Summary:
In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault's character is apathetic and insensitive to the events in his own life and those around him. Elements of the plot line are analyzed to support this point.
The Minimalist
Life has been defined as the property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism. Further, that very definition from the Webster's dictionary says nothing when it comes to the everyday experiences one faces throughout a lifetime. The experiences one faces makes, breaks, and shapes us into how we act and live. T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" portrays a world in which humans lack connections to each other and to G-d. Similarly, the main character, Meursault, from the short novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus, represents a man who does not feel any condition to anyone or anything. Meursault seems not to have a sense of emotion for the occurring actions in his life, and as a result, Camus pictures him as a senseless man. Many people in society go through life-breaking crisis that takes them several weeks even months to get over, meanwhile Meursault goes through some of the most immense problems during his life, yet he shows little emotion to ward his reality.
Meursault shows very little love or sorrow at the fact of his mother's death. A normal man would feel pain and regret for not being by her side while Meursault does not even care much about the date she passed away. Immediately on the first page in the novel, we confront the situation where Meursault's mother dies, and he does not care about it. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (3). Meursault does not bother to call back and find information about his mother. Meursault shows no emotion or care for his mother because he sends her away for someone else to take care of her. During the last years of an elder person's life, they are invited to stay with the family in order to become closer with one another. Meursault could care less as he shows no sign of pain, and goes off to do something else. He resembles a figure where an issue as important as death does come as a priority. "We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw" (Lines 1-4). Meursault has a brain like a scarecrow himself, as he has no deep thought on anything. A person uses his or her brain to think with, and if he or she will not use their brain, then they are as good as a stuffed animal. His mother, the one that had to carry him around for nine months, and the one who changed his diapers dies, and Meursault feels that life should go on without giving into his emotions, in any at all. When Meursault went to trial, they convict him for lack of mourning at his mother's funeral. Meursault has nothing to say to that, and for all the reader understands, he does not have any true feeling for his mother.
Further, Meursault also displays the same lack of caring at his mother's vigil. He seems unaffected by the proceedings and he only concentrates on his physical discomfort. For example, when the gentleman asks him if he wishes to view his mother's body, Meursault refuses, "He was moving towards the casket when I stopped him. 'You don't want to"' he said. I answered 'No'" (6). So early in the novel Camus shows us that Meursault has no feeling towards his mother, not even respect to look at his mother who loved him for so many years. Why did Meursault bother going over to the institute if he did not want to see his mother? Meursault even lights up cigarette in front of his mother's casket. "I felt like having a smoke. But I hesitated, because I didn't know if I could do it with maman right there. I thought about it; it didn't matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked" (8). Meursault does not know the meaning of respect and etiquette as it only takes less than a minute to go outside and have a smoke. Meursault figures with his mother already dead, smoking in front of her means nothing. Meursault said "it didn't matter" as if his mother didn't matter, as in she's dead and get over it. In fact everyone does die someday, Meursault proves to us that smoking in front of her does not bother him, nor does his mother's death affect the way he continues to live his life for the next couple of days.
Meursault further shows his lack of caring about for his mother and social convention by going to the beach after the funeral. He goes out for a swim, and bumps into an old acquaintance, a woman named Marie. A normal person with feelings would probably stay home, call relatives, and reminisce about the good and bad times they have shared with that person. Instead, Meursault goes out for a walk and decides to get over his mother's death, and have fun at the beach:
I had the whole sky in my eyes and it was blue and gold. On the back of my neck I could feel Marie's heart beating softly. We lay on the float for a long time, half asleep. She laughed the whole time. I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies that evening. She laughed again and told me there was a Fernandel movie she'd like to see. (20)
Meursault goes out and has fun. Simply he proves to the readers once again that his mother's death does not affect him, and he rather goes out and has fun. He deals with his own physical pleasure and taking care of himself before giving any sign of respect for his mother. Meursault blatantly lives in the present and not in the future. This existentialist attitude of his gets him into trouble and gets him to not think of his next move. Whatever feels right to him at any given point, he reacts to his thoughts. Again, Meursault ignores the social convention and emotions that one portrays after a death, especially his own mothers.
