Custom «Albert Camus “The Stranger”» Essay Paper Sample

In the novel “The Stranger”, Meursault who yearn to disconnect himself from hope, social codes and human faculty since hope would distract him from being who he truly was. He wanted to intermingle with his own environment where he could not be associated with the human species. He comes out to be different from other humans. This is evident by his lack of remorse and feelings after getting a report about his deceased mother and killing an Arab man. Remorse and feelings are part of a normal human being’s life. For instance, he existed in his own terms that the whole world has to prove. Meursault underscores the freedom he creates in death as spelt out by Camus (123). His judgment opened a new phase in his life of living, not as per the standards of others but by his own. He behaved in a distinct manner that pulled many crowds. His conducted in the courtroom was against the wish of many it was evident by his feelings when asked of his closeness with his deceased mother. To him, existence can be defined as doing something that disassociate an individual from his environment or standing out.

The universe is full of irrationality; the assertion made by Camus tries to justify it. He maintained that the universe is irrational since the existence of human and their lives lack an order or meaning. Meursault exhibit no interest with life and did not do anything to make his life worth living. The creation of his own world distinct from that of others where he viewed dead as normal explains his thought of the world being irrational. Most people are against this notion, and in response tries to come up with structures that will give meaning to their lives. The notion of absurdity takes center stage in this book where individuals struggle to have in place rational order. Absurdity does not come out clearly in The Stranger, but its tenets appear throughout the novel. The world which Meursault lives in, that is the external world, and his attitudes and thoughts that form his internal world possess no rational order. This is evident by the decisions pursued by Meursault such as the decision to murder the Arab and to marry Marie lacked justifiable reason.

Conversely, the society strives to impose or fabricate rational explanations concerning the irrational actions of Meursault. His ideas of events having no meaning as well as things happening for no reason threatened and disrupts the society. During the trial process, the society is trying to develop a rational order. The explanation offered for the crime committed by Meursault by his lawyer, and the prosecution relied on reason, logic as well as on the cause and effect concept. The explanations were baseless and only geared towards defusing the idea that the world is irrational. This renders the court process an absurdity since they are trying to justify rationality in an irrational world.

The novel by extension of absurdity put forward some reasons to justify the meaningless of life. Human life deemed to have no purpose and meaning. Camus viewed life as one with many uncertainties with only on certain and inevitable thing, which is death. The reason of all people dying at one time justifies that human life is meaningless. Meursault throughout the novel tries to establish that human life is meaningless, but this does not come out without a doubt until the last chapter when he argued with the chaplain. After the argument, he realized that as much as he is indifferent from the universe, the universe is also indifferent from him. He concludes that he will undergo similar stages as other people of coming to being and dying, and after death, he will have no importance.

In contradiction, Meursault foresee happiness after reaching this ostensibly gloomy realization. After fully coming in terms with it, that is inevitability of death, he understands the need for not caring how one will die, a natural death neither due to old age nor by execution. With this understanding, we find Meursault being reluctant of even filing a legal appeal suit. This is because he feels that illusory hope that has initially lost in thought about will generate a false sense in him, that one can avoid death. He comes out clearly to justify that his hope to lead a sustained life have been a burden. With his liberation from false hope, Meursault feel free of living life just the way it is and make the most out of his outstanding days. To Meursault, life is meaningless because death is inevitable and one demise altogether.

Meursault comes out in The Stranger as a person who has immense interest with the physical aspects of the world environment than even in its emotional or social aspects. The significance of the physical world rests on the novel’s contention that human life has no higher order or meaning. He gives strong reason for his assertion, to be death. This is because when one dies the world forgets about his existence forever. Throughout, the novel, Meursault center of attention has been his own body, on the weather, on his sensate association with Marie and any other physical components that form his surroundings. For instance, during the funeral of his mother, Meursault demonstrate that, at the time of the funeral procession, the scourging heat brought him much pain than even the thought of lying to rest his mother.

Meursault is under attack by the sun while in the beach, and this comes out clearly during the trial when he points out that the suffering he had experienced under the sun lead him to kill the Arab. This reflects how significant the physical environment was to Meursault compared to his emotional or social environs. The feeling of heat causing more pain than his deceased mother indicates an unpopular scenario of human life. Meursault interest in the physical world is also evident from his style of narration. Though he presents concise, explicit descriptions when he luster over social or emotional situations, an ornate and vivid description is evident when he discussed such topics as the weather and nature. His connection to the universe is intimate and fulfilling than even his sustained life. He finds preference of the external surrounding over and above the human life. The idea that human life has an end, justifies its meaningless compared with the external environment whose existence is certain (McCarthy 96).

In conclusion, the conduct of Meursault is distinct from that of normal human being because of his denial of human faculties and social codes that bounds a society and makes it more appealing to the public. The novel captures the irrationality that exists in the universe with most people trying to put in place structures such as, the trial process to have rational orders in the world. The society endeavor to give reason and logic every happening and event, this contradicts the belief of Meursault since it asserts that things happen because they have to and there is no reasoning behind it. In addition, human life appears to be meaningless because it has a certain end. People have to be born, but eventually they have to die. When people die they disappear from the memories of the whole world, and their existence becomes meaningless. Hope that preoccupies the mind of all people appears to be the source of falsehood that one can avoid death. For Meursault, the idea of life being meaningless drives to a careless situation concerning how he will come across his death, whether by a natural cause or by execution.

The outside world stands to be of much importance to Meursault than even his emotional or social environs. He speaks about most of his actions in relation, to the sun and heat and to some extent he brings a discussion about the weather and nature. He considers it of much importance than even the death of his mother. Nonetheless, Meursault portray some feeling of emotions when he talks about the relationship he had with Marie. The time spent by Meursault in prison proved to be a life changing period since he began to realize some sought of alienation both by the courtroom and society, as well. He feels as an outsider as he said, “a kind of intruder”, meaning that the society alienate him. The reasons for Meursault execution rely, not on his crime but his personal character.