of God also highlights his views regarding Destiny and Free Will. He was free to do what he pleased. He could’ve “lived in a certain way” and “lived in a different way”. Fate and Destiny played no role in guiding him, they were completely absent in his life-his actions were not geared towards a specific destiny. His dismissal of Fate is seen as he contemptuously thinks “What did… the destinies [people] selected matter…” Meursault was ‘The Outsider’, the absurdist, facing the world realizing that all his efforts would be in vain since everything ended with death. With the departure of the chaplain, Meursault had justified his own philosophy of absurdism and thus he became calm again.

The style used by Camus also highlights the absurdist philosophy. The use of dialogues in indirect, with effective use of present perfect tense “brings out the loneliness of each moment” (according to Sartre). Each sentence or event could be perceived as a whole, an event in isolation with no relation to the previous event. All events were presented as an “interminable succession of voids without connection”. Thus, since no events were related, there were no value scales to measure them thereby rendering them all equivalent and absurd. The writing style also confirms that Meursault lived neither in the future nor in the past but only in the present which itself was an eternal void. Moreover, Sartre feels that the novel is not a “roman à these”, which proves nothing at all, and only sets to put forth Camus’s ‘novel of the absurd’. Thus, both the novel and the writing style justify his absurd character.

The chosen passage ultimately embodies Meursault’s absurdist philosophy and justifies his seemingly asocial character. The futility of life in a meaningless natural world is aptly voiced by him. He realised that all his experiences were eternally void and “nothing mattered”. Death was the only guaranteed privilege in this meaningless world. The outburst released all his pent up frustrations and made him realize that society was killing him for the threat he posed to ‘the game’. Hence, he calmly wished to die with crowds jeering at him. He realised that he was dying for the sake of his own belief and Camus pays him the final tribute by calling him a ‘Christ Figure’, a martyr for holding dear his absurdist philosophy. He was, like Christ, being sacrificed since Society could not allow him to upset its ‘game’.

Word Count: 1588

Bibliography:

Books:

1. Camus, Albert, The Outsider, Penguin Books India, 1983

Internet:

1.  accessed-23rd July, 2006
2.  accessed-23rd July, 2006,
3.  accessed-23rd July, 2006

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