Meursault is the main character of the novel “The Stranger,” in which Camus wanted to emphasize the problem of belief in contemporary society. According to Camus, the most serious issue is the inability to believe in reality, observe what happens in the moment, and the inability to live life as it is rather than being concerned with nihilism and contemplating the absurd (Francev, 2010).
The novel shows three stages of development, through which Meursault eventually learns to deal with the lack of meaning in life. In the first part of the book, Meursault is an isolated being who distances himself from any form of emotion in his interactions. In the second part, after killing a man causes a surge of suppressed emotions to surface, and Meursault eventually starts revealing more emotions throughout the book in his conversations with people and contemplations. While murder was the situation that acted as a trigger, the real cause for his change in behavior was the surfacing of his fear and anger that he has been suppressed for a long time.
Finally, Meursault learns to accept the Absurd and that he has always been happy. Although the novel does not finish with regret for his actions, killing the Arab was the point at which Meursault reveals that he can feel fear and starts progressively opening to others and the world in part two.
Meursault was created because Camus’ definition of absurdity, which resides in the gap between the need for meaning and the meaningless world (Roth, 1999). He is a character who does not find meaning in life and goes through life without any belief. Throughout the book, Meursault considers existence pointless, and he displays a passive behavior through his inability to sense or show any form of emotions to the people he meets or the events he experiences (Alonzo, 2010).
That passive attitude and his emotional deprivation are obvious from the first sentences of the story which state, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure” (Camus, 1946, p. 4). Camus probably started the book with the mother’s death because it is one of the most tragic things that occur in life, but instead of experiencing sorrow, Meursault remains distanced from the event and uninterested in the further formalities.
Although he is capable of observing emotions of others, which becomes apparent during his mother’s funeral, Meursault cannot comprehend or express emotions. In reality, Meursault says, nothing has changed. His mother was buried, and his life was going to continue as usual from next Monday.
The emotionless state continues throughout the story, even when he starts a relationship with a woman called Marie Cardona, who used to work at his office. Although he expresses liking her in the novel, there are clearly no emotions present in his expression. The descriptions of their romantic relationships are also concise and direct. “She pressed her leg against mine while we were in the picture house, and I was fondling her breast. Toward the end of the show I kissed her, but rather clumsily” (Camus, 1946, p. 14). The short sentences that simply describe the events without any underlying emotions in progress indicate that Meursault lives life mechanically without any belief or meaning in it.
Furthermore, when Marie asks him to marry her, Meursault does not respond directly because he does not show any emotional attachment to her. “Then she asked me again if I loved her. I replied, much as before, that her question meant nothing or next to nothing—but I supposed I didn’t” (Camus, 1946, p. 28). Meursault never shows an opinion or emotion throughout the first part of the book. Without an opinion, he observed the world from a superficial viewpoint.
While Meursault did appear emotionless at the beginning, even during his interactions with friends and Marie, he was still human and experienced emotions. However, Meursault always denied them, and the problems that were caused by suppressing issues and avoiding reality became apparent only when he confronts an Arab and murders him.
At that point in the book, which is close to the end of the first part, the reader can finally experience some emotions and the tension caused by the situation. Through several paragraphs, Camus builds tension, fear, and uncertainty within Meursault, which eventually ends as the Arab takes out the knife and Meursault shoots him. “Every nerve in my body was a steel spring, and my grip closed on the revolver. The trigger gave, and the smooth underbelly of the butt jogged my palm” (Camus, 1946, p. 39).
Although it is possible to suggest that Meursault acted in self-defense, the action also shows that his suppressed emotions were released because four more shots were fired into the Arab’s already dead body. Instead of acting purposefully to protect his life, the action was partially an expression of anger and rage.
Furthermore, Meursault realizes that his life will change from that moment. “I knew I’d shattered the balance of the day, the spacious calm of this beach on which I had been happy” (Camus, 1946, p. 39). The balance of the day also refers to Meursault’s live in which he had been happy. The balance was shattered that moment, but the balance that had previously existed in Meursault’s life was shattered and remained shattered until the end of the novel.
