Introduction
Albert
Camus was born in French Algeria on 07th of November 1914. He
contributed to the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote many novels under
this philosophy. One of the important work of his is The Stranger or The
outsider. This book written by in 1942. This book is written as the lead
character Meursault narrate the whole story. This book is written in two parts.
In this book Meursault commits a murder. The events before the murder is in
Part One and the Part Two consists of the post murder story.
The
whole story is about the event that takes place around an unconventional
character who kills an Arab. Meursault is very realistic, extremely honest, and
an indifference person. This critical paper discuss about the character of
Meursault and his characteristics.
The Fact about the character
Meursault
The
whole book is written as the main character Meursault is narrating. Yet the
description about Meursault is given very little throughout the book. We even
did not know his first name, he referred as Meursault alone in whole book. As
well as not a single reference to his appearance is mentioned in the book.
He
is now living in French Algiers. Before he came to Algiers he lived in the
French capital Paris. He lives alone in his home from the time his mother moved
to elders home. He kept all his personal belonging in his bed room. All other
room in the home is empty. He abandoned his education in the middle and is
working in a shipping company as a clerk. Meursault never had many friends.
Apart from his two neighbours he befriended with the café owner where he eats
and a colleague in the office whom Meursault have feeling for.
Meursault’s relationships
In
‘The Stranger’, we started to understand the Meursault’s character through the
relationships he has with the people around him. Meursault has two neighbours,
Salamano and Raymond. Salamano is introduced into story as he was beating his
dog. Here Meursault is just observing the neighbours. No judgment is made. He
also appear gain while searching for his dog. Meursault gave some advice where
to search the dog. But those advice came from a logical explanation rather than
an emotional support due to his indifference toward the think around him.
The
other neighbour is Raymond, with whom Meursault is more attached than Salamano.
This is nothing to do with social politeness. He listens to Raymond because
Meursault has nothing better to do and also Meursault found the stories of
Raymond amusing. He also wrote a letter for Raymond, after which Raymond
claimed that they both two were mates. Meursault did not mind it all. He is
showing the indifference quality here too.
Marie
is a person who Meursault is fantasizes. But it is not an emotional attachment.
When Meursault narrates about Marie we can clearly see that he is attracted to
her physically and show a detachment from the emotional factor. He narrates
“really fancied her because she was wearing a pretty red and white striped
dress and leather sandals. You could see the shape of her firm breasts and her
suntanned face was like a flower.” From this we can come to know that Meursault
finds Marie attractive. But this relationship is merely revolves around sex and
physical pleasures as for the Meursault end. We can find the coldness of
emotions from the narrating “She had her leg against mine, and I was fondling
her breasts. Towards the end of the show I kissed her, but badly. Afterwards
she came back to my place.” All along the story Meursault just imply the
interactions in an order. But never showed any emotional attraction towards
Marie at all. Even when she asked him to marry her he just replied “could if
she wanted to”. Through these events we can come to know that Meursault is
indifference towards Marie. At the dawn of the novel he assumes Marie was
either ill, dead or has moved to another lover. As for the Meursault being
married or not it did not matter to him at all. He also narrate that he would
have accepted the proposal if it had come from another women other than Marie.
Meursault’s relationship with his
mother.
To
understand the character of Meursault deeply we need to reserve an entire
partition. At the opening of the novel Meursault receive a telegram about the
death of his mother. His reaction towards it was rather unusual “Mother died
today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” This is the opening statement of the
novel. From this quote author gives an idea about the whole novel, “It is not a
conventional novel, Get ready to embarrass the eccentric”. For the death of the
mother he gives an impression that he does not care for his own mother’s death.
When
he asked for permission to go to Funeral from his boss, he was not happy. So
Meursault replies “It is not my fault”. This gives an impression that Meursault
thinks that the boss took the Funeral as Meursault taking advantage and be away
from work.
The
antics of Meursault in the funeral made an impression, how the character
Meursault is going to play all along the novel. He never show any emotions. He
took lunch before taking the bus towards the elder’s home. And even he engaged
in social conversation with the passenger who sat next to him. He refuses to
his mother face in the funeral. He even smokes in the funeral.
Characteristics of Meursault.
