Why did Camus write The Stranger?
Table of Contents
Why did Camus write The Stranger?
Camus wrote The Stranger from a place of tragedy and suffering. His father had died in World War I, and the unfolding carnage of World War II forced a questioning of life and its meaning.
What does Meursault realize at the end of The Stranger?
After speaking with the chaplain, Meursault no longer views his impending execution with hope or despair. He accepts death as an inevitable fact and looks forward to it with peace. This realization of death’s inevitability constitutes Meursault’s triumph over society.
Why is The Stranger called The Stranger?
This is based on the word “foreigner,” but the same thing applies to the title The Stranger. Meursault is a stranger among other people because he is so isolated from them—mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and, by the end of the text, physically (he’s imprisoned). He’s strange. He’s the strangest.
What is the absurd in The Stranger?
Meursault’s common sense is that everyone dies eventually, and their lives do not matter in the end. Meursault is a “stranger” and an absurdity to society because he does not show any emotions, he has no meaning for life, and his only certainty and guarantee is death.
Why does Meursault sleep so much?
Meursault also sleeps a lot, kind of like his non-prison days, because it helps passing (and losing all sense of) time. His days end up flowing into one another.
Why does Meursault have no emotion?
Context clues from the story hint that Meursault understands what he did but for some reason feels no remorse or guilt, he doesn’t seem to be bothered by jail, or the fact that he can no longer see Marrie which also further proves he never had an emotional connection to her because he has no emotions.
Is The Stranger existentialist or absurdist?
The Stranger, Camus’s first novel, is both a brilliantly crafted story and an illustration of Camus’s absurdist world view. Published in 1942, the novel tells the story of an emotionally detached, amoral young man named Meursault.
Why is the first line of The Stranger so famous?
He left Camus’s word untouched, rendering the famous first line, “Maman died today.” It could be said that Ward introduces a new problem: now, right from the start, the American reader is faced with a foreign term, with a confusion not previously present.
Is The Stranger absurdist or existentialist?
Why is Meursault absurd?
Why does Meursault not care about his mother’s death?
When he receives the telegram, his primary concern is figuring out on which day his mother died. The fact that he has no emotional reaction at all makes Meursault difficult to categorize. If he were happy that his mother died, he could be cast simply as immoral or a monster.
Is Meursault an existentialist or absurdist?
Meursault is the absurdist, explaining the philosophy of existentialism: Man’s isolation among an indifferent universe. There is no inherent meaning in life – its entire value lies in living itself. Meursault feels he has been happy, and longs to live.
