Essays on The Stranger

Albert Camus’ The Stranger tells a narrative about a peculiar shipping clerk in French Algiers named Meursault. The novel meanders through different events of Meursault’s life and explains his personality, emphasizing his opposition to the will of the majority. The protagonist lives his life emotionally detached and shows no compassion or hatred towards others. This amoral approach to existence separates him from the rest of society. The novel begins with Meursault attending his mother’s ...

Meursault goes around without a purpose in his life. He often acts irrationally (at least to other, ‘normal’ people), which is shocking and unacceptable to the jury, as well as to the general population, who eventually convict him. It seems that his actions are purely impulsive and he doesn’t really have a real reason for doing so. This makes the jury afraid, as it seems that this is what monsters do, who have no feelings on murder and do things without thinking, and then afterwards, do not ...

Albert Camus’ first novel, The Stranger portrays events in the life of Meursault- from the loss of his mother to the moments before his execution for committing a murder- the nature of whom has been a topic of critical analysis and discussion for the critics over the years. However, this paper will attempt to address the following questions: Is Meursault an antithesis of a hero? Is he a villain? Or is he someone beyond these overtly simple categorizations of a main character in a text? These ...

The Stranger opens up the death of Monsieur Meursault's Maman. He attends her funeral showing no emotion or affection and the next day hooks up with his old coworker Marie. One day his neighbor Raymond asks him to write a letter to his mistress in his place so she will come back to him. When she does return, Raymond abuses her for cheating on him. His mistresses' brother, an Arab is irate and soon Raymond feels threatened by him. One day Meursault, Marie, and Raymond go to Meursault's wealthy ...

Characters in novels often follow a self-identifying path. This path can lead to one of three outcomes: progression, regression, or stagnation, of character. Meursault, of The Stranger, by Albert Camus, progresses as a character, starting as apathetic about, and unaware of, the happenings of his life and ending the novel with newfound passion and insight on the world. The Stranger opens with Meursault saying “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know”(3). He receives the news from a ...

"The Stranger" is a novel by author Albert Camus, and "Waiting for Godot" is a play by author Samuel Beckett. Each of the works depict characters from very different societies, and in these differences lie some similarities that both works share. This essay will be discussing both similarities and differences that the novel and play share, in order to develop a better and deeper understanding of each piece of literature. One of the common characteristics that the two pieces of literature share ...

In the novels, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera and The Stranger, by Albert Camus, both authors provide morals to present the meaninglessness of human life. Though both authors present the same idea, they do so in different ways. Kundera concludes the novel by stating his viewpoint in opposition to the philosophy of eternal return while supporting the idea of lightness and weight, while Camus adheres to the philosophy of absurdism from the beginning of the novel to establish ...