What Is Meursault's Perception Of Life

Ahmed Hanafy
Mr. Calvert
English period 1
12 December, 2014 By showing how Meursault's consciousness changes through the course of events, Camus shows how facing the possibility of death does, in fact, have an effect on one's perception of life. At the start of the novel, Camus emphasizes Meursault's unnoticeable ideas towards death, especially his mom’s. However, Camus does not make Meursault's awareness of death strong enough to cause a self-realization. Despite his tendency for living in the present, Meursault is oblivious to the fact that every choice he makes is made without him knowing that no matter what choice is made, he will ultimately die. Meursault is subject to his own practiced responses, completely unaware that they express
the very sort of meaning and purpose that he does not want to admit exists. In the end, Camus demonstrates that because of this conformity and this self-restriction, human condition has no greater meaning than the two facts of existence: we live and we die.

Word Count: 1266Ahmed Hanafy
Mr. Calvert
English period 1
12 December, 2014
There is no way out In the French-Algerian novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, Camus gives expression to his philosophy of life and death. The books is a first-person novel of the life of a man named Meursault from the time of his mother's death up to a time just before his execution for the murder of an Arab. A main point in the novel is the significance of human life is understood only in light of death. By showing Meursault's consciousness change through the course of events, Camus shows how facing the possibility of death does have toll on the way someone views life. At the start of the Novel, Camus emphasizes Meursault's unnoticeable ideas towards death, especially his mom’s. Despite attending the funeral, Meursault does not want to see the body, despite finding it interesting to think about the effects of heat on the rate of a body's decay (Camus 8). By having Meursault think about the heat, Camus creates the sense that Meursault is almost totally unaffected by his mother's death since nothing changes in his life. In other words, Maman's death has little or no real significance for Meursault. When he hears Salamano, crying over his lost dog, Meursault is reminded of his mom; but he is unaware of the association that of his mother with the dog that his mind has made. By drawing this subtle connection to Maman using the dog, Camus gets at how Maman's death is just as meaningful as the dog's death. On the other hand, when Meursault is on the beach with Raymond and Masson and he confronts the two Arabs who have had problems with Raymond, he again think about the insignificance of any action and for the insignificance of human existence. On the beach, Meursault has a gun and it occurs to him that he could "shoot or not shoot" and that it would come down to the same thing (Camus 72). Again, Camus emphasizes how Meursault is not very affected by death. Even though Meursault does not bother to agree when his neighbor suggests that he must be feeling very sad since his mother's death, he urges Salamano to stay a bit longer and offers his condolences about the dog. Meursault's kindness toward Salamano contrasts with his usual indifference and anti emotion, and furthermore reveals a fine sense of feeling. Immediately following his shooting of the Arab, Meursault's perspective sharply shifts; he recognizes that a big event has just occurred. Unlike his mother's death or his marriage to Marie, this deed marks a huge turning point on Meursault's perspective of life. Interestingly, he regards it as a beginning rather than an end, even though he has lost his freedom and "shattered the harmony of the day" (Camus 59). Here Camus brings out one of his main philosophies and ideas. The loss of a life has no real significance, nor an affect on anyone’s life as a whole; the universe itself is apparently totally indifferent to everything. Here he Camus pretty much denies the existence of God. In a way, Meursault is always aware of the futility of all endeavors in the face of death and he has no real motivation to advance socially. However, Camus does not make Meursault's awareness of death strong enough to cause a self-realization.
Camus does not have Meursault think on the meaning of death too much until Meursault is in prison awaiting his trial. Before his trial, Meursault wastes the time in prison by by reading over the newspaper story about the murder of a Czech, and by recreating a mental picture of his room at home. In this connection, Meursault is very timid and aware even though his lack of self-awareness and emotion. He is especially sensitive to beauty: the beach, the the reed music, swimming, making love to Marie, and Sunday. He even says that if forced to live in a hollow tree trunk, he would be happy to just "watch the sky, passing birds, and clouds" (Camus 95). After his trial, he no longer thinks about his memories or passes the time in the useless way he normally used to spend Sundays at home. This represents a shift in character and a beginning of the self-realization of death and how near it is. At first, Meursault dwells on thoughts of escape. He cannot reconcile the contingency of his sentence with the mechanical certainty of the process that inevitably leads to death (Camus 137). When he gives up trying to find a loophole, he finds his mind going back to the fear that dawn would bring the guards who would lead him to be killed. Once he really, honestly admits death's grip, he allows himself to consider the chance of a successful court; of being set free to live. Now he begins
to see the value of each moment of the life before death. Because of death, nothing matters, except being alive. The meaning, value, and significance of life is only seen in light of death, yet most people miss it through the self-unawareness of death.
Despite his tendency for living in the present, Meursault is oblivious to the fact that every choice he makes is made without him knowing that no matter what choice is made, he will ultimately die.
Meursault sees his own impulses as natural. When Marie asks whether he would say yes to any girl who proposed marriage to him, he says, "Naturally" (Camus 42). When he comes upon the Arab on the beach, he says, again,"Naturally, I gripped Raymond's gun" (Camus 58). Intellectually lazy and unjudgemental, Meursault does not see his "natural" impulses as signs of being a stranger to society; in his own words, he "gave up the idea [of defending himself in court] out of laziness" (Camus 66). This laziness is eminent and noticeable Meursault's attitude so much that he assumes everything is equal if he doesn't think about it: one woman is as good a woman as another; shooting the Arab is just the same as not shooting him. By highlighting that one decision is like another, Camus expresses how decisions in life do not have a greater meaning since all decisions inevitably end in
death. Meursault is subject to his own practiced responses, completely unaware that they express the very sort of meaning and purpose that he does not want to admit exists. Likewise, this laziness helps Meursault wake up and realize how close death actually is as well as its iron grip. Camus writes, "a world that now and forever meant nothing" (Camus 122). Without a purpose in life, without something to do, our lives and our world mean nothing. Just like Salamano's dog, our collar is actually loose not tight, and in reality we are the one's tightening it by not finding meaning to our lives and doing what society has conformed us to do . In the end, Camus demonstrates that because of this conformity and this self-restriction, human condition has no greater meaning than the two facts of existence: we live and we die.