In the second part of the book, Meursault is still similar as he is in the first part, but killing a man apparently released some suppressed emotions that were bothering him because his behavior and cognitive processes suggest he is more involved with the world around him. A part of him does remain the same. For example, he never shows any remorse for the murder, and even while he is in prison, Meursault does not reflect on the Arab’s life, which he took (Lea, 2010).
On the other hand, Meursault does show a certain freedom of thought in the second part of the book, even though he lacked an opinion on anything and did not follow any principle whatsoever. For example, his relationship with Marie was based mostly on her decision-making because he did not care for marriage, love, or consider having any desire other than following a routine in life.
In the second part, Meursault tries to observe the situation from her viewpoint, which indicates that there is still hope for him to be released from prison. While he is talking to the jailer, he also accepts his viewpoint rather than being stubborn about his own. When talking to the chaplain, Meursault admits to the feelings of fear and hoping that there would be an afterlife. As the book progresses, Meursault reveals his humanity more by revealing his hopes and emotions.
In the end of “The Stranger,” Meursault does not remain completely indifferent to the world. Just before his execution, the writing style changes, and it is possible to notice that a certain realization occurs within Meursault after his contemplations on life and death. Camus (1946, p. 75-76) describes the sensation as a great rush of anger, which eventually enabled him to open his heart to the world around him and accept it as a meaningless and indifferent place. For the first time he realizes that he is happy. The ending reflects the solution to the absurdist issue proposed by Camus. Instead of resorting to religion or suicide, accepting and living with the absurd was the only solution suitable for people.
It is evident that “The Stranger” can be observed as the three stages of development of Meursault’s character. At the beginning of the story, Meursault is a character who does not possess any trace of humanity that would enable him to understand or process human emotions. However, when he kills the Arab he reveals that he is not emotionless as he acts out of fear and proceeds to shoot at his dead body with four more shots.
That situation, which culminated with the death of the Arab was the turning point of the novel because it reveals both fear and suppressed anger. The first shot was caused by fear because the Arab held a knife towards Meursault. The four consecutive shots fired at the dead body showed that Meursault did experience anger before, but he suppressed it because he could not deal with it. The anger is apparent because firing four shots into a dead body is a pointless action and an exaggeration, which can only be attributed to a sudden burst of aggression.
Although killing the Arab set the events in motion, which eventually led to Meursault’s acceptance of the Absurd, the act of killing the Arab is less important than the underlying motives and mechanisms that forced Meursault into killing him. The confrontation with the Arab can be considered an environmental trigger because it set in motion a lifelong amount of suppressed anger that caused his contemplations and changes in part two of the novel.
The suppressed anger is raised as an issue again at the end of par two while Meursault was talking to the chaplain. After shouting loud enough to attract the attention of two jailers and make the chaplain cry, Meursault experiences a catharsis. From being isolated from the world and people, Meursault reached the point at which he accepted himself along with the indifference of the world. While murder was only the environmental trigger that enabled Meursault to reach the catharsis, releasing the suppressed emotions was the real cause for his change because he had to learn how to deal with those emotions and accept them along with the Absurd.
References
Alonzo, A., 2010. The changing Raskolnikov vs. ethical Meursault.” Journal of the Albert Camus Society, [online] Available at:
Camus, A., 1946. The stranger. Translated from French by Stuart Gilbert. New York, NY: Vintage-Random House.
Francev, P., 2010. Camus and the absurd cycle. Journal of the Albert Camus Society, [online] Available at:
Lea, S., 2010. Human nature and the absurd in The Stranger, Caligula and cross purpose. Journal of the Albert Camus Society, [online] Available at:
Roth, J. K., 1992. Albert Camus. In: I. McGreal, ed. 1992. Great thinkers of the western world. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishing. pp. 556-560.
