Ravix Dupervil

Ryan Gallagher

English 12 CP

6 December 2010

The Abstract Man: An Analysis on Camus’ The Stranger

The day was hot when Raymond had gone back for revenge on the Arab man with a gun.

The protagonist and the narrator of the story Meursault even thought so. Albert Camus suggests

that human life has no purpose; And the only certain thing in life is death because all humans

will eventually meet death and lives are meaningless to where Raymond almost killed the Arab

Man as the sun beating down on Meursault the protagonist, Meursault is an emotionless guy who

simply does not care about anything in the world. And it’s very surprising when we see the

protagonist trying to calm Raymond down from doing something he would regret by shooting

the Arab man. And luckily for the Arab man they were able to run away all thanks to an

emotionless guy which is ironic that Meursault tried saving their lives.

In the passage when Meursault starts walking on the beach by himself, the heat and the glare of

the sun strike him like it did on the day of his mom’s funeral when he showed no emotions. It

seems that the sun is an important symbol in this book which comes up in the most important

passage. “My head ringing from the sun....” (57). The Author consistently uses the sun as a tool

to represent the antagonist in the story. Because in the story the sun plays around with Merusault

by messing with his emotions and because of the sun it made him killed an Arab Man.

In the novel the sun plays around with Meursault emotions making him not care about

anything such as when his mom died and when Marie told him that she loved him and he did not
care. But at the same time Meursault is also honest witch means he does not think of hiding his

lack of feeling by shedding false tears over his mother death which can probably affect his life

later on in this chapter.

When Mersault is punished by the sun in the first half of the novel, we learn that he cares more

about an abstract object like the sun than being a good son to his mother. Then Mersault is in jail

waiting to find out about his future. He not only failed to show emotion at his mother’s funeral

but he simply wants the “trail” to end because it is bothering him. The reader continues to see

the protagonist as a voyeur and not a participant.

In the passage during the trial “the prosecutor asked him” whether he had ever cried (pg

102) Albert Camus suggests that Meusault is Absurd. The trial showed how Meusault was

absurd the prosecution convinced the jury to convict Meursault not because he killed an Arab but

because he didn't cry at his mother’s funeral; convincing the jury the prosecution showed that

Mersault was a "bad" person. We often let others decide for us what things should mean and

often there is a conflict between what something means to us and what society dictates that

something should mean to us. Mersault’s mother meant little to him for whatever reason; society

says that his mother should mean a lot to him. Mersault was too honest, that was his real crime,

which is what he was convicted for. Because Society is unable to understand Meursault and the

way he presents himself at the end of the trial Meursault was to execute not because he killed a

man but because he did not cry on hi mother’s funeral.

Not surprisingly the prosecutor talks for much longer about Mersualt mother than about

the crime he committed. When they asked Meursault if he felt any sadness during his mom’

funeral, Meusault told the truth saying he did not care mostly because his mom was already old

and she was going to die sooner or later. And unlike most people, Meursault is very truthful,
regardless of whether or not the truth may hurt, during the trial his lack of emotions about his

mother’s death seemed to be of more importance than the murder he committed. From what it

seems that telling the truth is a crime because Meursault could have easily lied and get away with

it, but instead he was a man of truth, and this time the truth did not set him free. When he

declares that it was “because of the sun,” he is labeled “a monster,” by the prosecutor

Rather than being on trial for the crime he is on trial for not having any emotions on his

mother’s death and because he did not have any emotions on his own mother’s death people sees

him as a monster with no feelings. In the beginning of the Novel it seems that his mother’s death

had absolutely no meaning to him until he was put in the same situation and he realizes what it

must have been like for her. When he was put to death he also realizes that it does not matter

whether he lives or not, He has accepted that he is condemned to live a short time because death

is a part of human life.

Some absurd events in Mersault's life include the death of his mother, not crying during

his mother’s funeral, his involvement with Marie, when Marie had told him that he loved her he

mentioned to her that it did not matter and his killing of the Arab. Throughout the book

Meursault only cares about himself, but at the same time could be concerned little about what

happens to him because he was still trying to defense himself during the trial telling the judge

that he did not mean to kill the Arab man and that it was because of the sun.

