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The Stranger Symbolism

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Recommended: Individual analysis of camus the stranger

Albert Camus writes in his book The Stranger which gives readers a glimpse of the inside world of Meursault and his life and culture has shaped him into this mysterious man that no can relate too. Behind the main character, Meursault, there is a man that lives a very abandoned life that feels like he does not belong and cannot find meaning no matter where he searches for it. Throughout the whole book readers do not see any emotion or feeling expressing about nothing in his life as he is just another part of this world and that what he thinks or feels just doesn't matter to anyone. Camus illustrates Meursault character by using symbolism and connection between the title and character in which helps the readers better understand the character …show more content…

As readers many notice how Meursault and other characters within the book never actually have a relationship with Meursault because he ultimately acts like a stranger to everyone that he meets. Not one person relates to him in any given way within the book and never fully grasp what goes on during his thought process, but as readers the author meant for us to understand him more. From the viewpoint of Meursault readers get his complex life that has no meaning, no relationship, and no values or goals that he wants for his life. From start to finish one gets the overview of his life but through the main characters lense one gets to see that he accepts who he is and prefers it this way. During the story Meursault says “I looked at myself in my tin plate. My reflection seemed to remain serious even though I was trying to smile at it, and for the first time in months, I distinctly heard the sound of my own voice”(81). Through his words the author makes him feel as which he feels a sense of stuck in his own world and wants to find peace but the destination is just too far away. Meursault is born into this state of mind that he has no conception of what life is, what he wants out of life, no real longing for relationship, or just life in general. This aspect of his personality is what makes him the stranger that people don’t understand and have no ways to understand the idea behind the ways at which his mind

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During the beginning of the novel, Meursault goes to his neighbor Raymond’s house. The visit results into a physical fight due to insults made towards Meursault. Relating to aspects on violence, this scene was made to show simple

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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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This simple fact keeps him so alienated from the rest of the characters in the book. To go in deeper with Meursault’s isolation, most of his attention was self created. Others, such as his “fiancee” Marie and neighbor Raymond, wish to associate with him, however, he lacks the fundamental skills required to maintain healthy relationships. His alienation becomes especially noticeable thought his time in prison. At one point, he addresses his views on the world after having killed a man on the beach.

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Meursault is not an emotional person. Meursault often seems not to react to major events that happen to him. For example when his mom dies, he says, “Really, nothing had changed”(24). There is an obvious emotional disconnect. Either he was not close to his mother or her death had little to no effect on him.

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Complex issues and ideas are those that can be argued for or against, and both arguments have their suitable and understandable points. In the film Stranger Than Fiction by Marc Forster, the complex ideas of literature making us socialise, routines isolate us, and needing people to change are lives are argued through the use of composition, long shots, and symbolism. In the text Stranger Than Fiction, complex issues have been constructed through visual techniques. Harald Crick, the protagonist, is an anti social character. The text suggests this is because of his love for maths, rather than english and literature.

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Through the use of diction, Meursault perceives life is meaningless, which leads him to have the absence of strong bonding with acquaintance around him. He indicates that he lacks empathy from personal and social level. Meursault is a simple man who lives his life in a stickler type and changes annoy him. As the novel introduces Meursault mother being dead, he shows lack of concern and a burden to visit his mother for the last time. “Maman died today...

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Overall he leads an indifferent life which results in poor and meaningless relationships with people such as his mother, girlfriend, and neighbours. Meursault lacks emotion and compassion, because of this he doesn’t react to anything negative in his life and remains

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Besides his inability to form proper relationships and lack of emotions, Meursault is unable to really formulate his own opinions or even act upon them. As it creates a generally passive character, Meursault is easily manipulated. That leads to him getting involved with Raymond and his situation with his mistress when he asked Meursault to write the letter to her, and he simply “didn’t have any reason not to please him(32).” Eventually, this led him to murder the Arab involved. If there was a reason for the murder, the result of the trial that ensued could have ended on better terms.

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We see how his thoughts and how they contrast from others. Throughout the novel, we see how society’s standard on someone could affect them. Meursault is judged by his society for being who he is, at first, he sees no problem with himself till society questions him. Meursault is an anomaly in society; he cannot relate directly to others because he does not live as they do. In the novel,

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In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the main character, Meursault, struggles to conform to the societal norms that are expected of him due to him being an absurdist. Absurdism is based on the idea that the universe has no order or meaning and that humanity’s search for meaning to the universe is fundamentally futile. As an absurdist, Meursault views society’s standards and rules as unnecessary and pointless and because of this belief, he does not grieve after losing his mother because he feels it to be unnecessary. His lack of grief, however, contrasts with his neighbor, Salamano’s, intense grief after losing his dog on the street despite having a poor and relationship with his dog. Salamano’s grief represents the societal norms of grieving, and

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In The Stranger, Camus explores man’s perception of the absurd through his protagonist Meursault, a French Algier, who ‘unwittingly gets drawn into a senseless murder’ on an Algerian beach. Meursault’s indifference to his mother’s death and the crime he has committed, among others, isolates him from society and leads to his incrimination. Throughout The Stranger, Meursault’s intensive focus on the natural world such as the sea and especially the sun, in contrast to his indifference to human relationships, highlights their importance. Light, a product of the sun, proves especially significant. Camus description of light in relation to Meursault shows Meursault’s individuality throughout the story and his reaction to death.

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The Stranger eventually Tom's perusing Albert Camus distributed to 1942 takes after those story for Meursault, a french man living to Algeria former of the Second globe War furthermore provides for as much own interesting viewpoint of the occasions the middle of this he receives a telegram expressing that his mother had passed away to when he may be executed for the murder of a man best alluded should likewise “The Arab” whom he required shot. The Stranger reflects Meursault’s standpoint with respect to term what's more as much inside battle until a chance to be himself of the ideologies. Part 1 examines eighteen days, in which witness a funeral, an affair, also a murder. It is full about man inconsequential times in an aggregation of Meursault,

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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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As the French, absurdist philosopher Albert Camus once said, “Being different is not a bad thing. It means you are brave enough to be yourself.” That summed up with our topic, which is absurdity through human existence, a human being should tolerate the absurd condition of human existence. Albert Camus introduces Meursault the protagonist and narrator of the book The Stranger, who is a stranger through society eyes and the title point out his personality in the world of absurdity. Meursault is indifferent and alienates young man to others.

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People often question the meaning of life, whether it be based upon religion or if life itself contains any meaning at all. The views of the famous novelist Albert Camus contributed to the philosophy known as absurdism. Absurdism is the key component in the story, The Stranger, where a man is detached from the world and the people around him; and even the people who are closest to him. Absurdism is the belief that human existence is purposeless and that is evident by the way the protagonist behaves throughout the novel. A significant event from the novel would be when the magistrate in the story brings out his crucifix and revealed it to the protagonist, Meursault.

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