...Is Suicide Justifiable? According to Albert Camus, suicide was considered the fundamental issue for moral philosophy. Unlike other philosophers who had written on the subject and tried to find sufficient reasons behind it to put off facing the consequences of the absurd, Camus was interested in not only accepting, but also embracing absurdity while renouncing suicide. His philosophy is profoundly evident in one of his non-fiction works, The Myth of Sisyphus, which illuminates the ethics of suicide. Through Camus’ thoughts and writings, the concept of absurdity has influenced authors around the world and has left a great impression on their writings, such as Henrik Ibsen’s play, Rosmersholm, and poses the question whether suicide is in fact justifiable. In his philosophy, known as absurdism, Camus emphasizes that "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide." The goal of this idea is to judge whether or not life is worth living in a meaningless world. Camus defines the notion of the absurd as something that expresses an essential disharmony in our existence. He emphasizes that this is product of a clash and "confrontation between our man and his own obscurity" (Camus, 494) . In other words, Camus explains that we are free agents in this life, and that we live by a sense of meaning and purpose, and under this acceptance, we feel at home. However, everyone, at some point in their life, has experienced the feeling of absurdity, whether its during...
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...Stranger, Albert Camus portrays his existential theme of the absurdity of the universe through the main character, Monsieur Meursault’s actions and his apparent lack of all human emotion. However, in this novel the reader will find that Meursault is oblivious to the absurd that Camus has falsified, but nonetheless Meursault is affected by the absurd. Camus explores this theme in order to explicate the importance of certain existential realities throughout his novel. For example, Meursault is always seeking logic in an illogical world; in addition, he sees no meaning in any of his interactions or relationships with the...
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...Albert Camus Biography Albert Camus was born November 7, 1913, and reared in Algeria, a country exposed to the blistering African sun and the plain by the Mediterranean sea. These roots — the sun and the sea — have spread into all of Camus' writings — the novels, the plays, and the essays. They are a part of his lyricism, his symbolism, and his values. The universe, it seems from his early notebook (Noces), was mother, father, and lover for the young Camus, and from the first, Camus was aware of the paradoxical aspects of his natural world. The sensual free pleasure of swimming and hiking was in continuous contrast to the bare stony earth that made living a matter of poverty and destitution. He was early aware of the absurd condition of humanity's being totally alone in a resplendent universe. This concept is Camus' equivalent of "In the beginning . . ." With this truth, all of his writings sound revolt, for he refused to be deceived by social, religious, or individual submissions that ignored or defied the irreducible truth that humanity alone is responsible for itself, its meaning, and its measure. Camus' writings are a testament to a continuing belief in humanity's exiled but noble condition. Lucien Camus, Albert's father, was killed in 1914, during World War I's Battle of the Marne, and the year-old child was reared by his deaf mother. She had little money and was apparently a rather joyless and boring companion for her son. It is little wonder that he spent much of his...
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...The Stranger Final Reflection One of the main themes in Albert Camus’s The Stranger is that the universe is irrational and life has no meaning. Camus’s writing strongly supports the idea that a person’s life is meaningless and has no structure or real order. Over the course of the novel, the main character Meursault exhibits odd behavior in comparison to that of the other “normal” characters Camus introduces. The character that best relates to the idea of a rational universe is the Magistrate. Meursault first encounter with the magistrate reveals how unemotional and distant from the general principles of society he is. At the beginning of the conversation the magistrate asks Meursault whether he had hired an attorney. His response to the question is, “I said I thought my case was pretty simple.”(pg 63) One would think a normal and rational member of society wouldn’t flat out admit to their guilt. A person who valued there life and freedom would try at any means necessary to avoid imprisonment. In that same first interaction between the magistrate, Meursault displays another odd characteristic. As the meeting is adjourned he thinks of shaking the magistrates hand as if they had just had a formal meeting about something minute and unimportant. “On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man.”(pg 64) In reality Meursault was a criminal and had killed a man. Here, his thoughts clearly indicate his idea of life having no...
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...Albert Camus THE STRANGER THE Stranger By ALBERT CAMUS Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert VINTAGE BOOKS A Division of Random House NEW YORK 1 Albert Camus THE STRANGER VINTAGE BOOKS are published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Random House, Inc. Copyright 1942 by Librairie Gallimard as L’ÉTRANGER Copyright 1946 by ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper. Manufactured in the United States of America. Distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. 2 Albert Camus THE STRANGER Contents Contents ........................................................................................................................ 3 Part One ........................................................................................................................ 4 I.................................................................................................................................. 4 II .............................................................................................................................. 14 III ............................................................................................................................. 18 IV.............................................................
