In the book “The Stranger,” the main character, Meursault, is a stranger to himself, and to life. Meursault is a person who is emotionally and physically detached from the world. He seemingly cares only about himself, but at the same time could be concerned little about what happens to him. The title, “the Stranger,” could indicate Meursault”s disconnection and indifference to the world that surrounds him and, therefore, his role as a stranger in the book.
The title could also imply that he is simply a stranger to experiencing emotion and expressing feeling: that he is detached from himself and doesn”t know what it means to be a human. Meursault show that is far more interested in the physical aspects of the world around him, than the social or emotional aspects of life. Throughout “The Stranger,” Meursault”s attention is centered on his physical relationship with Marie and physical elements of his surroundings. Existentialism is a belief that is centered on man”s freedom of choice and his responsibility for the consequences of his actions.
It is the view that we create moral and ethical values though the choices that we make, that nothing is right or wrong until we make a choice, and the refusal to choose is a choice. Existentialism holds that there is no intrinsic meaning or purpose: therefore, it is up to each individual person to determine his own meaning and purpose, and to take responsibility for his actions. According to Soren Kierlegaard, a nineteenth century Danish philosopher, an individual”s response to a situation must be to live a totally committed life and this commitment can only be understood by the person who has made it.
That person must always be able to defy the norms of society for the sake of the higher authority of a valid way of life. In comparison to Existentialism, Meursault, in “the Stranger,” exhibits these characteristics that are unique to his life experiences. Detachment From Emotions Meursault responds to situations in a way that is not normal in out society. He doesn’t distinguish right from wrong. Meursault clearly doesn’t judge one’s behavior to be good or bad. For instance, if there were a man abusing his dog, one would try and stop the man from abusing the dog.
When Meursault encounters a similar situation, he sees this action, not as right or wrong, or good or bad, but as a man abusing a dog. During the funeral procession, the heat of the sun causes Meursault far more pain than the thought of burying his mother. The sun on the beach torments Meursault, and during his trail he identifies his suffering under the sun as the reason he killed the Arab. Meursault is the only one who can understand his response to the situations described about and sees it as valid based on his commitment to live life as he sees it.
In “The Stranger,” as in Existentialism, Meursault’s values are created by his own will rather than any innate human transcendental purpose. Existentialism is a belief that is centered on man’s freedom of choice and his responsibility for the consequences of his actions. But Meursault is a stranger to himself and his surroundings. He is detached from the world and does not make choices because of his refusal to do so, rather, he is unable to do so because he is detachment from the world. Indifference Meursault’s description of other people is entirely subjective.
Do I know the Objective He does not attempt to portray them in neutral form or in a manor to understand their thoughts and feelings. Meursault is detached from the world and everything around him. Events that would be very significant for most people, such as a marriage proposal or a parent’s death, do not matter to Meursault, at least at a sentimental level. He does not care that Marie loves him. He does not car that his mother is deceased, which can be seen from an effort less means of not hiding lack of feeling over her death.
Without displaying his indifference of judgment, Meursault constantly challenges society acceptance, which states that one should grieve over “ones” death. Also, because Meursault does not grieve, society defines him as an outsider, a threat, even as a monster. He simply does not make the distinction between good and bad in his own mind. It’s as if you’ve come to a fork in the road and you can’t distinguish the right direction to proceed. Meursault does one thing or another because he has the ability to do so and no reason no to.
He testifies for Raymond that his mistress had him cheating on him to justify Raymond’s beating her. Meursault’s indifference seems to apply solely to his understanding of himself. He also makes few assumptions about to mature of the world around him. Meursault’s indifference to the world and the people in it is determined by his own meaning and purpose, based on his experiences. Meursault concludes that the universe is, like him, totally indifferent to human life. He decides that people’s livers have no grand mean or importance, and that their actions virtually have no effect on the world.
In “The Stranger as in Existentialism, Meursault determines his own meaning and purpose in life. It is he who decides whether his life or the life of others is important. In contrast, Meursault feels that ones actions have virtually no effect on the world, contradicting the belief that one is responsible for his actions. Meursault because any with the priest when the priest ask him why he calls him monsieur and not father. The priest tells him that he is on his side but Meursault has no way of knowing it, because his heart is blind.
Something inside Meursault snaps and he grabs the priest by his cassock, “I was pouring out on him everything that was in my heart, cries of anger and cries of joy. ” I had been right, I was still right, I was always right. I had lived my life on way and I could have lived it another. I had done this and hadn’t done that. I hadn’t don’t this thing but I had don’t another. And so? It was as if I had waited all this time for this moment and for the first light of this dawn to be vindicated. Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he.
Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled whatever offered me at the same time, in years no more real than the ones I was living. Pg: 120-121 The Realization in the culmination of all the events of “The Stranger. ” When Meursault accepts the gentle indifference of the world, he finds his peace, his center with himself and within the society around him, his development as a person, not just as a human being, he becomes complete.
In “The Stranger,” as is in Existentialism; Meursault convincingly accepts a responsibility for his act in killing the Arab. He realized that he had freedom of choice that it is up to him to determine the meaning and purpose of his own life. Remember there are 2 ways of Existentialism, “there is no mean to Live and There is Meaning” there are 2 Existentialists that say that there is no mean to live and the rest DON’T I cant remember who pacifically but you can find out my teacher told me this in class. Thank you for reading I hope you in joyed my paper and much as I wrote it.
