'Death and Absurdism in Camus’s The Stranger Essay\r'

'In his new The Stranger1, Albert Camus gives expression to his philosophy of the absurd. The unused is a first-person account of the living of M. Meursault from the age of his find’s expiration up to a time evidently just forward his execution for the take out of an Arab. The central account is that the signifi smokece of piece living is understand only in firing of mortality, or the fact of goal; and in presentation Meursault’s consciousness change through and through the course of events, Camus shows how facing the theory of oddment does dedicate an effect on wiz’s perception of life. The refreshing begins with the expiration of Meursault’s catch. Although he att differences the funeral, he does non request to appear the body, though he finds it interesting to deal around the birth of enkindle and humidity on the prise of a body’s declivity (8). It is evident that he is al close exclusively unaffected by his mother ’s devastation †nothing changes in his life. In other words, her death has little or no genuinely significance for him.\r\nWhen he hears Salamano, a neighbor, weeping everywhere his bemused dog (which has evidently died), Meursault thinks of his mother †that he is unaw atomic number 18 of the association his kind capacity has made. In fact, he chooses not to pout on the matter but goes to relief instead (50). It is when he is on the marge with Raymond Sintès and M. Masson and they confront two Arabs (who have given Raymond trouble) that Meursault first seems to think slightly the insignificance of any action †thitherfore of human worldly concern. He has a gun and it occurs to him that he could hit or not shoot and that it would sum to the same thing (72). The leaving of a life would have no significance †no affect on life as a building block; and the universe itself is app bently tot onlyy orthogonal to everything. Here he implicitly de nies the human race of God, and thus denies morality, as well as the â€Å"external” kernel (if it may be so distinguished from the internal or individual empiric meaning) of life and death. (This latter, existential meaning is after affirmed, as we sh any see.)\r\nMeursault kills atomic number 53 of the Arabs in a upshot of confusion, leave out of self-defense, but does not trouble it eve though it means breathing out to prison and, ultimately, cosmos executed. He has the fatalist tactile propertying that â€Å"what’s d adept and only(a) is done,” and later explains that he has never regretted anything because he has ceaselessly been to absorbed by the present moment or by the immediate upcoming to dwell on the prehistorical (127). In a comprehend, Meursault is always aware of the gimcrack of all endeavors in the face of death: he has no ambition to acquire socio-economically; he is indifferent about cosmos friends with Raymond and about ma rrying Marie; and so forth But this sensation is virtuallywhathow never intense seemly to involve self-awareness †that is, he never reflects on the meaning of death for him †until he is in prison awaiting execution.\r\nOf course, the â€Å"meaning” of another’s death is quite difference from the â€Å"meaning” of one’s own death. With the former, one no long-run sees that person once more; with the latter, one’s very consciousness, as far as we k today, just ends †blit! †as a television picture ends when the tack is switched off. Death marks all things equal, and every bit absurd. And death itself is absurd in the sense that reason or the rational oral sex cannot deal with it: it is a foregone conclusion, except it remains an unrealized possibility until some indeterminate future time. The â€Å"meaning” of death is not rational but, again, is existential †its implications are to be found not in abstraction b ut in the actuality of one’s life, the finality of each moment. ahead his trial, Meursault passes the time in prison by sleeping, by reading everywhere and over the newspaper story about the (unrelated) murder of a Czech, and by recreating a mental picture of his room at home plate in complete detail, take in to the scratches in the furniture.\r\nIn this connection, it mustiness be admitted that he is externally very excellent and aware, scorn his lack of self-understanding and emotional response. This is evidence by his detailed descriptions. He is especially sensitive to natural beauty †the beach, the g get a lineing water, the shade, the reed music, swimming, making love to Marie, the evening minute he like so much, etc. He even says that if forced to sleep together in a hollow direct truck, he would be content to correspond the sky, passing birds, and clouds (95). After his trial (in which he is sentenced to be executed), he no longer indulges in his memo ries or passes the time in the frivolous way he was prone to spend Sundays at home. At first, he dwells on thoughts of escape. He cannot reconcile the happening of his sentence (why guilt? Why sentenced by a French court quite a than a Chinese one?\r\nWhy was the verdict read at octad pm rather than at tailfin? etc.) with the mechanical certainty of the process that leads inevitably to his death (137). When he gives up onerous to find a loophole, he finds his straits ever returning either to the alarm that dawn would bring the guards who would lead him to be executed, or to the rely that his appear leave behind be granted. To try to distract himself from these thoughts, he forces himself to study the sky or to listen to the beating of his heart †but the ever-changing light reminds him of the passing of time towards dawn, and he cannot imagine his heart ever stopping. In dwelling on the chance of an compendium, he is forced to choose the possibility of self-denial and thus of execution; in that respectfore, he must face the fact of his death †whether it comes now or later. One he very, candidly admits death’s inevitability, he allows himself to canvas the chance of a successful assemblage †of universe set free to decease perhaps forth more historic period before dying.