The Stranger, By Albert Camus

“Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.” (Book 1) This excerpt from The Stranger by Albert Camus was said by Meursault, the main character. Meursault is a very simple minded creature in the aspect of he has no complex feelings, or a thought of true purpose. This way of living and thinking is known as existentialism. Existentialism was an idea created during the 19th century by a multitude of authors. Later, Albert Camus was inspired by these authors and obviously choose to write The Stranger for the purpose of spreading existentialist thought. This literary work by Albert Camus is an existential work because Meursault is not moral nor immoral, instead, he is amoral and he shows a key topic in existentialism, meaningless of

They notice some arabs and Raymond quickly notes that one of them is the brother to the girl that Raymond beat up. One thing leads to another and a fight breaks out. In the end, Raymond gets sliced down his arm and a part of his face. Raymond goes to the hospital with Masson while Meursault explains to the woman back at the bungalow what happened. When he gets back Raymond and Meursault head to the beach again. The Arabs are there and Raymond starts to pull out a gun, but Meursault convinces him not to shoot the Arab for he did nothing to him at that moment. The two men come to a conclusion that Meursault would handle the gun and Raymond would try to provoke the Arabs so they had a reason to shoot them, but this debate let the Arabs slip behind some rocks for protection. They walk back to the bungalow, but Meursault decides to go back to the beach, rather than talking to the women. Meursault does nothing but complain about the immense heat on his walk along the beach. Meursault given these conditions was even more compelled to, “Go to the cold, clear stream and [he was] longing to hear again the tinkle of running water. Anything to be rid of the glare, the sight of women in tears, the strain and effort—and to retrieve the pool of shadow by the rock and it's cool silence!” (Book 38) However, one Arab was in his way. Meursault and the Arab made eye contact and each of them gripped their weapons. Meursault knew he would cause conflict and even the death of someone if he kept pursuing the stream, yet he did. Meursault took another couple steps and the Arab pulled his knife and Meursault shot him, killed him, and shot then shot his lifeless body 4 more times. Clearly there is something wrong with Meursault if he is going to shoot someone for something as simple as getting to a stream because he's too hot. Meursault is showing his carelessness