The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Sheikh afjal
Audiovisual Media Specialist
The Stranger ( L'Étranger ) is a book by Albert Camus published in 1942 and is one of his most widely read works in the world.
The novel introduces us to Meursault, a Franco-Algerian man who is passive and oblivious to the
world around him. After committing a crime, he does not experience regret, nor is he unfazed by
the death of his mother. The protagonist's attitude clashes with social conventions and leads him
to his own death sentence.
The work, due to its theme, is framed within the philosophy of the absurd and has also been studied
within existentialist thought, despite the refusal of its author to belong to this current. Let's see how
it is present through a summary and analysis of the book.
Resume
Part one: the crime
Meursault is a man who lives in Algiers. One day he receives the news of the death of his mother, who was admitted to a nursing home. But the protagonist seems not to be affected.
When he arrives at the place, he talks to the asylum director, who is surprised by the protagonist's
passivity in the face of the facts. Meursault also does not want to see the body of his mother.
The next day, during the funeral, the only one who accompanies Meursault is an old friend of his mother,
who is considerably affected.
After the burial, what seems to worry Meursault the most is getting to Algiers to rest.
Once in Algiers, the protagonist meets Marie Cardona, a co-worker. The girl is surprised to learn of the death
of her mother and to see that Meursault does not feel sadness.
One day, upon returning from work, the protagonist meets his neighbor Raymond, who tells him how he hit his
lover and asks Meursault to write a letter to help her return to him.
On the next date with Meursault, Marie asks him if he loves her and the protagonist says no. They hear some
voices in Raymond's house, who is mistreating his lover. When the police arrive, they take Raymond away.
Meursault decides to defend his neighbor before the police when he is asked to do so.
Raymond invites Meursault to spend a weekend at a friend's cabin. There they meet the brother of Raymond's
lover. After an altercation, Raymond is injured. Meursault becomes a murderer when he kills the man who assaulted his friend.
Part Two: The Death Sentence
The second part of the novel develops the criminal process and the interrogation of the protagonist after being arrested for murder.
Both the judge and his lawyer admire the protagonist's apathy and lack of sadness at the death of his mother.
The witnesses do not benefit the protagonist's acquittal either. He then he is considered guilty and sentenced to death.
The protagonist wishes to change his destiny, although, finally, he resigns himself and ends up accepting his death.
Analysis
The book El extranjero is divided into two parts, each one made up of five chapters. The work is narrated in the first
person with a sparse style, in which the protagonist recounts the events in a simple and transpar way.
The novel is studied from the absurd or absurdism, a fact that turns out to be the central theme of
the work. This philosophy is governed by skepticism, which doubts everything that cannot be
demonstrated. The feeling of the absurd emanates from the book through its protagonist, but how
does he do it?
Meursault as representative of the absurd
Meursault is a character whose life is governed by a succession of mechanical and routine moments,
he is a man who seems to care nothing and who seems to have learned to relativize everything that
happens around him.
The protagonist contemplates the world without considering finding meanings. Indifference to what
happens is his way of being in the world. The absurd man is the one who does not question, does not seek explanations and remains impassive to what is happening around him.
Precisely this makes Meursault a strange man in the midst of all those who affirm that life has meaning,
despite the faith and hope of those around him. He seems indolent even of his own existence,
oblivious to established values and morals, he is a man who has understood the nonsense of life
and who does not seek to find meaning in something that does not have it.
This is not only shown in his actions, but also in his words. From the beginning, the tone used is
cold and distant, this helps the reader not to empathize with the character and to value the events
with disaffection. The first sentence of the book is an example of this, where he shows insensitivity
to an event such as the death of a loved one, his mother:
Today mom died. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I have received a telegram from the asylum:
“Mother deceased. Burial tomorrow. I feel your grief". Nothing means. Maybe it was yesterday.
Acceptance of the meaninglessness of life
Meursault, with his attitude towards reality, reveals to us that life means nothing. The acceptance of the meaninglessness of life is his starting point and, at the same time, this is what makes him enjoy the pleasures of life.
The protagonist, unlike other characters that are governed by values and hope, has assumed the absurdity of life and also the imminent
arrival of death. This fact can be seen when he is in prison and is visited by a priest who comes to talk to him about the afterlife.
So, Meursault states in relation to the words and beliefs of the chaplain:
He seemed so sure. However, none of his certainties were worth a woman's hair.
He wasn't even sure he was alive because he lived like a dead man. I seemed to have empty
hands. But I was sure of myself, sure of everything, more sure than him, sure of my life and
of this death that was to come.
The protagonist finds himself immersed in a reality governed by a scale of values that judges
what is good and what is bad. But how does this attitude towards reality affect the character?
How does the surrounding society accept it?
The society that condemns
The foreigner manifests the absurdity of social convictions. For which the protagonist ends up being
judged because, in the judicial process, he has decided not to lie so as not to "adjust" to what society
considers "correct". He has kept the truth from him regarding the death of his mother, which he has
not mourned as everyone expects, nor has he shown his own reactions during the grieving process.
The reality is that the protagonist is singled out for his lack of sensitivity to the death of his mother.
The judge tries to make the protagonist show "repentance" or bring up his feelings.
Finally, Meursault is sentenced to death, the accusation focusing on the defendant's personality
and not on the murder he has committed. Meursault ends up assuming his condemnation and
acknowledging the world's indifference.
Why is it called "The Stranger"?
In the etymology "foreigner" derives from the Old French "estrangier", which means stranger and
from the Latin extraneus.
What does this title word imply to Camus's book? Meursault is a character whose background is complex
for the reader to understand, it is difficult to follow his logic. We see how he seems oblivious to his own life.
The author himself, Camus declared the following statement to introduce the book: "In our society,
a man who does not cry at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death."
The title and its meaning is also directly related to the war and post-war context. After all,
the work is the reflection of a society lacking direction.
After the Second World War an atmosphere of hopelessness and frustration remains in Europe.
Albert Camus, immersed in this context, creates this character who represents the lack of the values of the time, a character who is characterized by passivity in the face of life but who, finally, leads him to a tragic destiny for being a "strange ” in the midst of the world that surrounds him, to which he finds no meaning.
Main characters
Meursault: is the narrator and protagonist of the book. He stands out for his coldness
and indifference to the tragic events that occur in his life and never expresses his thoughts.
Marie: is Meursault's co-worker and falls in love with him after several dates, to the point of
wanting to marry him.
Raymond: He is Meursault's neighbor and also becomes his friend. He is violent and mistreats
his lover.
Salamano: he is an old man who is characterized by his bad mood. He lives in the same
block as the protagonist and has a dog that he continually insults and mistreats.
Masson: is Raymond's friend, who invites him to spend the weekend in a cabin on the beach.
The Arab: he is the brother of Raymond's lover, whom Meursault murders.
The judge: is in charge of handling the murder case.
About Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a Franco-Algerian novelist, essayist, journalist and philosopher who was born into
a humble family and lost his father during the First World War.
He started writing at a very young age and began training in philosophy at the University
of Algiers. The foreigner , published in 1942, is the work that made him known. Albert Camus has often been studied
from the point of view of the absurd and existentialist philosophy, from which he sought to distance
himself.
Among his most notable works are:
The Stranger (1942)
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
The plague (1947)
The Fall (1956)
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