How Does Albert Camus Believe That A Man's Existence

A belief that a man’s existence was essentially an absurd condition was a statement Albert Camus demonstrated in many of his works. In the mid nineteen hundreds, Albert Camus introduced his own philosophy and also his own critique of religion and God. His philosophy of absurdity and his belief of religion is central to his novel, The Stranger. Albert Camus uses both Meursault, the main character in his novel, and Sisyphus, the main character in his essay as marginalized figures to essentially question the meaning of human condition. Through the act of storytelling Camus is able to establish his philosophical standpoint of faith, using this to prove that existence has little to no meaning. Camus characterizes God throughout his novel as this
In part two of The Stranger, Albert Camus continues to give examples of absurdity in Meursault’s actions. The trial begins and Meursault doesn’t take it seriously, “At first, I didn’t take [the lawyer] seriously. I was led into a curtained room; there was a single lamp on [the lawyers] desk which was shining on a chair where [the lawyer] had me sit while [the lawyer] remained standing in the shadows. I had read descriptions of scenes like this in books and it all seemed like a game to me” (The Stranger 64). Meursault killed a man, yet finds no remorse in such a horrible crime and doesn’t even find himself to be a criminal. This ties into Camus’s philosophy on the absurd because life really does not have any meaning and “nothing exist that could ever be a source of meaning” (Maguire). Meursault’s “sense of integrity is radically different from the conventionally accepted ethical norms” (Djamoukhanov 8). Through the actions of showing no remorse and expressing no emotion, this isn’t what this society considers normal- it is what the society considers
While the societies judgements are esthetic, conventional and norm based, they are irrational. There is a irrationality of convention. For instance, a society creates these symbols. These symbols essentially begin to oppress one another. They also determine one’s behavior, but there is no rational basis for doing many of the things one does, like wearing black at a funeral especially under the sun. Irrationality is present in this novel when assuming everyone has to love their parents. Society believes Meursault is absurd because his lack of emotion towards his mothers death. When it shows that he does not believe in this after life, or God for that matter, society also finds him to be guilty in all his actions, including the murder of the Arab. However, one is able to turn the table and create this idea that it is not Meursault who is irrational, however, it is, in fact, the