The Stranger
published in 1942 is the most famous novel written by the French writer,
reporter and philosopher Albert Camus (1913-1960). It traces the history of
Meursault a French that lives in Alger from his mother’s death to his last days
before his execution (a few months after the beginning of the novel) from an
internal point of view. To some extent this novel reminds me Kierkegaard’s
philosophy of the Self (and his denunciation of the ab-surd life), however it
also can be interpreted (in its second part) as an appeal to the revolt against
the absurdity of life, against the “nothingness that pervades existence”, an
appeal to acknowledge it but not to be resigned
Albert
Camus (smoking a gauloise)
I)
The
inauthentic existence of Meursault
In the first
half of the novel, the main character: Meursault does not seem to have an honest
relation to his surd, he lives one day at a time without realizing that death
is the most likely outcome at any time. To be more specific, I would say that he
seems to know that death may occur at any time but he does not act according to
this: "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over that Maman
was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had
changed." (p 41)
Whereas
some people like the knight in the Seventh
Seal who have a “near death experience” changes their relation to their
Surd and try to understand the meaning of life, Meursault does not change
anything in his relation to his surd and though keep living a meaningless life.
He seems sure that eventually nothing actually matters: “it’s common knowledge that
life is not worth living” (p 173).
In my
opinion Meursault cannot live an authentic existence in Kierkegaard’s sense as
being a Self (or at least acting to become a Self) because he does not value at
all life. He sees it as totally meaningless and he shows it several times in
the novel: when his mother died he is only preoccupied by the fact that his
boss will be angry because he asks two days off to go to her funerals but the
very fact that she is dead does not make him feel anything but boredom (because
of the problems that it raises). Later during the instruction before the trial
when his lawyer asks him about his feeling about her, he only says that he
would have preferred her not to die but that it does not mean anything.
The same
when the judge asks him if he regret to have murdered the Arab. Meursault
explains him that he does not really regret it (he never regrets anything
anyway) but he is a little bit bored (because of the consequence of his act,
not because of a feeling like guilt or remorse or anything. As Meursault does
not value life, he is not preoccupied by death, he does not think about it and
thus does not acknowledge “the nothingness that pervades being”. Therefore, in
my opinion Meursault does not live an authentic life and he is plunged into the
absurd.
II)
The
Stranger : an appeal to the revolt against the absurdity of life
During the
whole novel, Meursault is experiencing and acknowledging the absurdity of life,
however because he is feeling different, he seems like a Stranger in a world
that does not accept him. The trial shows it, he is not condemned because he
has murdered an Arab, he’s condemned because he is different: the prosecutor
calls him a “moral monster” because he does not respect the “codes” of justice,
he does not lie by saying that he regrets, or by saying that he is very sad
that his mother is gone.
Being
rejected like that (the lawyer speaks for him using “I” and tells him to shut
up when he wants to speak during the trial) bothers him and that is the beginning
of his revolt against absurdity.
Indeed,
later in jail when the priest come to see him, he loses his temper for the
first time of the novel (and perhaps for the first time of his life) and
explains his vision of life, destiny, absurdity and death: he says that the way
he has lived does not matter more than the way he is going to die, that eventually
everyone is doomed.
After
getting it off his chest, he has recovered his calm and he eventually realize
that he will not avoid death and that the “nothingness pervades existence” and
he feels happy (he is not resigned to death but he accepts it and the only
things he wants is some company so as he feels less lonely in the rough path
toward authentic existence) : “As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid
me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I
opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like
myself—so like a brother, really—I felt that I had been happy and that I was
happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had
only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution
and that they greet me with cries of hate.”
I have
understood the Stranger as a demonstration of the absurdity of life and as an
appeal to revolt against it and not to only be resigned like Meursault in most
of the novel but perhaps I’m totally wrong.
Hi Victor!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say wahoo! What an analysis on the Stranger! I must admit that I agree with most of what you say with some changes and extra reflexions.
About the first part, that's right, Meursault live a life where he's not related to his self. But this until the very night before its execution He feels alive because he's about to die. That's only when his life is endangered that he finds out what it does meant, when he has no freedom anymore. We have the Kierkegaard's appreciation of being in the near death experience. But also the existentialist importance of freedom which can be found in Sartre too. For me, Meursault represents a production of the society and at the same time the counter production of it. Meursault lives a life respecting rules of the society he applies without asking what they mean. He's like an automat doing "what is to be done", like having a job, having a lover, eating with people sometimes after the daily job, burying his mother when she's dead. He does that but put no meaning in this. Nothing is life-affirmative for him. That way it is inauthentic. But it changes and death isn't the only moment where he's feeling alive. I found hat the moment of the killing is interesting because he has a strange feeling, maybe the moment he's experiencing his own freedom in the furthest way. And he's annoyed when it's not permitted for him to come or have visit. He's alive when his freedom is infringed. He had nothing to care about freedom when it was allowed but he cares a lot when it's not permitted to be free anymore. What a paradox reminding us that freedom can be taken at any time!
About the absurdity of life and the revolt, I have a shared mind. I agree with the absurdity of life from the point of view of Meursault. The atrophy of his feelings and reactions about the events on his life shows us that everything is lying on arbitrary schemes out of the people doing it, so absurd. But the revolt is not really to be found in my opinion. It's more an advice to encourage people to put significations in their actions just to avoid becoming like Meursault or like this society of absurd application.
Actually the name of the book is not a coincidence. The Stranger, this stranger Meursault is appart from the society in a double consideration : himself feel nothing to be alive in such a society and the other rejects him, to feel something just as he does by killing the Arab. They need him even if he's a stranger, because he represents the OTHER. So of course the aim is to avoid it, to "revolt" but Meursault does not represent it that much for me.
That's my opinion about it!
Hi ! Your article was really interesting and i really liked how you linked The stranger to Kiekergaard's philosophy. However, the way I saw it, i think Camus intended to show the life Meursault had lived was the only kind of life you could hope to live. Even if in the entirety of the book, it looks like he lives a boring life without any care for the value of his own existence. But in the last few pages, just before his execution, he realizes his whole life he has been happy. Indeed the world sees humans with a "tendre indifférence" and those humans want to feel important, thus their existence is completely absurd. By not caring about social conventions and gliding through life, Meursault cannot despair about the absurdity of his own existence. I feel like the conclusion was that Meursault was not an absurd character but that all the persons surrounding him were absurd people. I know in Camus' theory, you overcome the absurdity by revolting. And I'll say Meursault silently revolts, refusing feel conventional emotions.
ReplyDeleteAt least that's how i see it :) hope it was clear ! Congratulations again for your article.