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...A Happy Death “When I look at my life and its secret colors, I feel like bursting into tears. Like that sky. It’s rain and sun both, noon and midnight. You know, Zagreus, I think of the lips I’ve kissed, and of the wretched child I was, and of the madness of life and the ambition that sometimes carries me away. I’m all those things at once. I’m sure there are times when you wouldn’t even recognize me. Extreme in misery, excessive in happiness—I can’t say it.” “Believe me, there is no such thing as great suffering, great regret, great memory…Everything is forgotten, even a great love. That’s what’s sad about life, and also what’s wonderful about it. There’s only a way of looking at things, a way that comes to you every once in a while. That’s why it’s good to have had love in your life after all, to have had an unhappy passion – it gives you an alibi for the vague despairs we all suffer from.’ After a pause, he added: ‘I don’t know if you understand what I mean.’” “You make the mistake of thinking you have to choose, that you have to do what you want, that there are conditions for happiness. What matters – all that matters, really – is the will to happiness, a kind of enormous, ever-present consciousness. The rest – women, art, success – is nothing but excuses. A canvas waiting for our embroideries.” Is it possible to die a happy death? This is the central question of Camus's astonishing early novel, published posthumously and greeted as a major literary event. it tells the...
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...THE STRANGER PART I CHAPTER 1: REACTION TO TONE AND OPENNING BY CAMUS The opening to Camus’ The Stranger, has, ever since the novel’s publication, been a recurring aspect and reference in existential literature. The novel opens to the death of the protagonist, Meursault’s, mother. Her death plays a major role which recurs through the plot, but in the essence of the opening to The Stranger, it already introduces readers to the indifference of the protagonist and the initial tone at which the story is told. From the first paragraph, Camus lets the reader already establish an initial tone; through which he establishes thru many ways. Primarily in the texts structural level, Camus established the tone with the use of short, declarative sentences with no emotion. The narration is done in a matter of fact way creating the detached tone which resonates throughout the whole chapter. The detached tone allows no medium for which emotion is to pass. No matter the event the text maintains this structure of declarative, short clauses bearing no emotion- thus adhering to the tone of detachment. Secondly, Camus also uses digression as a method of establishing the detached tone. Digression serves as a method for Meursault to go to his own world: one he could call his own, with his own norms and beliefs. The motif which recurs as a medium for Meursault’s digression is the weather. This is witnessed initially in the bus trip as he dozes off from glaring at the sky (Pg4). This occurs just pages...
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...Major Themes and Symbols by Scott Charles This chapter is a free excerpt from Quicklet on Albert Camus' The Stranger. * * There are five main themes in The Stranger: 1. Alienation. Camus establishes Meursault as an outsider early on in the narrative. The first few pages of the book show Meursault at his mother’s funeral. Meursault watches people and events with no particular connection -- he is distant, feels out of place, feels nervous as he thinks people are staring at him. He does not exhibit any particular sadness at his mother’s death. As the story develops we notice how he comprehends facts but not feelings. He spends more time fixated on trivial physical characteristics than he does on emotional content. He is polite, and passive, but lacks empathy. He is like this throughout the narrative; his character doesn’t really evolve. 2. Time and circumstance. Camus uses some subtle literary tricks to get the reader to imagine that random events strung together are fateful. Meursault’s mother dies, he sees a movie with his girlfriend, he’s walking up a flight of stairs and a neighbor invites him to dinner, a man’s dog goes missing. In between unrelated events like these Camus weaves a simple story about a man who makes the fatal mistake of getting involved with a small-time gangster and ends up murdering someone almost by accident. Camus’ narrative brings the random events full circle as Meursault is convicted for being cold-hearted. In other...
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...continuously a boulder up a hill, only for it to inevitably fall right back down every single time he reaches the top. While these two scenarios may seem to be completely unrelated, they are in fact only separated by one distinct difference: consciousness towards their situation. In “The Myth of Sisyphus”, Albert Camus asks us the fundamental question of whether or not life is worth living once man discovers that life is absurd. Camus defines absurdity as a futile search for the meaning of our existence. It seems to me, that there are only two ways of handling life once one has come to the realization that life is absurd: We can act like the man stuck in a monotonous daily routine, believing that there is no reason for living, bringing him one step closer to suicide, or we can act like Sisyphus, a man Camus describes as an absurd hero, a man who despite being condemned to an absurd task, redeems himself by making the choice to revolt rather than kill himself. (http://thecynicalgirl.com/the-myth-of-sisyphus/ ). I believe that to survive in this absurd and meaningless world, one must act like Sisyphus, one must own their fate, stay determined, and never ask the question of “why?” Camus states in the “Myth of Sisyphus” that he is intrigued by Sisyphus’ ability to continue with his absurd task. He says, “It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured...
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...approach to life. Paragraph How the characteristics of hard-boiled fiction relate to The Stranger by Albert Camus can be seen easily throughout the entire story. Knowing that this form of writing was widely popular during that time period where dark fiction promoted readers to dive into a world where conventional attitudes and ways of life were being contradicted. This novel achieves the contradictions of a hard-boiled fictional piece and targets masculinity making it play a large role in the reasoning behind events. Firstly the male centeredness along with the hostile and violent environment typical of hard-boiled fiction is portrayed in The Stranger using the characters of Raymond and Mersault himself both showing different versions of male violence within the environment of the story. Raymond, a domestically violent individual who believes women who cross him deserve beatings as a form of punishment, perfectly sets the brutal theme that later leads into Mersault’s crime of murder. “The sun glinted off Raymond’s gun as he handed it to me.”(Camus 56) Raymond provides the hostile and violent environment in the story. The isolation and alienation of characters are present through Mersault’s behavior and attitude towards some of the other characters. “As always, whenever I want to get rid of someone I’m not really listening to, I made it appear as if I agreed.” (Camus 69) The attitude that...
