The Stranger is a novel written by Albert Camus that tells the story of Monsieur Meursault, a seemingly careless man in the wake of his mother’s death. Told in a first person narrative, readers play witness to the events that lead up to his imprisonment and eventual death. However, as the story continues on, it becomes obvious that the story may not be as fictional as it appears. Through his references to his ideology of absurdism, Albert Camus portrays his own struggle of internal alienation in his novel, The Stranger.
The novel begins with Meursault seemingly talking to himself, as he comes to terms with a recent death. He describes it as “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (Camus 3). After reading a bit more, it becomes clear that ‘Maman’ is his mother. Meursault’s mother recently passed and he must now bury her. However, the protagonist’s unusual reaction holds an unacceptable undertone. Meursault does not recall the day his mother died, nor does he care, as his next thought claims that he “sort of forgotten, but as [he] was getting up, it came to [him]” (Camus 19). Naturally, readers begin to look for a reasonable cause as to why he does not care about the death of his mother.
However, after reading below the surface, it becomes evident that Meursault does not hold responsibility over his actions, but the author Albert Camus does. Albert Camus, a well known french philosopher, toyed with the idea of existentialism in his writing. According to the dictionary, the term existentialism refers to an “analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe” where one “must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong, or bad” (“ “___). In other words, the concept behind this term analyzes a world without meaning or purpose. Taking the words ‘unfathomable universe’ into consideration, the definition also alludes to this ideology being incomprensible. Philosophers support this description, but not the definition because existentialism holds a very complex concept.
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Although many toyed with the idea of the term, many philosophers would not consider themselves an existentialist. Albert Camus was one of these philosophers. Instead of identifying as an existentialist, he identified more with his own term created in similar retrospect, absurdism. Camus considered the Absurd the “contradictory combination of [the] rational man in a non-rational world” (Madison 10: 224). In other words, the contradiction that arises when combining a man who creates meaning with a meaningless world, physically represents the absurd. By attempting to implicate a purpose behind something unexplainable, one creates the Absurd. In The Stranger, Camus does more than simply depict living in absurdity. He shares his own perspective of living as an internally conflicted absurdist.
In the eyes of Camus, one can choose a lifestyle of rationality or irrationality, thereby controlling the creation of meaning. Illustrating this concept within the novel, Meursault does not mourn because he does not associate any deeper meaning behind the death or life of his mother. He explains this by stating “since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter” (Camus 114). Contrasting his lack of emotions towards death, the character’s conscious is fully aware of societal expectations. Meursault understands he should mourn because of societal implications. Even so, he oddly expects it from himself, bringing about an internal conflict. While thinking about how his boss will react to his absence at work, he begins to feel apologetic, until realizing his boss should be offering condolences. He even goes on to say his boss will feel sorry the “day after tomorrow, when he sees I’m mourning” (Camus 3). Yet, the character does not mourn once for her death. Through this internal conflict, Camus sets up the beginning stages of a self-battle, which he experiences himself.
Although Albert Camus wrote the book for fictional purposes, Meursault’s character is parallel to himself. Camus lived with the belief that “everything begins with lucid indifference” (Madison 10: 225). In other words, he lived his life with a clear indifference, or lack of compulsion towards anything. He did not favor one side more than he favored another, just as Meursault does not favor life more than death. However, as a member of society, the act of living involves the act of choosing. By attaching emotion and purpose to actions, one is living. Therefore, living indifferently in a world full of wistfulness not only creates internal conflict, but cognitive dissonance as well. Cognitive dissonance results from mental discomfort or tension when holding two contradictory beliefs. Reading between the lines of the novel, Camus never felt passionate about life or death, but craved it. In a letter, he once wrote “people attract me insofar as they are impassioned about life and avide for happiness” (Todd 98). His desire to feel towards life persisted through the numerous relationships he formed, as the feeling of isolation suffocated him. He lived detached from any rational subconscious, and only devoted his time to writing, and the many affairs he held to occupy him.
Yet, just as the protagonist in the novel, Camus did not attach any profound meaning to any affair.. After the death of his mother, Meursault jumps into a relationship as soon as he gets back to the city. Despite this, there is no prior mention of there ever being a love interest in his life. His boss and job occupied majority of his time and concern. Therefore, the sudden relation to his lover, Marie, appeared strange. However, it becomes clear that Meursault does not consider his relation to Marie an actual relationship. In fact, Camus reveals that Marie occupies Meursault’s physical needs, rather than emotional. The very first introduction of Marie, occurs during a sexually heated scene with the main character the day after his mother dies. Camus describes Meursault as helping her onto a float and accidentally touching her breasts. This eventually leads to sex, as they wake up in Meursault’s bed the morning after.
After this scene, Meursault never mentions Marie again until their second date, which eventually leads to sex a second time. At this point, it appears the purpose of their relationship has been set up, since Meursault appears to only entertain her sex. However, Camus eventually establishes a less shallow connection between the two, when Meursault turns down hanging out with a new friend to hang out with her. The weird change in emotions allude to the formation of emotional attachment, until Marie asks the protagonist if he loves her. Instead of answering the question in its entirety, he responds to the word love, by stating “it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her” (Camus 41). Despite this, when Marie asks to get married, he responds nonchalantly. These paradoxical responses imply an emotional struggle, since Meursault cannot love her, but does not want her to leave.
