"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe‚ I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: ’Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday." Part 1‚ Chapter 1‚ pg. 3 Mersault’s preoccupation with the exact date that his mother had passed genuinely perplexed me. This man had just lost his only family in the world and he was caught up in‚ what I believe to be‚ a frivolous detail. Off the bat‚ the book starts off with these lines‚ foreshadowing
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The Stranger: Philosophical Analysis The Stranger‚ by Albert Camus‚ is a novel in which Meursault‚ the main character‚ develops a peculiar philosophy on the world and eventually comes to terms with the irrationality of life and meaninglessness of society. In the book‚ Meursault’s mother dies‚ and yet‚ as he travels to her funeral‚ sits a night by her coffin and attends the service‚ his first person narration voice does not give any indication of grief. The day after his mother dies‚ he meets
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Camus ’ "The Stranger": Choice and Individual Freedom Are Integral Components of Human Nature Camus ’s The Stranger is a grim profession that choice and individual freedom are integral components of human nature‚ and the commitment and responsibility that accompany these elements are ultimately the deciding factors of the morality of one ’s existence. Meursault is placed in an indifferent world‚ a world that embraces absurdity and persecutes reason; such is the nature of existentialist belief
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The short story “The Myth of Sisyphus” and the novel The Stranger show how one can achieve happiness regardless of the disparity of their situation. In “The Myth of Sisyphus” the character Sisyphus is sentenced to push a rock to the top of a hill and then let it fall under its own weight‚ and repeat the action. In The Stranger the character Meursault is faced with a public execution. Both characters expressed different characteristics‚ however found peace through the same route. At the end of
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Absurdism is the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless‚ chaotic universe. In the novel‚ “The Stranger” by Albert Camus‚ it talks about a man that just lost his mother‚ it seems like he doesn’t really care‚ but he truly loves his mother‚ he just deals with things on his own pace. Throughout the book it seems like he gives up on life‚ and he just doesn’t care about his well being but he doesn’t show it enough‚ but at the end he is decapitated for murdering an arab citizens. I agree and
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Topic #1 Illustrate how Meursault’s indifferent attitude and moral ambiguity is fundamentally at odds with society’s expectations of how a person should think and behave. Outline I. Thesis Statement: In The Stranger‚ society views Meursault as a cold-hearted killer and a moral "blank." It categorizes him as dangerous and evil because Meursault refuses to conform to society’s accepted standards of behavior. II. Meursault’s attitude and behavior A. At his mother’s vigil and the funeral 1. Meursault
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Literary analysis: How Meursault is indifferent in The Stranger‚ by Albert Camus Although Meursault is the title character and narrator of Albert Camus’ short novel The Stranger‚ he is also a somewhat flat character. His apparent indifferent demeanor may be a convenience to Camus‚ who mainly wanted to display his ideas of absurdism. And as a flat character‚ Meursault is not fully delineated: he lacks deep thought and significant change. His purpose is that of a first-person narrator whose actions
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The Stranger: Essay Topic 1 Albert Camus’s The Stranger takes place in a society confined with social standards that dictate who everyone is supposed to be and how they’re supposed to act. In the middle of this society‚ Camus introduces the character of Meursault‚ who is anything but ordinary. Meursault’s nonconformist personality causes him to be alienated from the world. However‚ he isolates himself more with his attitude about not caring about anyone but himself. Throughout the novel‚ The Stranger
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In The Stranger by Albert Camus is a novel with multiple themes. This is probably one of the most theme rich novels I have ever read and I only touched on a few of the key themes presented in the novel. The themes are mortality‚ isolation‚ nature‚ religion‚ women‚ passivity‚ and society’s social class. The Stranger opens with an announcement of death; Salamano’s old dog is in a state of decay; the protagonist murders‚ and is then sentenced to execution. The centrality of death‚ as a concept‚ is
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Discussion Questions for The Stranger (1946); translated by Matthew Ward‚ 1988. Part One Chapter 1. 1. How does Camus set up Meursault’s personality -- how does Meursault respond to others’ conversation‚ to ordinary social situations‚ and to the death of his mother? 2. On page 10‚ Meursault says that at the viewing of his mother‚ he felt as if the elderly people there were judging him. Offer a conjecture about why he might have had that feeling. (It is worth paying attention to such references to
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