What Is Meursault's View Of Death

Camus depicts the individuality of Meursault’s existential character through his disbelief in a higher power and an afterlife. Notably, Meursault believes that death holds to seem inevitable. Even with the belief in God, people will die at any point in their lives, there is no escaping it. Innumerable times society strives to confront Meursault on his religious beliefs by forcing the priest to push catholicism on him. With all of the pushing of religion, Meursault still refuses to find interest and purpose in believing in God. Camus shows through Meursault’s belief that “we are all condemned to die...if you don’t die today, you’ll die tomorrow, or the next day” (117). There ceases to be an unknowing when death will confront anyone, yet many
religions teach people to be fearful in the face of death, whereas existentialists embrace the fact as it remains the inevitable fate. With the thought of death hanging overhead, the idea is expressed that “man’s self is nothing except what he has become” (Benet 317), and man should embrace every opportunity, for what man limits themselves to will only limit their future.
Death may be inevitable, however what is done with the life given makes life worth the time. Additionally, he believes there is no knowing God’s purpose. Camus expresses through Meursault’s thoughts and actions that one cannot simply put all trust in their life in the hands of an imaginary person. Anytime Meursault faces a priest or anyone on the street, they denounce him for his lack of religion. When talking to the chaplain, Camus depicts that Meursault “doesn’t want anybody’s help, and he just doesn’t have the time to interest himself in what doesn’t interest him” (69). If people don’t believe in something, they gain little to no interest in them and find no reason to consider much of them. Existentialists find that when they “abandon their illusions, they find themselves horrified by the absurdity of the human condition...questioning the existence of God” (Benet 317). Over the years, society creates and feeds on the idea of God and religion to the point where it needs to become a factor of each person’s life whether they believe or
not. With all modern ideas, there seems to always be people who oppose them, like Meursault and other existentialists; they do cannot put trust in the hands of a person that cannot tell them what their purpose becomes or they need evidence, which the image of God does not possess. Contradicting societal ideas, Meursault refuses to join the idea that God possesses a purpose for each individual.
Furthermore, Meursault does not believe in the idea of an afterlife. Several people strongly believe that when they complete their time on earth, they are reborn into a new life after death. Existentialists on the other hand do not believe in the idea of life after death. For example, when Meursault expresses his mother’s death and his fate of imminent death. Camus expresses the disbelief the chaplain has in Meursault’s belief when he confronts him with “‘have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?’ ‘Yes’” (117). How would society shift if this existential belief ran through everybody? The beauty of life lies in the unknowing and the thought that this becomes the best that life has to offer, whether there truly lies a life after or not. This idea of an afterlife acts as a cushion for people, comforts and makes the idea of death seem less scary to a select few, even though no one knows if this place is true. Existentialists believe in what is real, they do not look to religion and society for answers, they look to themselves to find the real truth in the
matter. Death is inevitable, yet to Meursault there is nothing hopeful on the other side.