The Absurdity of Life: A Reflection From Albert Camus 'The Stranger' - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to philosophy, absurd give a proper description of the inability to find the meaning of life expressing the fact that any person who tries to find the purpose of life fails. People face absurdity inevitably due to the existential questions that may come along their way. In this context, life is not absurd; people end up committing suicide, seek answers to some questions from religion, or are forced to accept life as it is. In the Stranger by Albert Camus, absurdism is well displayed in the stranger society. Camus claims that suicide and recovery are the best ways of dealing with absurd, especially when people are faced with existential questions making them encounter the absurd situation. Other various philosophers have agreed with Camus based on the same encouraging the society to accept absurdism. For instance, one philosopher by the name Nagel puts it clear that life and situations cannot be absurd unless people get to perceive them that way. It quite clear that no one should attempt to escape absurd by any chance.

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Camus has depicted a character by the name Meursault in the novel by the name The Stranger, based on his belief on absurdity being created when humans tend to interact with the meaningless world in need of meaning. Meursault is viewed as a murderer by the public society; for instance, he is responsible for Arab's murder (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). Meursault begins just like a distanced and a passive person who mainly observes meaningless events. The society fails to understand Meursault situation whereby he lacks emotions towards killing and only focuses on the murder action.

The character is displayed in several events, whereby he ignores serious events around him. For instance, he completely fails to mourn over his mother's death. The event just takes place like it's his normal life, and he does not seem worried. Again the society fails to understand the character's existentialistic beliefs making him have a strong belief that his life has no meaning (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). He is convinced that death is normal, and furthermore, everyone eventually dies; hence the life does not matter in this context.

Camus refers to Meursault as an absurdity and a stranger in society since his emotions are completely distorted, making him believe that no meaning for his life. He also feels that he is guaranteed death. It is quite clear to understand the story is based on three distinct phases that display absurd in relation to Meursault's life (Gnanasekaran, 2014). Being a passive character in the first phase of the novel, he totally shows no concern or involvement in his own life.

People are expected to be highly concerned with what is happening around them, but on Meursault, things are quite different (Gnanasekaran, 2014). Meursault expresses his emotions in the second phase after killing Arab. The final phase is whereby he experiences a rush of emotions forcing him to choose to accept the world.

The three phases display an evolution process through is a life where religion is highly brought up contrary to suicide in order to bring up a solution that is known not to be suitable for dealing with absurd (Gnanasekaran, 2014). The character's own confrontation and experience expose him to the situation of accepting life as beautiful and meaningless based on his emotions. Therefore when one is faced with absurd, there is no need to escape. It is always good to accept the situation as it is.

People can act differently in society, both socially, mentally, and emotionally. For instance, Meursault appears to be different from everybody in the society both emotionally and mentally, making the society to ignore his humanity due to his emotionless features. He completely refused to mourn his mother, and he even never looked at her body in the casket during the funeral (Gnanasekaran, 2014). Society ends up condemning and judging him heavily, and his personality is identified as that of a monster. The society wishes that he would die. This is enough evidence to justify society based on failure to understand people's feelings.

Meursault displays senseless emotions because he has totally lacked the meaning of his life. He has no sense that his life can make a tremendous difference in society or the whole world, especially that he initially murdered Arabs. He does not regret committing murder, but he feels totally disturbed, having killed someone, and the whole society is against him (Gnanasekaran, 2014).

Meursault is also bothered and annoyed by the court and jury decision by convicting him and failing to just see him as a simplistic person who has fewer needs in life. Therefore, the court is viewed to have failed in this context through the entire process where the case was affected, making it a big deal even though murdering a person is such a big deal (Gnanasekaran, 2014).

Camus shows how Meursault's life was miserable since every event left him partially annoyed. For instance, during the court proceedings, he pleaded guilty, but the evidence that was provided pointed towards him (Gnanasekaran, 2014). This evidence left him to serve his term in jail for murder, just like it can happen to anyone else. Later on, the court and jury find out what had happened in the past when Meursault failed to mourn his mother's death.

The new information presented in court worsened his crime, and he was regarded as a person with no morals in society (Gnanasekaran, 2014). They felt that they were totally dealing with a monster. The fact the court and judges referred to him as a monster, as well as a person lacking morals, might be regarded as the partial truth or not.

