The Stranger By Albert Camus: An Analysis

In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault is a man who is indifferent to major events in his life which would deserve a "proper" reaction according to society. Also, the decisions he makes in his life are done carelessly and without a second thought about whether what he is doing is good or bad. As a result, Meursault is a stranger to society because of how differently his view on life is based on how he approaches certain aspects of life. Eventually, death is what connects Meursault to the society he was estranged from. The novel starts out with Meursault being unsure which day his mother died, which shows the reader that he is apathetic towards events that would shock any other person. He is more focused on finding a tie to
This story further adds to the theme of absurdism throughout the novel because there was no reason for the son to die such as there was no reason for the Arab to die. During Meursault’s trial, there is an attempt to create a reason for his crime despite there not being one. Unlike the philosophy of absurdism, the court believes in reason and order which leads to the establishment of a cause for Meursault’s crime even if it is false. Once Meursault is sentenced to death, he realizes that he no longer has the choice between life and death that all humans are given in life. He instead has death as his only “choice”. Through this, he sees that there is no difference between dying from execution and dying in the future from a different cause. Meursault then accepts that the world is as indifferent as he is to people and finds peace in this realization. Throughout The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault is first estranged from society and himself because of his apathy which is not the norm. At the end of the novel, the inevitability of death allows him to accept that he and the world are both indifferent to others and he accepts himself because he finds comfort in no