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Essay On Meursault In Albert Camus The Stranger

630 Words3 Pages

To even come close to ascertaining some meaning of what a purposeful life may be, one must determine what is important to them. In Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, the main character Meursault, experiences what the text identifies as a problem. It argues that Meursault's problem lies in his lack of analysis of his life; the only meaning that he grasps is from what actually happens. For Meursault, there is no adding or subtracting meaning, no inferencing, no drawing conclusions from the events that occur to him and around him. His strictly objective view on life is considered almost heretical to societal norms by those around him, as his lack of empathy and seemingly hedonistic attitudes towards his life dominate his interactions. To open the novel, Meursault informs the reader …show more content…

The justification is minimal, as the person he killed was loosely relevant to him, and at the moment before the bullet leaves the gun, Meursault remarks that “The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes...the trigger gave…”(59). Meursault then fires four more bullets into the body of the man, for no discernable reason. After he is arrested, he is meeting with his attorney, who asks him if he would say that a potential reason for this killing is because he originally repressed the feelings he felt when Maman died. Meursault’s terse response of “No, because it’s not true” (65), is not enough for the lawyer, rendering him disgusted and angry. Meursault also explicitly states to the lawyer, proving that his view on life is almost entirely objective, that “my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings” (65). He acknowledges that he has feelings, but also implies that to him, there is much more personal importance assigned to what happens in the course of his daily

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