To outline Absurdism, because an individual is aware of their existence, they feel that life is meaningful, but they also understand that the universe itself is meaningless, so their life is a contradiction. To overcome this contradiction, they would have to embrace the meaningless of existence or “rebel” against the meaningless of life. Our sense of meaning can only be perceived in our minds. The absurd for Camus is a contradiction to our sense of life’s meaning and the realization that the universe itself is meaningless. To reiterate, the things that we perceive are valuable. Once an individual accepts the fact that life is meaningless and absurd, they can be put in a position to live freely. While there is no one objective meaning to life, there can be many meanings within someone’s life. Once one can embrace the contradiction of the absurd, one can live freely.
In The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault, the primary character, exemplifies some of absurdism’s unique ideas. This philosophical story depicts a section of the adult life of Meursault. In the book, he describes everything from his romantic relationship with Marie to being sentenced to death after being found guilty of murder. Issues occur as a result of Meursault’s absurdist lifestyle and moral beliefs through these incidents.
This absurdist philosophy first manifests within Meursault’s character during his mother’s funeral. When his mother is about to be closed in her casket permanently, the Funeral planner asks Meursault, “Would you like to see your mother one last time?” (Camus 13). Meursault rejects this offer. Meursault’s behavior is not unusual; after the funeral service, he maintains the same odd approach when describing his journey back home.
“Then there was the church and the villagers on the sidewalks, the red geraniums on the graves in the cemetery, Perez fainting, (he crumpled like a ragdoll), the blood-red earth spilling over Maman’s casket, the white flesh of the roots mixed in with it, more people, voices, the village, waiting in front of a cafe, the incessant drone of the motor, and my joy when the bus entered the nest of the lights that was Algiers and I knew I was going to go to bed and sleep for twelve hours” (Camus 18)
While these sentences give the impression that Meursault is apathetic about his mother’s death, this is not the case. Instead, he is just following absurdism’s essential premise, which claims that Meursault’s mother’s death has no importance and that he should move on. Meursault loved his mother when she was alive, but he doesn’t see the need in mourning unnecessarily. There are many wonderful sights to behold, such as the dawn or sunset, or perhaps even stargazing. However, there is also suffering, which encompasses death and emotions, as well as terrible days. The Narrator does make a point of emphasizing and describing the gorgeous scenery to the readers. His simple mind could be content just by looking at the beauty. To him, death is just another person to care about on this planet. It didn’t matter if they were alive or not.
With his lover Marie, the issue of Meursault’s ambivalence toward relationships resurfaces. Marie falls in love with Meursault after spending a lot of time together and wants to take the next step with him. “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to” (Camus 41). Meursault is unconcerned about marrying Marie since he doesn’t believe the label of marriage has any significance for him. Marriage, in Meursault’s opinion, is just another societal construct with no intrinsic value. Meursault prefers to spend time with Marie because he enjoys her company, not because he aspires to be a married pair. Meursault’s inability to improve himself and his life is astounding. There is no such thing as truth, certainty, or steadfast, non-relative laws in life, thus pursuing such impossibilities is pointless.
While these two events are minor in the grand scheme of Meursault’s life, a later incident triggered by his instinctual philosophy demolished his life as he knew it. Meursault acts on his compulsion rather than his rationale of what is the “proper” thing to do when confronted with an Arab man wielding a knife.
“A shaft of light shot upward from the steel, and I felt as if a long, thin blade transfixed my forehead. At the same moment, all the sweat that had accumulated in my eyebrows splashed down on my eyelids, covering them with a warm film of moisture. Beneath a veil of brine and tears, my eyes were blinded; I was conscious only of the cymbals of the sun clashing on my skull, and, less distinctly, of the keen blade of light flashing up from the knife, scarring my eyelashes, and gouging into my eyeballs. Then everything began to reel before my eyes, a fiery gust came from the sea, while the sky cracked in two, from end to end, and a great sheet of flame poured down through the rift. Every nerve in my body was a steel spring, and my grip closed on the revolver. The trigger gave, and the smooth underbelly of the butt jogged my palm. And so, with that crisp, whip-crack sound, it all began. I shook off my sweat and the clinging veil of light. I knew I’d shattered the balance of the day, the spacious calm of this beach on which I had been happy. But I fired four shots more into the inert body, on which they left no visible trace. And each successive shot was another loud, fateful rap on the door of my undoing” (Camus 59).
Meursault shoots an Arab guy not because he is in danger, but because he feels compelled to do so at the time. A mainstay of absurdism is acting on one’s wishes while failing to realize the long-term consequences of one’s actions. Meursault shoots the Arab because it felt right at the time, and he finds no purpose in his actions or the murder of the other man. While Meursault’s acts may be insane, he does not believe so. Murder is rarely justified, according to common sense and “normal” human morality, but Meursault fails to see this at the moment. Meursault’s convictions have set him so far out from the norm that he doesn’t even notice the major flaws in his behavior until long after the crime has been committed. One of the most significant occurrences mentioned by the jury was that he did not cry during his mother’s funeral, bringing the story full circle back to the beginning. This helped the jurors to believe in his uncaring demeanor, portraying Meursault as a cold-blooded monster. He sought to blame the murder on the heat, but this was not a legal justification. This was the deciding reason for the jury’s decision to convict him of capital punishment.
Meursault’s mature life is depicted in this philosophical story. He describes everything in the book, from his romantic involvement with Marie to being found guilty of murder and being sentenced to death. Issues develop as a result of Meursault’s absurdist lifestyle and moral views in these cases. Camus uses the reactions to events in Meursault’s life to exemplify the absurdist philosophy. The novel’s key events contribute to his impending death, revealing his actual ideas in life’s beauty later on. He is regarded as the “other” since he is unable to show these emotions to the characters in the narrative. Camus articulates absurdism and the terrible consequences of believing in a counter-cultural philosophy, but looking for a message in his writing based on his reasoning would be silly.