Meursault lives in the present with little or no regard for the past or the future. Meursault does not have a sensitive side and moves on with a new woman in his life. Camus shows us that Meursault does not take anything seriously; instead keeps things as simple as possible. Shortly after Marie and Meursault become reacquainted, she asked him if he loved her. Predictably, we should know because of the carelessness of Meursault's behavior and his lack of feelings that he will not bother to care much about this issue. Once again he focuses on the physical and not the emotional as he replies: "When she laughed I wanted her again. I minute later she asked me if I love her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so" (35). The discussion instantly turns to another topic and he ignores the issue. A normal man with feelings would take a girl aside, talk to them, and explain their feelings. Marie has been on Meursault's mind all the time, and he always wants to spend time with her. He loves the way she smiles, loves to be with her, and feels better when he sees her. To have him think about her all the time and then give an answer like that proves the one-dimensional side of Meursault. The simplicity of Meursault's character means that no issue, death nor love, exists as too large for him to put thought into.
Meursault takes his indifference to the feelings of others to the ultimate, when he kills an Arab. He mentions to readers that he got into a confrontation with the man earlier, and when he went back, he shot him four times. Most likely, when a man gets shot in the chest once, he will probably fall down and then die. Meursault takes the action to kill the Arab while shooting him four times, while he "blurted out that it was because of the sun" (103) to the courtroom. Meursault does not care about what will happen to him in the present or in his future. Meursault does not care what will happen to him because he does what he feels at the moment. His actions are from little thought on a subject, rather than to take a step back and walk away. Even when Meursault has the chance to go see the Chaplain and confront his sins, he refuses to give in. Meursault simply says, "I don't have anything to say to him" (108) and he could care less about talking about his problems. Meursault does not know what he wants to do with life, and he does no see a reason to see the Chaplain. Meursault feels that everyone will die one day, and shows no emotion over it. He does not care about G-d, as he feels that it will make no difference in his trial. This goes back to existentialism as Meursault has the same mentality where he believes in the present. The existentialist believed that G-d can not help you, and you are better on your own. Eliot also depicts religion as meaningless in "Hollow Men" as the men pray to a symbol, "Walking alone at the hour when we are/ Trembling with tenderness/ Lips that would kiss/ Form prayers to broken stone" (48-51). These men that Eliot portrays pray to a stone, as it represents to them just as much power if not more than G-d. Meursault actions and behavior classify him as being one of the hollow men, and because of the all the stuffing in head, his decisions are impaired.
If Meursault does not care about others, why should he care about himself? Meursault does not show any emotion to any activities that do not involve him, and near the end of his life, Meursault gives himself up by telling us that he does not even care about himself. Camus presents death as Meursault's best friend, "But I was sure about me, about everything, surer than he could ever be, sure of my life and sure of the death I had waiting for me. Yes, that was all I had" (120). Meursault does not even care about his own life and fate. He knows that he made a mistake, and the path he chose lead him to death, and he accepts that. You can not ask someone who does not care about himself to care about others. Meursault's actions and responsibilities are childish, and show his lack of maturity. As a result, Meursault does not show emotions for others, and that got him into trouble at the trial for the murder of the Arab.
The Bible teaches us, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" also, "Love they neighbor as thyself." The Bible gives us a path and helps us to tell everyone that we must all have respect for each other. Meursault, on the other hand, does not respect his acquaintances, nor does he care about himself in the same way. Meursault follows the existentialist, but why does Camus and Eliot give us these characters that epitomize the twentieth century? Humans are machines controlled by the environment they live in, and no matter what they do, they will always be the minority. To have such characters like Meursault who do not care if the sky is blue or purple and a scarecrow that does not have a brain means that within this huge world of ours, no on matters. Meursault does not care about his own mother, his girlfriend, or even his own life. Meursault does the same good as a stuffed animal, because whatever actions occur, no issue exists as large enough for him to fret over.
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