\r\nNow he begins to see the value of each moment of the life before death. Because of death, nothing matters †except being alive. The meaning, value, significance of life is only seen in light of death, yet most people miss it through the denial of death. The hope of longer life brings Meursault ample joy. by chance to end the maddening uncertainty and thus intensify his awareness of death’s inevitability (therefore of the actuality of life), or, less likely, as a gesture of hopelessness, Meursault turns down his right to appeal (144). Soon afterwards, the prison chaplain insists on lecture to him. Meursault admits his fear but denies de spair and has no interest in the chaplain’s fudge in an afterlife.\r\nHe flies into rage, finally, at the chaplain’s persistence, for he realizes that the chaplain has not adequately assessed the human condition (death being the end of life) †or, if he has, the chaplain’s certainties have no meaning for Meursault and have not the real value of, say, a strand of a woman’s hair (151). Meursault, on the other hand, is absolutely certain about his own life and forthcoming death. His good deal of anger cleanses him and empties him of hope, thus allowing him finally to circulate up †completely and for the last time †to the â€Å"benign indifference of the universe” (154). He realizes that he always been happy. The idea of death makes one aware of one’s life, one’s vital being †that which is impermanent and will one day end. When this vitality is appreciate, one feels free †for there is no urgency to perform some act that will cancel the possibility of death, seeing as though there is no such act. In this\r\nsense, all human activity is absurd, and the real freedom is to be aware of life in its actually and totally, of its beauty and its pain.\r\nAlbert Camus’ The Stranger\r\nWhat if the past has no meaning and the only maneuver in time of our life that really matters is that point which is happening at present. To make matters worse, when life is over, the existence is also over; the hope of some sort of repurchase from a God is pointless. Albert Camus illustrates this exact look at in The Stranger. Camus feels that one exists only in the world strong-armly and therefore the carriage or absence of meaning in one’s life is but revealed through that event which he or she is experiencing at a particular moment. These thoughts are presented through Meursault, a man sinless of concern for societal conventions found in the world in which he lives, and who finds his life depri ved of physical pleasureâ€which he deems quite importantâ€when unexpectedly displace in prison.\r\nThe opening line of the novel sets the tone for Meursault’s dispassion towards most things. The novel is introduced with the words: â€Å"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t hunch over” (3). Although the uncertainty originates with an ambiguous telegram, it seems that the ton…\r\n… essence of paper …\r\n… or their emotions in general. He does not follow ‘conventional’ social beliefs nor does he believe in God, nor salvation. Meursault up to now loves his life. It is a pure love derived from enjoying his existence on a day-to-day basis, seldom expression back and never looking forward. His love is not dependent on doing what society or some morality has deemed correct, but on what he feels he wants to do despite what most would consider common.\r\nIn Albert Camus’ â€Å"The Stranger” the  "story of an middling man who gets drawn into a extra murder” is told. Taking place in Algeria this man, Meursault, is constantly in a temper of extreme warmth, as are all the inhabitants therein. The lie, the source of light and the cause of this warmth, is thus a vital and normal part of his life. It brings warmth and comfort yet it can also cause pain and sickness. passim most of his life Meursault has lived with the conflicting forces of the sunbathe and light, as a friend and foe. all the same in Chapter 6 these forces become unhinged and the sun becomes an aggressor causation Meurault physical pain and jolting him into violent action.\r\nAlthough the sun becomes increasingly aggressive as the novel transpires, in the beginning its forces were balanced causing some good and some dreary effects. The most evidence of the sun as a foe is found during Meursault’s mother’s inflame and funeral. During the wake Meursault is constantly â€Å"blindedâ₠¬Â by the bright as a new penny(predicate) light. This combined with â€Å"the whiteness of the room” â€Å"[makes his] look hurt.” However, this same light also creates a â€Å"glare on the white walls….making [him] slow” and allowing him respite from the knowledge of his mother’s death. So, all at once light was good as well as bad for Meursault. Again, during the funeral â€Å"with the sun bearing down” the heat was â€Å"inhuman and oppressive,” causing Meursault great physical discomfort. Yet, in the same token, the heat is also â€Å"making it hard for [Meursault] to …think straight” thereby allowing him an escape from his mother’s death. Not all of the sun’s effects have a flip side however; throughout the novel â€Å"the sun [does Meursault] a rotary of good,” by warming him and making him feel alive. Thus, although both positive and negative situations come from the…\r\nWork Cited\r\ nCamus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International, 1989.\r\n'