Albert Camus Meaning

Albert Camus had his own personal meaning of life, a revelation of his own, “I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless.” The meaning of life, in the world’s eyes, is a fleeting thing, ever evolving and changing like the days in a year. Many authors have broached this elusive topic but none have been as inventive or done so with quite as much success as Albert Camus in his book The Stranger. Camus, the man who brought notoriety to the absurd, used this book to explore humanity in “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd,” (Camus). Camus took this journey through the eyes of the main character Meursault as well as through characteristics within secondary characters such as Raymond and Marie. Through Camus’
From these choices society begins to judge the person, creating a mindset of that person with only half the information. All this does is make a close-minded world in where people are forced to think the same way, this was a world Camus despised. To counter society’s ideals Camus wrote about multiple outlooks within realistic characters throughout the book. The main character Camus uses to express his hatred for a robotic society is Meursault. Many label Meursault as absurdist, or someone who believes the world to be irrational, meaningless and that conquest for order just brings pain, and his reasoning can be found within the first few lines of the book, “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 (Camus 3).” This quote isn’t the only quote throughout the book that would label Meursault as an absurdist, in part two chapter five Meursault goes into an absurdist rant that is both passionate and disconnected, leading us to believe not only the beginning explanation of an absurdist holds true to Meursault but the second part as well. Camus captures the acceptance of this absurdist state through many of Meursault’s acquaintances. One is Celeste, Meursault says of him, “He was asked...if he had noticed that I was ever withdrawn, and all he would admit was that I didn’t speak unless I had
(Camus)” Camus believed in the absurd but also in the fact that it was others decided in how they live, not society or even his own beliefs. Throughout The Stranger Camus revels in the beauty of human consciousness and individuality. Without Camus’ commentary people might still believe in an ideal world, a utopia, which would really be a