Meursault's Apathy

Meursault is eventually convicted and sentenced to death because of his inability to conform to the societal expectations of French Algeria in the 1940’s. 3. Characters: Meursault- the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Meursault is a young shipping clerk who has detached himself from the world around him. He is indifferent

Meursault constantly has varying thoughts dancing around his mind, one of which is the environment. The environment is behind all of Meursault’s struggles and problems in his mental world and interferes with his physical world as well, causing him to think that the world is irrational. Holden’s attitude toward the world is particularly similar to Meursault’s because nihilism and absurdism are quite similar. Both believe that the world is irrational and out to get them. The only difference between the two is that Meursault discovers that even though he believes that the world manipulated him and demanded to kill the

Meursault was guilty of shooting the Arab multiple times, killing him immediately. With no remorse, Meursault fired the gun at the Arab after he was already dead. When Meursault was tried for the murder, he was convicted more on the content of his character, rather than the crime itself. The prosecutor brought up the topic of his mother’s death often, which was noticed by the defensive attorney, “Come now, is my client on trial for burying his mother or for killing a man?” (Camus 96).

Through the use of diction and symbolism; Camus reveals Meursault’s is apathetic towards his bonding with others and unable

One of the most important passages within the novel is when Meursault repeatedly defies the chaplain in the cell. It serves as a pinnacle for the entire story, and grants readers a look into the main characters state of mind. In this passage, Meursault comes to a dramatic realization of who he is through an existential epiphany, and with thorough analysis the overall significance of the passage to the story is revealed. In the passage the chaplain visits Meursault much to Meursault’s displeasure.

It quickly becomes clear that Meursault’s tone following the death of his mother reflects his desensitized and seemingly distant state. After realizing that his mother had

Meursault shows his lack of emotional attachment to people: "I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings"( page 41). Meursault shows the regrets of his nature but also, at the same time, explains that it’s not going to change. Rather than focusing on finding someone to spend his life with, Meursault would rather find someone who can always keep him pampered. Meursault again shows his regret for his actions when he says, "I wanted to try to explain to him that it was because of the sun, the sea, the light, in fact, everything, that I had simply loved him with no personal motive" (Page 68). Meursault shows his lack of care for those whom he loved, but at the same time shows that Meursault might not be able to fully control what he does, but rather does everything out of impulse, therefore making him regret his actions in some situations.

As Meursault finished eating, he glances at the mirror, and explains that the day of his mother’s funeral was just like any other day to him since he hasn’t seen her in a long time. Meursault says, "It occurred to

Camus uses the motif of weather, most commonly sun and heat, to express Meursault’s emotions. Meursault often describes the weather and how it ‘affects’ him. This can symbolize his actual feelings he tries to hide. An example can be found when Meursault is walking to his mother’s funeral. On the outside he is calm and even seems a little annoyed.

Introduction: In the novel The stranger, written by Albert Camus Meursault kills a man, “The Arab” in act of self defense. After Meursault is put to trial, his lawyer becomes more focused on Meursault's attitude and believes. When meursault mother died, he had a very unemotional attitude, which causes problems later on in his trail. He is later sentence to the death penalty.

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

During my first read through The Stranger, I paid little attention to how the novel was written, focusing more on content and plotline. I mainly noticed that the sentence structure employed was very limited, the majority of the sentences were short, and the figurative language was restricted. The interactive oral on translational effects introduced me to the importance of the syntax and diction used and its significance with respect to Meursault’s character. In the discussion, we examined the first line of the novel of Ward’s version, which is “Maman died today” (Camus 3).

Meursault notices that during the trial, “there was a lot said about [him], maybe more about [him] than about [his] crime” (98). By having Meursault 's personality be the focal point of the courtroom 's dialogue, Camus implies that Meursault 's persona plays a crucial role in his trial. Instead of focusing on the murder of the Arab, the prosecutor repeatedly mentions Meursault 's "dubious liaison"(94), his "insensitivity" (99) during Maman’s funeral, and his friendship with Raymond, who is a man "of doubtful morality" (99). Through the emphasis on Meursault 's -according to society- 'immoral ' ways, the prosecutor eliminates any sort of sympathy the jury has for Meursault. Following Marie 's testimony, the prosecutor once again exhibits his confidence that bias against Meursault will stem from hearing about his behaviour.

The man behind the book, Meursault, has had many ups and downs throughout his times in this book. Living a very basic life in Algiers practically all nice and calm, until the call of his mother's death, where everything simply rolls down hill becoming bad and worse. Meursault lived as an everyday upstanding member of society, slowly his destiny catches up to him and he is soon brought face to face with his untimely execution. He never did anything particularly vile or wrongdoing to make such a dark fate be bestowed upon him, but the action of murder is something a little over the top- karma came full circle and, because of his actions, he was condemned to death. I personally believe, in the moment of the kill that Meursault committed, he mentally accepted any consequence that came his way.

During his own mother’s funeral at the beginning of the book, Meursault shows both antisocial behavior as well as a lack of sadness for her death. After being asleep for a while and finally waking up, Meursault notices a man near him, “…he was staring hard at me, as if he had been waiting for me to wake. Then I fell asleep again” (Camus 11). After he is sentenced to death, Meursault never feels guilt for killing the man. When he is nearing his execution date, all he hopes for is “that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 117).