Annotated Bibliography for Camus’ The Stranger

Cosper, Dale. "Albert Camus." Twentieth-Century French Dramatists. Ed. Mary Anne O'Neil.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 321. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource
Center. Gale. Malden High School. 16 Dec. 2010
 Summary:

This article is about bibliography of Albert Camus where he was born, the date he publish
his book “the stranger” but most importantly in his life he became friend with a
philosopher name Jean-Paul Sartre

Important quotations:

The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Camus became friends during the
Nazi occupation of France and remained so for nearly a decade. (Paragraph 15)

Purpose:

this relate to the stranger because the whole book was about existentialism The one part
in the stranger that’s existentialism was when Mersault shot the Arab man because when
the Arab man held up his knife to Mersault it did not bother him, it was the light that
bothered him and he chose to shoot the Arab man because he felt uncomfortable, not
because he was threatened, knowing that it wouldn’t matter if he died.

"Sartre, Jean-Paul." New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 695-697.
Gale World History In Context. Web. 16 Dec. 2010.

Summary:

This article is about a philosopher name jean-Paul starter who was born in Paris who
study philosophy in Germany

Important quotations:

Sartre in his philosophy is both a phenomenologist and an existentialist. He is an

existentialist in that his main concern is with the problems experienced by the existing
human individual as he lives his particular, concrete situation; he is a phenomenologist in
that the methodology he employs in his analysis of this existence is the descriptive
method developed by Husserl and Heidegger. (Paragraph 2)

Purpose:

Mersault learn to accept death when the time has to come. one part in the novel that was
existentialism was at the end of the novel when he was sentenced to death, Meursault
said, "I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again." for him there was no
difference between life and death everything was the same to him because his life had no
meaning and he was going to die sooner or later. When the time came for Meursault to go
 he was well prepared. Everything was the same to him such as when Marie asked if he
would marry her and he said it didn't matter and that it was up to her.

"Commentary: Racism felt by Haitian immigrant to the US.(10:00-11:00 AM)(Broadcast

transcript)." Morning Edition (Sept 5, 2001) Global Issues In Context. Gale. Malden
High School. 16 Dec. 2010

Summarry:

this article is about a woman name Marie experiencing racism and discrimination in U.S
just because she’s an immigrant who was born in Haiti. Her skin color and her ethnicity
could determine almost everything in her new American life: where she would live, what
opportunities she would find, which schools or jobs she would get.

Quotation:

I was fired from my first job at a fast-food restaurant in New York when I was 20 years
old. My lack of English relegated me to sweeping the floor, cleaning the counters, tidying
after patrons and the like. I did everything I was told impeccably. During my first weeks
on the job, my white boss called me into his office. He did not question my performance,
but asked me where I was from. `Haiti,' I replied. The next day when I reported to work,
he told me I was fired. He gave me no explanations. I knew at once that he fired me
because I was Haitian. This experience was paralyzing and painful. I remember crying on
the train on my way back home, devastated emotionally and financially.

Purpose:

We often let others decide for us what things should mean and often there is a conflict
between how we see ourselves and how society sees us and each other. Because Marie
was from Haiti and she was an immigrant she was fired by her boss. This relate to the
stranger because during Meursault trial he was sentenced to death because he did not
show any emotion.

"Prince of the absurd; Albert Camus, 50 years on." The Economist [US] 9 Jan. 2010: 75EU. Gale
World History In Context. Web. 16 Dec. 2010.

Summary:

After he died in a car crash 50 years ago he was referred as “the prince of absurd”

Important quotations:
 When Albert Camus was killed in a car crash 50 years ago on January 4th, at the age of
46, he had already won the Nobel prize for literature, and his best-known novel,
"L'Etranger" ("The Stranger" or "The Outsider"), had introduced readers the world over
to the philosophy of the absurd. Yet, at the time of his death, Camus found himself an
outcast in Paris, snubbed by Jean-Paul Sartre and other left-bank intellectuals, and
denounced for his freethinking refusal to yield to fashionable political views. As his
daughter has said: "Papa was alone."

