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Existentialism In Albert Camus 'The Plague'

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1.4. Existentialism The mind of the individual does not suffice to any limits of agreed upon knowledge and never stops of plunging into the unknowing to gratify its boundless appetite to know more about its position in the society, therefore; the human mind is preoccupied with questions on many basic matters of existence. Then as the social schools of thoughts started to emerge in higher levels of arguments and understanding, multiple basic questions began to arise in different contexts. In such constant process of search, many schools of thought have been initiated to express their tents about the way and to give meaning to man’s behavior of like Realism, Naturalism, Materialism, Expressionism …show more content…

In The Stranger, he deals with the struggle innocence and guilt and the conflict between good and evil, of. Camus observed that to give meaning to one’s life is to strive to be true to oneself and. Thus, Eliot blamed the hollow men for not finding the essence; rather they were shapeless, powerless and …show more content…

The protagonist of The Stranger Meursault shot down an Arab impulsively and is sentenced to death. The novel depicts protagonist’s reflections on the futility of his life after that act as he surrenders to his fate, on the other hand, one can feel how Thomas Becket in Murder in the Cathedral has surrendered to the will of God that he finds himself associated with, Becket has also resigned the futile past of the earthly and mundane ways of life for the sake of being saint. Camus’s existential discourse of The Myth of Sisyphus again treats entirely with the futility of existence. He alluded to the Greek legend of Sisyphus to express his ideas about absurdity. Awareness of the meaninglessness life can lead to uprising and journey of finding one’s true

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“Existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief is that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook” (Clifton). Grendel’s

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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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1008 Words | 5 Pages

The plague is a terrifying disease that has thankfully been essentially eradicated in modern history, but those living before the 21st century had to live with the risk of dying from an onset of the plague. Plagues like the Black Death have had strong impacts on humanity, and this has influenced literature. Albert Camus’ The Plague is an example of the plague influencing literature. In the novel The Plague, the Oran plague is similar to the Black Death because of the unsavory physiological effects, the soaring death tolls, and the societal effects.

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What if life contributed to no meaning and the only point which matters is the existence happening during the present? To make things worse, as humans live, they breath, but as they die a salvation is received to their soul, and their existence is over. The Stranger by Albert Camus illustrates that the human soul exists in the world physically, therefore the presence or absence does not contribute to any particular event in life. Through, this thought the novel introduces Meursault, who alienates himself from society. He lacks concern for social conventions and is deprived of the physical bounding from people around him.

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Albert Camus has frequently had death as a staple in his books. This is never more true than in his novel, The Plague. The Plague’s main character is Dr. Rieux. He is a hardworking man with little time for self worry. Even though his wife is away in a sanitarium and he is stuck in Oran; he still focuses on his work and doesn’t let it distract him.

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A hero is someone who helps others in a time of need, helps others out of genuineness, and sacrifices their life for others. In Albert Camus, The Plague, Joseph Grand is identified as a hero because he brings salvation to the society of Oran. Grand is a municipal clerk in Oran, and when the plague hits, is asked to help out with keeping count of people. Without questioning it, Grand begins and continues to help the citizens of Oran. Joseph Grand’s authenticity and heroism are manifested through relieving suffering, sacrifice, and devoting his life to work.

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725 Words | 3 Pages

Existentialism is a cultural movement that flourished in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s. It may be defined as the philosophical theory which holds that a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to grasp human existence. To approach existentialism in this categorical way may seem to conceal what is often taken to be its “heart” (Kaufmann, 1968), namely, its character as a gesture of protest against academic philosophy, its anti-system sensibility, its flight from the “iron cage” of reason (Crowell, 2004). Existentialism has many different themes, one of which is Freedom and Choice. If any single thesis could be said to constitute the doctrine of existentialism, it would be that the possibility of choice is the central fact of human nature.

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In Albert Camus’ novel, The Plague, the author employs three key characters to represent the main views on science and religion in order to best convey his own philosophy. Father Paneloux and Tarrou represent the two extremist views on opposite sides of the spectrum. Paneloux is a man of religion, and he, therefore, does not concern himself with a scientific mindset but rather sets his thoughts on the idea of things above. Tarrou is the radical on the other end, he is heavily against the idea of an almighty deity, and focuses on the idea of the self and getting by in the world without leaving any negative mark on land or man. The last of these key characters is Rieux, the narrator, who most likely resembles Camus own philosophy.

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The plague is about individual and collective courage, commitment to society, small acts of generosity and a lot of cowardice. It demonstrates people's goodness and capacity of mutual aid. It’s also a story about love and happiness as much as it is of separation, isolation and sadness. (Warner, par.2) This tale is an allegory of epidemic illness that can lead to the destruction of humanity.

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The Plague by Albert Camus has many themes including exile and imprisonment. Let’s define exile first and see how it relates to the text. The word exile means the state of being barred and expelled from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons (dictionary.com). The expert that I choose to work on is on page 100 and it is the turning point in the novel where the people of Oran start to feel exiled and imprisoned. The excerpt states that the outbreak of the plague currently exiles and imprisons the town of Oran, and its close gates recommended by government officials leave many people separated from their love ones and also leave a sense of imprisonment within the town itself.

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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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981 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction “To be or not to be?” this famous quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet gives us an insight to what existentialism actually is. Since, it too focuses on the doubts and uncertainty about human existence. However, it is difficult to define due to the contradictory ideas given by its pioneers.

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The argument Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, presents on existentialism helps to prove the foundation which is “existence precedes essence”. Existentialism is normally understood as an ideology that involves evaluating existence itself and the way humans find themselves existing currently in the world. For the phrase existence precedes essence, existence’s etymology is exsistere or to stand out while the term Essence means “being” or “to be” therefore the fundamental of existentialism, literally means to stand out comes before being. This can be taken into many different ideas such as individuals having to take responsibility for their own actions and that in Sartre’s case the individual is the sole judge of his or her own actions. According to him, “men is condemned to be free,” therefore “the destiny of man is placed within himself.”

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The existential philosophy is connected with the view of the absurdity of human condition. The aesthetic existentialism shows an individual in a strange world. Man has no reality if he unthinkingly follows social law or convention suffering anguish and despair in his loneliness, he may nevertheless become what he wishes by the exercise of free will. The existentialist though they define in doctrine attitude agree on certain points, they are also connected with man’s being. They too feel that reason is insufficient to understand the mysteries of the universe, they are cautious that anguish is a universal phenomenon and also believe that morality has validity only when there is positive participation.

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It is in the very nature of existentialism to be open-ended and undefinable. For existentialist philosophers, though classified under the same school, still have major differences in their ideologies, yet not contradictory to the existentialist movement. An underlying property of existentialism is its acknowledgement of man’s freedom. There are key terms also in existentialism, which helps in the description of the movement. These concepts are concept of facticity, authenticity, alienation, angst, nothingness and absurdity.

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