How Is Camus Guilty

In Albert Camus’s novel, The Stranger, we see how the protagonist is found guilty based on his morals and rejection of religion, rather than the actual crime. The main character, Meursault lacks the ability to show emotion, which ultimately leads to his death. After Meursault confesses to the examining magistrate that he killed the Arab man, the evidence presented in his trial is not found through his confession, but his inability to adapt to the social norms of society. The story takes place during the 1940’s in Algeria, which at the time was a French territory. During this time, people living in Algeria who did not accept the same religious and cultural beliefs as the French, it was considered to be a crime, which is punishable by death.

The social convention to accept religion becomes a determining factor in Meursault’s case. David Carroll’s article, “Failure of the Word: Guilt by ‘Race:’ Injustice in Camus’s The Stranger,” suggests that when Meursault rejects Christianity, he is really rejecting his “French identity” and “closing off the possibility of being assimilated (back) into French society” (1). Furthermore, if Meursault had lied and accepted religion, he would have been found not guilty, even though he confesses to murder. Society teaches us to be honest and not lie, but when Meursault tells the truth society turns on him. The justice system casts as an outsider, because he fails to comply with the same ideologies and

Carroll explains that Kafka’s meaning of the term “‘before the law,’ is guilty until proven innocent - and perhaps guilty even then. To be before the law is to be the victim of justice, whether or not one has actually committed the crime for which one has been accused” (Carroll, 1). In both Camus’s and Kafka’s works we see how the law symbolizes judgement given by society. The law represents order and all humans seek order and reason in their individual lives. However, the law can victimize a person, who does not share the same beliefs as the rest of society. In Kafka’s parable, we see how the law symbolizes the man’s quest for a purposeful life, as well as how words can be interpreted in many different ways. The man and the doorkeepers dialogue with one another show how the words we use can be misinterpreted. It is important to understand the different meanings of the words, so that we can understand both sides of a dispute. In Camus’s novel, we see how words can be misinterpreted through the testimonies of Old Salamano and Celeste who testify on behalf of Meursault. The prosecutor describes Meursault a a villain, by manipulating and understand the words being