The Stranger

The final line of the book is meant to show that Meursault has now fully accepted his outsider status. Throughout the novel, Meursault has been at odds with society. He is indifferent towards just...

One of the main themes of The Stranger is the importance of living an authentic life in the midst of an absurd, meaningless universe, irrespective of the consequences. Meursault is very much an...

In The Stranger, the relationship between Salamano and his dog is analogous to both the relationships between Mersault and his mother and between Raymond and his Arab girlfriend. The dog reminds...

Albert Camus' novel The Stranger, a masterwork of crime fiction first published in 1942, is set in Algiers, Algeria on the eve of World War II. This was a pivotal time for France, which had not...

The title is significant on a number of levels. Meursault, the book's protagonist, is the eponymous stranger—a stranger to himself, to his family, to his country, and to anyone with whom he comes...

To give a first name to Meursault would signify admitting that he is, in fact, someone who has a defined identity. Even as an absurdist character, Meursault does not unite the characteristics that...

If we define alienation as the state of being estranged or separated from a group to which one belongs, there are many examples of Meursault's alienation from the society that surrounds him. In the...

Monsieur Meursault's tone is generally dispassionate, unemotional, impassive, unperturbed and self-possessed. Examples that support these adjectives include the novel's opening lines: Mother died...

Though his appearance in The Stranger is confined to just two chapters, the timing of the appearances of Thomas Pérez are vital to understanding how the society that judges Meursault perceives...

Though Mersault doesn't explicitly tell the reader the title of his position, he does infer that he works in an office building in Algiers, most likely a shipping yard, that "overlooks the sea." In...

Camus suggested that his entire premise of The Stranger was the exploration of a realm where the individual experienced a simultaneous collision of internal and external conflicts. Camus suggested...

Meursault is a man of great indifference. When his mother passes away, he is neither disturbed nor particularly grieved. He tends to hold this apathetic attitude throughout most of the novel, and...

As an existentialist, Meursault believes that life is inherently meaningless, and so all that's left is for the individual to impose meaning on his or her life through the free choices that they...

The trip to the sea represents change in Meursault's life. This change is a deviation to his normal routine, which will put him under the influence of others. The reason that the sea is chosen is...

The version of the quote in the Stuart Gilbert translation is: "It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of all hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its...

When evaluating the significance of the sun in Camus' The Stranger, we might focus on the connection between the day of the funeral (when Mersault's mother is buried) and the day that Mersault...

I'm not sure I'd say Meursault doesn't exist until the second part of the book. This book isn't your typical "finding enlightenment" kind of epiphany. Meursault has always found his essence by...

Meursalt is a rather emotionless man, secluded from society and the eyes who might judge him. That being said, it may not be easy to argue that Meursalt is a stranger to himself and his...

The primary character in The Stranger by Albert Camus is Meursault, who is the embodiment of author Camus’s views of existentialism: try though we might to imbue our lives with meaning, life...

Meursault is the same on page one of The Stranger as he is on the last: heroic in the face of death. His only revelation is a recognition of the absurd: that most people choose death instead of...

The whole question of Meursault's relationship with his mother is central to him as a person. Why is he so distant, so uninterested, and so vague? The mother is the life force—what connects us to...

Meursault, like Camus, is an absurdist and an atheist. Neither of them believe in God or the afterlife. This unnerves the magistrate and the priest to no end, both of whom want Meursault to...

Because this text is often considered both absurd and existential, the mood and tone are important considerations. First, in part 1, we see Meursault as almost completely indifferent. He is...

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault and his society are at great odds with each other. At the beginning of the novel, Meursault learns of his mother's death, and he engages in a vigil to...

Since Meursault shows all of the characteristics of a textbook sociopath, it can indeed be said that he is a threat to society. He acts without remorse or guilt, and sometimes even without reason....

