The Outsider
English A1 Higher Level
World Literature
Assignment 2c:
A detailed study of an extract from pages 14 to 15 from The Outsider by Albert Camus
Word Count: 1,378
I have decided to focus on an extract from chapter 1 of Albert Camus’ The Outsider as I feel this extract is highly significant as it serves as a device of exposition to develop Meursault’s, continuously judged, character and provides foregrounding for the rest of the novel. The prose style throughout this extract allows Camus to convey his philosophy of the absurd and portray Meursault as a social outcast and ultimately an ‘outsider’. The Outsider is set in Algeria and was published in 1942 alongside The Myth of Sisyphus, during WW2, an essay exploring the principles of the absurd highly embodied by Meursault’s character. The extract recounts the wake of the protagonists’ mother, a social ritual adopted traditionally to observe the souls of the departed. Here Meursault is established as an ‘absurd hero’ as he fails to meet cultural expectations by his absence of grief. Thus breaking social conventions as Meursault embodies a “solitary and sensual”[1] character that refuses to “hide his feelings”[2] and therefore convey the lack of grief struck by his mother’s death.
In this passage Camus’ use of language intensifies showing the increasing harshness of light “The glare from the white walls was tiring my eyes.”[3] Camus use of alliteration in this image conveys the weariness Meursault feels due to the intensifying severity of light. The use of literary devices throughout this extract allows Camus to externally reflect the effect of a stimulus on Meursault’s internal state of mind, this is further evident as Meursault states “(…) through the open door I could smell the flowers in the night air. I think I dozed off for a while.”[4] This quote illustrates the sensuous physical world Meursault lives in, showing how Meursault seems to be purely driven by an
World Literature
Assignment 2c:
A detailed study of an extract from pages 14 to 15 from The Outsider by Albert Camus
Word Count: 1,378
I have decided to focus on an extract from chapter 1 of Albert Camus’ The Outsider as I feel this extract is highly significant as it serves as a device of exposition to develop Meursault’s, continuously judged, character and provides foregrounding for the rest of the novel. The prose style throughout this extract allows Camus to convey his philosophy of the absurd and portray Meursault as a social outcast and ultimately an ‘outsider’. The Outsider is set in Algeria and was published in 1942 alongside The Myth of Sisyphus, during WW2, an essay exploring the principles of the absurd highly embodied by Meursault’s character. The extract recounts the wake of the protagonists’ mother, a social ritual adopted traditionally to observe the souls of the departed. Here Meursault is established as an ‘absurd hero’ as he fails to meet cultural expectations by his absence of grief. Thus breaking social conventions as Meursault embodies a “solitary and sensual”[1] character that refuses to “hide his feelings”[2] and therefore convey the lack of grief struck by his mother’s death.
In this passage Camus’ use of language intensifies showing the increasing harshness of light “The glare from the white walls was tiring my eyes.”[3] Camus use of alliteration in this image conveys the weariness Meursault feels due to the intensifying severity of light. The use of literary devices throughout this extract allows Camus to externally reflect the effect of a stimulus on Meursault’s internal state of mind, this is further evident as Meursault states “(…) through the open door I could smell the flowers in the night air. I think I dozed off for a while.”[4] This quote illustrates the sensuous physical world Meursault lives in, showing how Meursault seems to be purely driven by an