The Stranger by Albert Camus is a strange book. It is a simple story of a man named Meursault in Algeria who has lost his sense of life and lives without any emotional response to the events that occur around him. When his mother passes away, quote from the famous first line "Maman died today," Meursault has no urge to cry or feel sad. Instead, he does not even look at his mother's face before the closing of her casket. These reaction-less events continue in the face of love and abuse, until one day, Meursault kills someone. The murder leads him to go into court and Meursault is sentenced to the death penalty, thus ending Camus's most famous story.
The Stranger is intriguing. The book itself is very simple from Meursault's view. Compared to other classics consist with confusing sentences and meanings, The Stranger is straightforward. The sentences in the book are filled with simple descriptions of the world around Meursault and his thoughts. Yet, these descriptions translate into events that are supposed to extremely emotional. When his mother's casket is walked to church to be buried, Meursault is focuses on how hot the weather is. Similarly, when his neighbor Raymond describes beating his girlfriend, Meursault only nods and believes Raymond is a good friend. Is it Meursault's thoughts limited to only think such simplified and masked thoughts? Or is he limiting himself to do so? The reader cannot understand Meursault. Although we do hear Meursault from his point of view, are we actually listening to all his thoughts? When he kills the "Arab man," Meursault describes the main cause, or distraction (it is quite obscure), is the beating sun and his sweat. Although the story is told in a first-person perspective, there is no definite meaning the main character gives behind his actions.
This leads to the question of Meursault's character in of itself. Who is he? Many say that he is a sociopath, but there are many reasons to disagree. Meursault does not try to fit into society's standards of sociality or success, or have any motive to harm those around him. He also does not try to manipulate others or lie about situations around him to make him seem like a person he is not. The day Meursault looks over his mother's casket, he does not express any emotions of sadness, confusing the people around him. Thus, it is harder to answer the key question behind Meursault's curious character.
My favorite part of the book, which forms my final opinion about Meursault, is at the end of the book, Meursault becomes angry at the chaplain inside the prison and expresses his first true emotions. After his moment of fury, Meursault finds his inner meaning of life (it is, again, unknown to the readers) once more with feeling and hopes that his life will become meaningful to others as "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." This was one of the most redeeming parts of the book and I wanted to give Meursault of a new chance to start his life with more energy to live meaningfully. Therefore, I believe that Meursault is a man lost in his path of the meaning of life. He has lost what it means to live and lived without any meaning, which was why he was able to kill a man without any emotion. However, the fact that he changed is thoughts is what convinced me that Meursault was on a lost journey. This reason is was why The Stranger deserves five stars.
Comments