The Meaning of Life According to The Stranger
I think one important message of The Stranger is that a universal meaning of life does not exist, despite people's attempts to create one. Conversely, it is up to everyone to explore what makes life meaningful to them or if they need a reason to find life meaningful at all. Throughout the novel people in Meursault’s life try to force their conventional views on meaning onto him, but he simply does not need their explanations to enjoy his life. Everyone from the funeral caretaker, his boss, Marie, the court, to the chaplain need Meursault to validate their life views, but Meursault does not see the point in wasting time on peoples’ opinions that have little to do with him.
For Meursault meaning can not be imposed from the outside, but must be a continuous internal experience. A few examples of Meursault’s independence from other social conventions include his refusal to see his Maman in the casket, “‘You don’t want to?’, I answered, ‘No.’” (Camus 6). When he refuses a good job opportunity and his boss feels a bit repulsed, but Meursault does not let that stop him from asserting that “I wasn’t dissatisfied with [my life] here at all” (Camus 41). When Marie visits Meursault in prison she says that he must have hope that he will get out and they will marry, but that far off thought means little to him (Camus 75). Throughout his trial the court failed to understand Meursault’s motivations and even laughed at him when he truthfully “blurted out that it was because of the sun” (Camus 103). Lastly, in response to the chaplains plea for Meursault to believe in God he “acknowledged that that was their right. It also meant that they must have had the time for it. As for me…I just didn’t have the time to interest myself in what didn’t interest me” (Camus 117).
All of these examples show that Meursault does not judge others for their beliefs on the meaning of life, but does not feel the need to subscribe to them either. Instead he takes his time to explore what life means to him. Throughout the novel he often cares what others think of him, although he rarely acts on it as seen in the above examples. But with Raymond he attempts to fit in. After accepting Raymond’s dinner of blood sausage, he reluctantly agrees to be his pal to appease him, which leads him to walk down the beach and kill (Camus 29). All of this to say that by the end of the book Meursault finds meaning in the fact that he has little present left to experience in his life and accepts that many people dislike him. Even hoping that “they will great me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). Ironically imprisonment has led him to care even less about what others think than before, a quality that already scares the jury at his trial. His carelessness for others' opinions by the end of the book reflects a new meaning he has found, that other opinions matter very little to him and what really matters to each individual moment in the present. Throughout the novel he experiences the most joy in the present, for example his playful splashes with Marie (Camus 20).
Despite outside pressures from society to feel a certain way about his life, Meursault enjoys life on his own terms and finds meaning moment to moment. Especially towards the foreseeable end of his life, when he does not want to waste a moment on things like God, which offer meaning in the future instead of the present. I think The Stranger challenges how much of our own understanding of life comes from outside influences instead of introspection. Perhaps you need a little of both to function in society, as Meursault’s approach does not land him in a great position. The book leaves me with one question, Is Meursault's utter detachment from societal expectations liberating or isolating? Let me know what you think, as his actions physically isolate him in a prison cell, but simultaneously he lives free from expectations.
Camus, A. (1988). The Stranger. Vintage International.
I enjoyed your points on his non-conformity to social norms, he really does just find his own meaning, or lack thereof, in life. His detachment from social expectation likely are liberating for him; he doesn't need to go out of his way to do certain tasks and is free to live however he wishes. It is the opposite for the reader though, as we read from his perspective we feel potentially more isolated because we as humans are used to aligning with everyone else's expectations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both the post and Annika's point. His detachment is liberating for him however, it in turn makes the reader scratch his head a little. Since, as said above, we almost always care or align with others and their opinions. Which in tern begs the question: is this the ultimate way of living? Not caring about others and their feelings/opinions. Overall, great post.
ReplyDeleteThe funeral is such a rich setting in which to explore these issues, as there are a bunch of social conventions at work (the black arm band, the vigil, the general social performance of being a person who is "grieving")--most of us are dimly aware of these conventions, and in the immediate moments of grief, we often don't know what to do with ourselves or how to behave, so we follow these social conventions. As we've noted, the thing with Meursault is that he is discomfitingly HONEST in his responses: when asked if he "wants" to view the body, he answers with candor, No, he does not WANT to look at her corpse. There might be a wide range of reasons why he would prefer not to look at the taxidermied corpse of his mother, and they DON'T necessarily mean that he does not "love" her--but most people would presumably answer the question about what they "want" to do by stating what they think they "should" do to appear normal in this most abnormal situation.
ReplyDeleteMeursault's lack of a desire to view the body doesn't tell me anything one way or the other about his feelings toward his mother--as you note, it is mainly a matter of him not "getting" a social convention and responding with too much honesty to a seemingly simple question. I suspect most people in his position wouldn't assume that they are "allowed" to say no to such a request--the "do you want?" question is just telling them what they are expected to do next.
The public's reaction to Meursault's unconventional ways of life was so telling as to how expectant everyone was when it came to conformity and compliance with their norms. You did a really good job breaking down Meursault's views on the meaning of life and his detachment from the rest of society. I wonder how his court case might've gone differently if he hadn't lived the way he did. Would they be more willing to give him a less severe punishment had he showed more emotion at his mother's funeral? The focus of the case seemed to be so heavily based around who he was as a person as opposed to the crime itself, and I feel like had he been perceived normally, he would've been treated with more grace.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think it's very true that Meursault seems to find pleasure in his own created meaning for his life, and though that meaning may be the source of animosity and judgment from others, he refuses to stray from it. That being said, his revelation near the end of the novel in his prison cell is complicated: is it a further realization of the baseline triviality of life, or is it a contradiction of all the things he had once believed in life? This question was very interesting to me. Again, great post!
ReplyDeleteThe question you raise is interesting. While Meursault may be confined within his cell, he doesn't actually start to feel the effects of his imprisonment until he's delivered the death penalty. Up to that point, he's perfectly happy re-reading the same newspaper clipping and, like you said, living life on his own terms, whether it be in the free world or in his jail cell. In theory, that is a very idealistic way of living life, but I think it's not at all realistic given Meursault's story. I also don't think his actions with Raymond were a result of Raymond's influence. He decided to do it and he held himself responsible for it, at least to the point of admitting it was the sun in his eyes that made him shoot. If Meursault doesn't have a sense of moral constraint, I don't see why he would think he's restrained from doing anything. Overall, this really made me think! Very well-written post!
ReplyDelete