Absurdism In The Stranger

People often question the meaning of life, whether it be based upon religion or if life itself contains any meaning at all. The views of the famous novelist Albert Camus contributed to the philosophy known as absurdism. Absurdism is the key component in the story, The Stranger, where a man is detached from the world and the people around him; and even the people who are closest to him. Absurdism is the belief that human existence is purposeless and that is evident by the way the protagonist behaves throughout the novel. A significant event from the novel would be when the magistrate in the story brings out his crucifix and revealed it to the protagonist, Meursault. The crucifix represented the afterlife, society’s acceptance of it, and the main characters search for a higher order. The representation of the crucifix is meant to disprove the notion of Absurdism, and prove that life does in fact hold meaning and purpose. Albert Camus’s absurd novel, The Stranger, considers human

An example of an internal conflict that overwhelmed Meursault was when he thought about the words of advice from the magistrate in regards to accepting God into his life. He told himself that, “I had only a little time left and I didn’t want to waste it on God” (Camus and Ward 100). Due to how stubborn and uncertain Meursault was, learning to accept God and his existence rather than viewing human existence as if it were meaningless was a huge internal struggle for Meursault throughout the novel. An example of an external conflict was when Meursault’s friend Raymond gave him his gun so that he could kill the Arab that had attacked Raymond earlier as Mason’s beach house. When Meursault looked down at the gun, “The sun glinted off Raymond’s gun as he handed it to me” (Camus and Ward 56). Meursault later suffered the consequences of murdering the arab when he goes to prison and is ultimately sentenced to the death