The Stranger By Albert Camus: Literary Analysis
In The Stranger by Albert Camus, there was the theme of absurdism, a belief that life was meaningless. Throughout the novel, Camus used this as the basis to argue the inevitability of death. He wanted to showcase this idea because in the end, all humans would meet death therefore life was meaningless. He implemented this idea through Meursault who was the protagonist of the story. The idea is not conveyed through Meursault right away, but rather throughout the course of the novel. The events and the experiences that Meursault faced had him come to this realization. While the novel contained many absurdist themes, one of the most important themes revolved around the weather and how it affected Meursault. The weather played a significant role
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When he says “..it went on much longer than when he was talking about my crime so long, in fact, that finally I was aware of how hot a morning it was” (Camus 100), it displays his apatheticness because instead of trying to prove himself innocent like most people would he was startled by the heat. Throughout the trial, he only payed attention to the different aspects of heat: “Here the prosecutor wiped his face, which was glistening with sweat” (Camus 102), “That afternoon the big fans were still churning the thick air in the courtroom...” (Camus 103). Because of his mind set only on the heat, it caused him to lack paying attention, therefore it prohibited him from concentrating on the questions he was being asked. Towards the end of the novel, Meursault says “..that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). This was significant in that this truly showed the absurdist he was. Meursault wanted to show how pathetic death was. All of the death scenes that occurred in the book and the mentions of any other character mourning over it is connected and wrapped up in the ending. When he wanted people to greet him with cries of hate, it showed his full acceptance of the absurdist ideas because he could no longer avoid his
When he says “..it went on much longer than when he was talking about my crime so long, in fact, that finally I was aware of how hot a morning it was” (Camus 100), it displays his apatheticness because instead of trying to prove himself innocent like most people would he was startled by the heat. Throughout the trial, he only payed attention to the different aspects of heat: “Here the prosecutor wiped his face, which was glistening with sweat” (Camus 102), “That afternoon the big fans were still churning the thick air in the courtroom...” (Camus 103). Because of his mind set only on the heat, it caused him to lack paying attention, therefore it prohibited him from concentrating on the questions he was being asked. Towards the end of the novel, Meursault says “..that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). This was significant in that this truly showed the absurdist he was. Meursault wanted to show how pathetic death was. All of the death scenes that occurred in the book and the mentions of any other character mourning over it is connected and wrapped up in the ending. When he wanted people to greet him with cries of hate, it showed his full acceptance of the absurdist ideas because he could no longer avoid his