The Stranger, By Albert Camus

Existentialism and the Absurd The novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus,consists of a first person narrator, Meursault. Meursault, the main character, acquires an absurd philosophy on the essence of life.His mindset is that life is not only insignificant, it is unavoidable. Meursault 's’ life consists of futile bonds, nonchalant behavior, and living an existence of mere tangible exercises throughout the story. In this novel, human life appears to have no meaning in the grand spectrum of the universe. Meursault gives an example of this ideology when he comes in contact with the chaplain who talks about life after death. Meursault, who has a strong disagreement with the idea of Christianity, reveals to the chaplain his outlook on the meaninglessness
Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know”(Camus 1).Meursault 's careless response to his mother’s death conveys a sense of resignation or carelessness.This idea is supported by his lack of ambition to derive personal relationships with the people around him. Meursault 's only pleasure in the story are the warmth of the sun, a touch from his fiancee, Marie, and the taste of his cigarette. Meursault gets his pleasures from tangible objects. Camus shows Meursault 's philosophy in life is the importance of the reality and the events that are taking place at that moment. The protagonist, Meursault, focuses only on the physical aspects in life.When he obtains a lover, she tries to show Meursault the meaning of love, and the intelligence of being in a relationship. But Meursault does not give any thought to these feelings between he and Marie, nor does he, in any personal relationships. The only thing that matters is “the sense of immediacy that lies at the foundation of his philosophy”(Moser
Meursault argues that the only certain and concrete information in life is the inevitability of death, and, since all humans have that in common, all lives are evenly trivial. In the novel, Meursault gradually realizes that he does not fully grasp the idea until he meets with the chaplain and blows up blurting out how nothing matters, and nothing that the chaplain believes is as certain as the chaplain thinks. Like all people, Meursault has been born, will eventually die, and will have no further importance beyond. When he fully comes to terms with the inevitability of death, he understands that it does not matter whether he dies of old age or executed. He realizes that these illusory hopes of escaping execution would do more than create in him a deceiving sense that death is avoidable. Meursault sees that this hope for a maintained life has been a burden. His emancipation from this false hope means that he is free to live life, and to make the most of his remaining days, just like his