From
the above topics we can get an idea about the characteristic of Meursault. In
this part we will have a look on the characteristics of Meursault.
The Absurd
Meursault
is highly conscious in picking the absurdity around himself. All through the novel
his eye picks absurd characters. His ritualistic neighbour Salamano with his
dog. The concierge in the Elder’s home, who had the habit of calling the
inmates as old folks, although they are same age as him. Meursault also had the
habit of collecting absurd news from the newspaper. He cuts them off and later
he paste in an exercise book.
Belief in the pure experience
Meursault
believes that being and feeling is only the truth. He lives from day to day,
only living in the present. He has no expectations for tomorrow or any value
for yesterday. He believes that the social conventions are purely deception. We
can understand this idea all through the story – during his mother’s funeral,
when Marie proposes him, during his trial etc.
Indifference
Indifference
is a characteristic Meursault show all along the book. He did not flinch a bit
for his mother death, he kills a person and never mind about that, His love
life never connected to him other than physically. He show the signs of
indifference throughout the story.
Friendship and Love
Meursault
rejects hypothetical notions like friendship and love. He never expressed that
he is friend with anyone. As well as we can clearly see how his love life was.
It was totally based on physical pleasures. While explaining about the Marie
Meursault just says “really fancied her because she was wearing a pretty red
and white striped dress and leather sandals. You could see the shape of her
firm breasts and her suntanned face was like a flower.” From these line we
cannot infer anything related to emotion. When she asked him to marry her he
replied “could if she wanted to”. And also the view about what Marie will do
after he moved on from her he give a rather careless answer. From these things
we can come to know Meursault did not feel or care about the social conventions
such as love and friendship.
Life after death.
Meursault
does not believe in life after death. The only reality to Meursault is the
present life we live. The idea of
survival of the soul is mere speculation.
When the priest asked that Meursault ought to describe after life,
Meursault replies:
“A
life where I could remember it and I immediately told him that I had had enough”
No belief in God
When
the magistrate tell him that if he believed in the god, he will forgive himbut
he simply denied it and says “I realized at the same time that his was
ridiculous after all, I was the criminal”.
Guilt
As
for Meursault guilt is meaningless, because in the end there is only one life
to live. We can understand that from the following narrations.
“I wanted to try to explain to him cordially,
almost affectionately, that I never could really regret anything. I was always
taken by what was to come-by today where by tomorrow”
“I
lived so I could live in another. I did this and I had not done that. I had not
done such a thing while I did the other. And after?”
Extreme Honesty
Meursault
is an extremely honest person. He did not cover any facts during the trial. He
just states everything as it is. As well as throughout the book he did never
ever justify his actions.
“Today,
mom is dead. Or maybe yesterday, I do not know” – In this quote he just says
the cold truth, which many would reconsider every time when they speak of it.
When
the magistrate asks him if he liked his mother, Meursault replies with
merciless honesty “Yes like everyone else”.
When
the jury asked about the feeling when he killed a man, Meursault replied with
utter honesty “I thought and I said that instead of real regret, I experienced
some trouble. I felt he did not understand me.”
Conclusion
We
can simply say Meursault is an anti-social, too honest, does not believe in
god, does not have any social conventions, lives in an ultimate reality, absurd
and indifference guy. He cannot possibly live in the real world without making
any trouble, which he ended up at last.
Meursault
is a master piece creation by Albert Camus. It is impossible to find a guy like
Meursault in the real world. But by creating a character in a novel he made
sure that Meursault lived, is living and will live in the hearts of many
readers who read the book The Stranger. Albert Camus utilize the Meursault to
slash the society which is full of social conventions. He ended up in
accomplishing his task.
References
1. (
2012 , 5) .Albert Camus “the Stranger” Researchomatic .Retrieved 5 , 2012, from
http://www.researchomatic.com/Albert-Camus-the-Stranger-127719.html
2. (2013,
03). Literary Analysis: How Meursault Is Indifferent in the Stranger, by Albert
Camus. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 03, 2013, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Literary-Analysis-How-Meursault-Is-Indifferent-1492368.html
5. SparkNotes
Editors. “SparkNote on The Stranger.” SparkNotes LLC. 2003.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/stranger/ (accessed November 26, 2013).
No comments:
Post a Comment