The fact that Meursault is a believer of absurdism, there is a high chance that he has no morals since he does not believe that his life has a meaning like any other person (Gnanasekaran, 2014). In this context, he appears to be a outsider in society since the whole society fails to recognize that Meursault is not a monster. Instead, he is just a simplistic man with morals that are different from other people in society, and he is of little needs. Meursault feels that the life of one person cannot change the whole world by affecting living beings (Gnanasekaran, 2014). This shows why he has no emotions about the things that are happening around him.

Different morals and Lack of emotions make Meursault different from society. He gives a clear explanation of how life ultimately has no meaning and what he believes in. He is that person who cares less about any important topics directed towards him (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). For instance, his girlfriend, by the name Marie suggests that they should both get married, but he feels that the topic is of less concern.

Meursault feels that getting married did not make any difference to his life, and the girlfriend is left to decide by herself is she really wants to. "I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to" (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). In this context, he shows that he totally lacks any motivation that would better his life making life a life that is miserable and astonishing.

It is quite difficult and challenging when it comes to understanding people who believe in absurdism, especially when they reach a point of disregarding themselves and others. This shows the true life of an absurdist since they do not even care about the world that is around them (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). They live with no determination and do not even strive for success as other people do.

The absurdists never work towards improving their own lives and that of others. This why Meursault tells his girlfriend that marriage has no value in his life, and he does not feel that it can bring much difference leaving her to make a decision that should be made by both of them (Camus & Jonathan, 2017).

The fact that Meursault has no meaning for his life makes him interfere with God's existentialism by declining it even after he was sentenced and executed by society. He felt no much time to waste on God, making him believe that God does not exist (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). He continues to argue that God does not exist, and he does. He would have helped him understand his role in society, together with the meaning of life. Meursault is not lucky enough to find a religion that would help him deal with the situation by giving him comfort before he dies (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). He is only living the moment waiting for inevitable death to arrive.

Meursault feels that his life and that of other people is meaningless since, after his death, no one is going to remember him after his execution for being a simpleminded man, but he is branded as murder without any feelings or emotions (Camus & Jonathan, 2017). Meursault does not understand anything to do with the meaning of life to himself and other people too.

The fact that Meursault holds certainty that every person will eventually die, it really comforts him since he is assured that one day he is going to die too. He continues to say that he is pretty sure about himself, including his own life and death (Smith, 2020). He also narrates how he is sure about is present, past and future, unlike other people, for instance, the priest who is displayed to be unsure about his life and death. The point of view based on the assurance of death shows that he has accepted death, and it should not appear as it is a mystery.

Meursault fails to turn to God even in his last hours on earth despite the fact that the priest attempted this several times to win him to the Kingdom of God. Instead of accepting God in his last hours on earth, he sits and reflects about his past, which seems to give him a certain comfort as he nears his end according to his own understanding (Imlay, 2018). This shows how absurd he is since, even after going through his memories and thoughts, he is yet to change his perspective in life and accept things just like a simplistic man.

The idea of death in relation to the believers of absurdity creates awareness of one's vital being and one's life, which is regarded to be impermanent and with an ending. People tend to feel free when they appreciate their vitality due to the fact that there is no means of death cancellation as long as its time has reached (Imlay, 2018). All human activity is regarded to be absurd in this particular sense. Freedom of life is described by both pain and beauty to make it more real. For instance, Meursault thinks that he got the real freedom of life based on his thought and how he is aware of his life.

Meursault spent sleepless nights trying to recall the beautiful things such as the beach scenery before he killed Arab, and also he greatly misses his girlfriend Marie, whom he wishes to see before he departs from the earth (Payne, 1992). He feels that he has a lot of freedom in his life since there is no rush to bring changes in life, whether he has to die or not.

Meursault feels that his death is too near and ends up explaining human activity as absurd. This can be related to his notion of having no sense for his life; hence he has no inspiration (Payne, 1992). The absurd situation makes people feel contented with what they have gone through, whether their life is miserable or not, and the only thing they feel is awaiting them is death.

The painful things in this context include emotions and death, and the beautiful part of life is sunrise and sunset sceneries. There are always ups and downs in life, and they need to be accepted as they are (Payne, 1992). Meursault is a person without happiness in life since he has no chance of making his own choices. He is an absurdist as well as a stranger to the whole...