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...Existentialism can be defined as a philosophical and literary tendency that typically displays a dismal of abstract theories that seek to disguise the untidiness of actual human lives and emphasizes the subjective realties of individual existence, individual freedom, and individual choice. Runaway by Kanye West is a great example of this philosophical theory and many connections can be made to his work and the work of Soren Kierkegaard, Franz Kafka, and Albert Camus. These four artists apply existentialist themes in their literature and even their private lives. The two themes that I found preeminent in these artists work are isolation and death. The four artists have a very philosophical cohesion between them. They all have a sense of isolationism in their works which makes their creations so unique. In Runaway by Kanye West, a phoenix falls to earth like a meteor and doesn’t know where she has ended up. The phoenix attempts to fit in with our society but she doesn’t know how to act in front of all these people so she is isolated. When the phoenix is at Kanye West’s dinner party, she sees a turkey that is about to be served for dinner and she is shocked and shrieks obnoxiously in front of all the guests and they look at her very differently and isolate her. In Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa is portrayed as a bug and people look at him very differently. Gregor is isolated in his home and can’t leave because he doesn’t want his parents to look bad. “During the day...
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...In the article, the author put the reader in an impossible situation to analyze about the important role of ads in a social. He puts us in a world without advertising which I think will be boring! If we live in advertising world, we know who we are because the advertising will reflect who we are because what we see, look in the ads will make us want to become like that or buy that products, for example, you want to become success, beauty, confident … because what you see in the ads is all about that characters, you will buy a cookie, a pizza… because you see it everyday, you want to taste how it feel, you want to try that dress to look like that celebrities, so advertising help our world more develop, modern. According to the author, we live in a develop world because of advertising, Our world coexist with the presence of the advertising, if there’s no advertise we will live in a medieval times. In the article, the author say that he likes to live on an island in Croatian where there is no modern technology exists there but he still wants and lives in an advertise world because if not his “interior life would be impoverished in no significant way.” In the article, he mention, “advertising is energetic,” we can understand that the development of a country or the economic by look at the commercial culture. We all know, ads regarded as the life-blood of modern business, when society and economic growth up quickly at the same time supply of people will increasing, it required...
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...His morals led him to his own execution. In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus the main character, Meursault, was charged for murder for killing the Arab. His meaning of life including his indifferent attitude at his Mother’s funeral was used against him which led him to his own execution. The final event reveals that the individual is the one who makes meaning of their own life as can be seen through Meursault's interaction with authority, his attitude towards Marie, and his attitude towards his own death as a means of summarizing the major message of the book. Meursault is uncaring for his actions towards the authority strengthening the theme. Going through the case, Meursault did not seek the Chaplain’s empathy to convince them he was innocent, rather he did the opposite. The chaplain asked if Meursault believed in God because his belief was that, “... all men believed in God… and if he were ever to doubt it, his life would be meaningless. ‘Do want my life to meaningless?’ he shouted… It didn't have anything to do with me, and I told him so” (69). His response reveals that no one should be able to control another person’s life and beliefs; even if it was the authorities or a greater power. If he chose to change his belief and...
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...Night: The “dark” or “night” represents Meursault’s fear of death. It is at the conclusion of the night that Meursault could be picked up for his execution. He is unable to sleep due to fear that each night may be his last: “After midnight, I would wait and watch” (113). There is some irony in this use of darkness because normally Meursault is comforted by the dark, but here it portends his greatest fear, his execution. () Sounds: Meursault is hyperaware of himself within his environment while awaiting execution. “Footsteps”, “small sounds”, “slight shuffling” are the sounds Meursault feels are a threat to his life. They intensify his anxiety, which causes him to be acutely aware of even the sounds he produces such as his breathing and his heart beat. The words of sounds are used ironically because Meursault is usually looked at to be insensitive to things. He notices his surroundings, but usually doesn’t connect with them. In this case, he notices and connects with them in the sense that noticing the little sounds intensify his anxiety. () Light: The “dawn” and the “light” symbolize survival. When Meursault sees the sun rise this means he has survived another day. It is only during the day Meursault is able to sleep: “That's why I ended up sleeping only a little bit during the day, and then, all night long, waited patiently for the first light to show on the pane of the sky” (113). His ability to sleep during the day is due to the relief of living through another night...
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...L’Étranger the original name of the book “The Stranger” explores the French novelist, Albert Camus, own philosophy on the absurdity of life. In other words, an absurd word is devoid of rational meaning. The protagonist, Meursault, is created, as an existentialist character showing us how Camus see’s the world, even if he later swore he wasn’t an existentialist. The themes of the novel are mostly based on the everyday life such as religion, the natural world, isolation, mortality, and the absurd life we live on. This plot is aligned with many events that occur by the cause of Meursault’s character to pursue the nonsensical things. The conclusion of this book is based on the fact that the world’s absurdity leads us to find out that there is no...
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