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Essay On Meursault's Injustice

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In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault’s apathy drives a large portion of the plotline. The man appears to have no emotions, and this only adds to the representative heuristic those around him have of a heartless killer: the idea that he was willing to smoke and drink coffee during his mother’s vigil was a more defining factor of his crime to the court, which in the book is a manifestation of society, than the fact that he accidentally shot the gun into the Arab. And given that the court finds Meursault guilty because of his failings as a member of society and because of his apathy instead of the life that he had taken, the verdict it dictates on Meursault is a definitive injustice. Meursault from the very beginning of the book has shown to be unaffected by emotion and yet he is content with his state. However, after his court hearing, where he comes upon the realization that a large part of his society hated him, Meursault despairs at his own inability to feel emotion and thereby, confronts emotion for the very first time in his life. His own personal understanding of justice has been so twisted his entire life without his quite grasping its true meaning that when he finally confronts it, he is stunned into rethinking his own beliefs. Meursault does not wish to die, and when he is sentenced to the guillotine, he …show more content…

According to Camus, life is an irrational state of being in which humans create rational concepts like ‘society’ or ‘justice’ to try and make sense of it. Meursault’s rejection of this kind of rationality both at the beginning and the end of The Stranger reflects how life will go on unaffected by whether superficial, and potentially non-existent, concepts like justice are realized and that there is nothing man can do about it other than to accept

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Meursault has an absurdist attitude toward his world inside of his mental and physical world. Meursault blames his rash actions on the world and environment. At Meursault’s trial, after he killed the Arab, he defended himself by saying, “it was because of the sun.” (Camus, 103) Meursault actually believed that the sun made him kill the Arab man. In The Stranger, the sun is the main antagonist.

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Those who don’t know their purpose may feel that their daily lives are ridiculous. Camus’ The Stranger, portrays an inexplicably nonsensical character, Meursault, who winds up in a unanticipated situation. Similar to real life struggles, the character perpetually repeats insignificant actions not accordant to any essence.

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The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, It follows the story of our tragic hero, Meursault, shortly after his mother dies through the events that lead to him being sentenced to death. Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions. The Stranger shows how even when a person does not explicitly express emotion they are shown in some way. How emotions are expressed is a window to a person's personality. I will first discuss how Meursault appears emotionless, than how Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions for him and lastly what impact this makes.

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He says the same thing to his boss earlier in the novel, and shows his lack of awareness for emotions. This also builds upon the idea that Meursault isn’t mentally stable enough to give an accurate recount of the events of the story, especially considering it potentially implicates him in a crime. Basically, Camus tackles the first-person point of view in The Stranger to create an unreliable narrator and incorporate this aspect into the storytelling. While this is done for plot advancement during the courthouse scenes, it is a continuous feature of the novel and almost makes it seem as if all the events Meursault describes are his

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(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.

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Meursault notices that during the trial, “there was a lot said about [him], maybe more about [him] than about [his] crime” (98). By having Meursault 's personality be the focal point of the courtroom 's dialogue, Camus implies that Meursault 's persona plays a crucial role in his trial. Instead of focusing on the murder of the Arab, the prosecutor repeatedly mentions Meursault 's "dubious liaison"(94), his "insensitivity" (99) during Maman’s funeral, and his friendship with Raymond, who is a man "of doubtful morality" (99). Through the emphasis on Meursault 's -according to society- 'immoral ' ways, the prosecutor eliminates any sort of sympathy the jury has for Meursault. Following Marie 's testimony, the prosecutor once again exhibits his confidence that bias against Meursault will stem from hearing about his behaviour.

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The themes of death explored using absurdism in The Stranger is shown with a general disregard for death by Meursault and the strange way he sees life based on these existentialist views. The Stranger is a perfect example of an existentialist novel that was written for that time period, as during this time around the area of France and Europe there was an existentialist movement that Albert Camus, the author, was involved in.

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Everything he will say; the magistrate will not believe him, he even feels there is no need for a lawyer because he thinks everything he does, is right and there is not something to question. He comes to understand that he trying to find meaning in his own life, make him impotent to society’s eyes, he only murdered an Arab and that is it. During the trial, there are investigators that learn that Meursault does not feel any remorse at his mother funeral. As Meursault does not have any evidence why he kills the Arab man, the lawyer thinks that it will be a strong argument if Meursault can come up with some answers for the questions. The investigator asks,” If I had felt any sadness that day” (Camus 65).

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Camus portrays freedom and choice in The Stranger through Meursault's many acts against the society he lives in. He chooses to be an atheist and stray away from god. The magistrate converses with Mersault, “... drawing himself up to his full height and asking me if he believed in God. I said no. He sat down indignantly.

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