In short, it is both. Meursault has shot a man in cold blood for no significant reason at all. This is why he is brought to trial. However, as the trial progresses and the evidence is brought out,...

The chaplain who comes to counsel Meursault as he faces death is a true believer, in both the salvation of Christ and an afterlife (heaven and hell). Meursault does not buy any of it and therefore...

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the reader does not have to get beyond the first page to see how Camus' use of language and speech in the novel contribute to the meaning of the work. The very...

Throughout Camus's The Stranger the themes of choices and freedom remain pervasive. The protagonist Meursault maintains an absurdist point of view on life, feeling very minimally affected by the...

Albert Camus' story, The Stranger, was originally written in French, in the narrative style, in the first person. It is considered a "psychological self-examination," however Camus' work had a...

What is certainly odd is Meursault's lack of a reaction. Upon hearing news of his mother's death, his is dispassionate, nonchalant, as if he's heard of a poor weather forecast for the upcoming...

The Stranger begins with the death of Mersault's mother. We learn little of who the mother was as a person, but the immediate sense we get is that Mersault doesn't feel much, if anything at all,...

This punctuates his complete disregard for proper behavior and for the thoughts and feelings of others. It also focuses our attention on Meursault's shocking apathy. He doesn't care for anything,...

A great example of foreshadowing in The Stranger comes in chapter 1, not long after Meursault's mother has died. When he arrives at the morgue, Meursault sees that there's an Arab nurse standing...

The French writer and thinker Albert Camus's 1942 novel The Stranger (sometimes translated as The Outsider) is his most celebrated, influential, and controversial work. Set in French Algeria, where...

You could use Colonialism as a critical theory. The novel takes place in Algeria presumably in the early 1940’s since the book was published in 1942. France occupied Algeria from 1830 until 1962....

Mersault is a character who subdues his inner dialogue. He does not delve into his psychology to identify his feelings/motives so much as he denies the impulse to self-analyze and self-assess....

Meursault conforms by engaging in human relationships (Marie and Raymond) even though he tries to stay as emotionally removed as possible. He also goes to a job every day. This is perhaps his most...

Though Camus himself was not a racist or a believer in European supremacy, the namelessness of the Arab characters is reflective of just such an attitude that was prevalent among white people in...

There is obviously no rational argument or evidence by which we can establish that Meursault should be acquitted of murder. There are no mitigating factors, and I believe this is the way Camus...

The Stranger, the first novel of French writer Albert Camus, is an example of the existentialism philosophy of the 20th century. It will help you formulate a thesis if you know something about...

In Camus's The Stranger, the main character witnesses death firsthand and grapples with the meaning of life. He confronts his own existence and the distance he feels from other people, and he...

One of the points of Camus' novel is that since there is no underlying, inherent meaning in life (though Camus disclaimed existentialism), meaning comes directly through sensory experience, and...

The ending of chapter one of The Stranger is absurd and ironic. Really, it makes me laugh. The flood of sensory imagery used by Camus at the end suggests a kind of stream-of-consciousness montage...

There are two levels on which you can view the minor characters in The Stranger, including Marie (the lover), Old Salamano (the neighbor), and Thomas Perez (the foil). One level is that they are...

The Prosecutor is trying to show that Meursault is an unfeeling, nihilistic person with criminal tendencies. Because Meursault is so indifferent to the rules of society, the Prosecutor has a...

Meursault can be viewed as an antihero, but with the proviso that there are certain striking differences between his behavior and that of other well-remembered antiheroes in literature. Usually an...

The tone of the speaker is very detached which creates a somewhat pessimistic mood for the reader. The narrator experiences no emotion; this is understood from the beginning when he has no...

In Camus's "The Stranger," Meursault is indifferent and uncaring toward many of the emotional events of the novel. His own mother has passed away, and he is entirely dispassionate toward this...

There is a slight difference between an impression Camus gives and an impression Meursault gives: one is the author and his impressions can only be inferred--if inference of author is at all...