The Stranger By Robert Camus: Novel Analysis

Robert Camus is a famous French author who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. Camus has many famous novels including Le Mythe de Sisyphe, La Peste, La Chute, L’Exil et La Royaume, and L’Etrange or The Stranger. The Stranger is a short novel written in 1942 that details the life of a man named Meursault. The novel follows Meursault as he develops and changes according to dramatic events in his life. The novel shows the changes in his characteristics before any events, after he kills a man and is put in jail, and after he is sentenced to death. To begin, at the beginning of the story, the narrator seems very unemotional. Throughout many occasions he is known to be very relaxed and calm. One example of this could be as Marie asked
him to marry her and he simply states “I said I didn’t mind; if she was keen on it, we’d get married” (52). This shows his lack of emotion because the average person would have a much stronger opinion about something as big as getting married. There is another incident when Raymond said that they are friends and Meursault says that he “...kept silence and he said it again. I didn’t care one way or the other, but as he seemed set on it, I nodded and said ‘yes’” (41). This quote particularly interests me because as he does not really care what happens he makes his decisions based on other's influences. Overall in the first section of the book Meursault shows nearly no emotion and is very easily influenced by others. To continue, there is a big change in the book after Meursault kills a man and is put in jail, but this is not the only change. There is also a change in Meursault's demeanor. Meursault now goes back and forth between a sort of depression, and new showing of emotion. There are many times where Meursault is sitting in his jail cell hoping to just be done with the day because he does not care. At one point while he is in jail, Marie comes to visit. This point is the first time in the novel that the reader gets to see his or her first real glimpse of his emotion. During this visit he says, “My gaze fell on her shoulders, and I had a sudden longing to squeeze them, through the thin dress” (92). Meursault really shows his compassion and longing for Marie for the first time in the novel in this piece. The transition from a free man to one with no freedoms show us how his desperation can bring out more of his emotions. Lastly, in the final section of the book, as he is sentenced to death, his emotions become even more amplified.
He becomes more depressed than ever before and the reader can sense his wanting to give up. At first it seems as if his depression shows a lack of emotion, but I disagree. I believe that these moments of depression highlight his emotion; showing just how much he wants to quit. This is a major step considering that earlier he wanted nothing for himself, but only for others. The depression takes over a large section of the book, but towards the very end one can see the joy that Meursault is overcome with. As he realizes that he was correct all along, he feels content. This really is the first and only time Meursault feels and fully shows his emotions without any distractions. He states “...I too felt ready to start life all over again...To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy and that I was happy still” (154). This quote, from the very last paragraph of the book, is the only incite into the full, unguarded emotion of Meursault. His sentencing first led to many more feelings of distress than ever; then concluded in him accepting himself and showing his true
emotions. In conclusion, Meursault grows and transforms throughout the book. The reader can see the transformation of a nearly emotionless man who let others make decisions for him, into a man that is emotional and makes his own decisions. In the beginning, Meursault is very reserved, after the murder we can see a glimpse of desperate emotions, but it is not until after the sentencing that we are allowed to see all of the desperate emotions that then turn into joy. This story teaches the reader the effects of taking away a man's freedoms, and how it can be liberating. The Stranger shows the reader just how far a man will go to consider himself “normal”.