Purpose:

The beginning of the novel explains very well Meursault’s absurdist outlook on life, and
his emotional indifference. He doesn’t even know which day his mother died, and to him,
it "doesn’t mean anything". Meursault did not care about anything throughout the whole
book except his own self. He did not care if Marie Loved him, he did not care if he was
going to die, and when his friend Raymond was beating his girlfriend he was just staring
not doing anything about it. And because of his absurdity he was sentenced to death
during his trial. And before he died he accepts the absurdist that human life had no
meaning.

"Hitler, Adolf (1889–1945)." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and
Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 2006. 1324-1331. Gale World History In Context. Web. 16 Dec. 2010.

Summary:

During 1942 to 1945 there was a man name Adolf Hitler who killed thousands of Jews
for no reason and he also manage to set wars with many other countries including France.
And this was happening during the year Albert Camus was publishing his book “the
stranger”

Important quotations:

Hitler had no clear blueprint for war, but he saw conflict as inevitable if Germany were to
claim its just position as a world imperial power. On 5 November 1937 he finally
revealed to his commanders his resolve to absorb Austria into the German Reich and to
attack Czechoslovakia at the first opportunity. His homeland was occupied by German
troops on 12 March 1938, and a few days later Hitler rode in triumph into Vienna, where
he announced Austria's union in a Greater Germany. He then informed the army of his
intention to invade the Czech state in the autumn, but the diplomatic intervention of
Britain and France delayed conquest. At the Munich conference on 29–30 September
Hitler was granted the German-speaking areas of the Sudetenland, but on 15 March of the
following year he ordered the occupation of the rump Czech state in defiance of the
Western powers. Two weeks later he decided on war against Poland for refusing to return
the "German" territories Poland had been granted in 1919. This time he ignored threats
from Britain and France, assuming they were too decadent and militarily weak to
interfere seriously, and, after approving an expedient nonaggression pact with the Soviet
Union signed on 23 August, he ordered German forces to attack Poland on 1 September.
Two days later Britain and France declared war.

Purpose:

During those years there was many wars going on and since there was a lot of wars there
was a lot of people dying this is relate to the book because in 1945 Albert Camus
probably have seen so many people died because of the war that’s why he believed in
existentialism which was the whole point of his book the stranger, with so many people
dying during the war he realized that human had no meaning in life which is why in the
book Meursault was sentenced to death.

Summary:

its about a man who does everything perfectly in the world he obeys every rule and listen
to his mom like he should but he doesn’t understand why he cannot live forever

Important quotations:

I close my eyes like a good little boy at night in bed,

as I was told to do by my mother when she lived,
and before bed I brush my teeth and slip on my pajamas,
as I was told, and look forward to tomorrow.

I do all things required of me to make me a citizen of sterling worth.

I keep a job and come home each evening for dinner. I arrive at the
same time on the same train to give my family a sense of order.

I obey traffic signals. I am cordial to strangers, I answer my

mail promptly. I keep a balanced checking account. Why can’t I
live forever?

Purpose:

In the book Mersault had a perfect life he had a girlfriend who loved him very much, he
had a good job, and he never starts trouble with anyone, he wasn’t a real murder, he never
killed anyone else before in his life he never robbed a store he never stole anything, why
can’t he live forever? What if the past has no meaning and the only point in time of our
life that really matters is that point which is happening at present. To make matters
worse, when life is over, the existence is also over as human we all cannot live forever no
matter how perfect our life is no matter what we do we are still going to die one day,
which is our fate. And if we know what our fate is then what is the whole meaning of our
life? In the book Mersault remarks “Nothing, nothing mattered, and I know why.”
Nothing could be more existentialist then the book of the stranger
"David Ignatow reads what about dying." Youtube. Posted by awewetblackbough 17 Aug 2010.
17 Dec 2010.