Therefore, agreeing to marry her if she wants to, leads to a mutually benefiting relationship. Marie obtains a marriage and Meursault obtains companionship to save him from isolation. In spite of that, after imprisonment, Meursault has no desire to see Marie at all. He simply craves a woman too occupy him in his time of physical and mental isolation. His reactions to these life changing events mirror the definition of absurdity, as he sees emotions as futile. However, the parallelism of these events to the life of Camus is astounding. Throughout his lifetime, Albert Camus married twice. Although each marriage involved different women, the obstacles both marriages faced remaining the same. His first marriage to Simone Hie ended due to infidelities, and his second marriage to Francine Faure fought through them.
However, within his last marriage, Camus never viewed it as a marriage. In fact, he “proposed marriage to Francine without swearing to be faithful” (Todd 98). Furthermore, The term ‘love’ never left his mouth unless it was to please the woman he wanted. He believed “the more one loves, the more the Absurd is enforced” (Todd 96). Yet, he understood the many ways to court a woman involved the idea of love. He claimed the reason he had so many female associates dealt with the fact that women have “something equivocal, a double game, that falsifies feelings at their source” (Todd 98). In essence, Camus craved feelings, and felt that women were the best source of them, since they create false emotions off of misinterpretations.
Many knew Camus as the man of having torrid affairs with multiple women throughout both of his marriages. Internally alienated from the rest of society, he did not know how to feel. Camus could not grasp the concept of human emotions, so surrounding himself with those capable, sufficed for him. Exactly depicted within the relationships in his novel, he proves that living as an absurdist isolated him, but he refused to wallow in it.Camus’s struggle with his internal self also continued through the aspect of nature.In the novel, Meursault commits murder by fatally shooting an Arab man five times at point blank. When questioned by police, Meursault does not give a reason as to why he did it. In fact, he manages to only recall the beaming, hot sun. When the magistrate asks him what he recalls from that day, he describes seeing “the red sand and feeling] the burning of the sun on [his] forehead” (Camus 67).
References to the sun and heat have occurred frequently throughout the novel. During his mother’s funeral, Camus mentions the beaming sun, causing them to not properly give the funeral their full attention. It is also mentioned during his questions of the events that occured. Paying close attention to the scenes in which Meursault recalls the sun, it can be noted that all these scenes involve many of the pressing issues absurdism addresses. The main character gets hot during scenes involving death, religion, and murder. All of which, Albert Camus utilizes to define absurdism. The term absurdism is just as complex as existentialism. No one definition will suffice for the numerous conditions under which absurdism occurs. However, the main topics that Camus addresses when mentioning absurdism include death, murder, and God. Mentioning these topics ‘underneath the sun’ insinuates the absurd because when defining it, Camus argues that “nature will forever be man’s dire antagonist” (Madison 10: 227).
In other words, he considers nature the extreme competitor of man. Metaphorically speaking, the nature of a man comes from natural nurturing. Through this concept, arises the issue of spontaneously becoming a rational man. Naturally, man cannot help but create a deeper meaning to life in order to achieve happiness. Therefore, man-made issues and concerns revolving around simplistic matters in life, are absurd. Literally expressed in the novel, the mentioning of the sun, serves as a means to shed light on absurdism. However, Meursault can not help feeling alienated due to the societal expectations that come with them. Naturally occurring in life, Camus argues that death “rather than being a beginning, is the end of the road to happiness” (Madison 10: 224). Contrasting this belief, society attaches meaning behind death, creating the Absurd. Meursault’s reaction to the ‘heat’ of these subjects results in discomfort, since the enthusiasts of life maximize the importance of the way and time one dies. Being aware of this creates internal tension, which applies to the author himself as he craves the ability to see things through an enthusiast’s perspective.
Camus also utilizes religion to depict the many ways enthusiasts attempt to pull Meursault, and himself, back into the absurd. The magistrate attempts to guilt trip him into confessing his sins to God and asking for forgiveness. He screams at Meursault “I ask Him to forgive you your sins. How can you not believe that He suffered for you?” (Camus 69). During this scene, Meursault describes the room getting hotter and hotter as his patience gets lower for the matter at hand. Eventually, he gives in to the man with the hopes of him giving up on the matter. The magistrate did give up after realizing trying to get Meursault to believe in God was a harder task than assumed. Similar to the protagonist, Camus believes no greater power exists than within oneself. The issue with religion does not arise under the consideration of God and his existence, but the amount of power an individual will give to him. Believing in a higher order of power creates the absurd.
Therefore, living in a world where one is expected to believe in something creates further tension. Lastly, Camus examines the ideas behind crime and punishment when Meursault undergoes perpetual sweating throughout the course of his trial. The ideology behind crime and punishment entails there being a clear good and bad. Both terms are interpreted by morality, which is further created by a rational mind. In this novel, Meursault killed someone, which goes against good morality. Therefore, the punishment he receives for his ‘crime,’ is the death penalty. In the world of wistfulness and man-made ideologies, he should feel guilty about what he has done.
However, as an absurdist, the feeling of guilt is unknown. Camus portrays the impossibleness of not giving in to a world full of expectations. The more one gives, the more confused one becomes, as the realization that few to none see things underneath the same lighting. The tension created from trying to explain absurdity and then forcefully giving into it, adds to the waging war of emotions already present within the author. In essence, The Stranger does not simply represent Camus’ beliefs. By taking readers through the life of a fictional character, he expresses the internal war that raged within him everyday. Utilizing the sun, religion, love, and death, Camus reveals the hardships he endures as an absurdist in a world full of enthusiasts.
