The Stranger

As was mentioned in the previous post, Meursault's trial for murdering the Arab is set to take place at the end of June. At the beginning of Part 2, Chapter Three, Meursault mentions that his case...

If this question is regarding Meursault's killing of the Arab man on the beach, then yes, he is undoubtedly guilty. Even Meursault admits as much. He went onto the beach, was bothered by the heat...

In Part II of The Stranger, Meursault is being very candid with his lawyer. Meursault up until his trial and execution had lived in denial of death. He narrates: He went on to ask if I had felt...

The reference tells us that the story is set during wartime. Specifically, it is set in French Algeria during the Second World War. France had been speedily conquered by German forces, and a large...

Meursault, the narrator and main protagonist in Albert Camus's existentialist novel The Stranger, shows many characteristics held to the philosophy of absurdism. As the novel begins, Meursault...

He is almost annoyed by her. In fact, I believe Camus puts this in here for the purpose of contrast. As Mersault falls asleep at the vigil and we readers can almost feel his complaint about having...

Albert Camus's novella The Stranger is a reflection of his French-Algerian heritage, and should be read in that context. The ramifications for France of its colonization of Algiers in 1830 and...

Meursault, the protagonist of Albert Camus’s The Stranger, relies heavily on the author’s own life and, of course, his own working-class background. There are therefore many parallels between the...

Marie, like most of the other characters in The Stranger, acts as a character foil to Meursault. She reacts with sympathy for the dog and Salamano. However, Meursault acts indifferently, thinking...

The narrator of The Stranger by Albert Camus is Meursault, and he is, indeed, isolated from the world around him. This isolation is clearly a choice, something he chose for his life long before we...

The answer to this question is a complex one partly because of Camus' innovative psychological style and partly because of symbolism and foreshadowing. Firstly, Camus believed that the...

Meursault, in Camus' short novel, The Stranger, is a very unusual man. His life reflects a inordinate lack of concern, to the positive or negative, about almost anything. He enjoys the repetitive...

I read Camus' The Stranger in French many years ago. I was having a horrible time getting through French 4 because, unlike the first three French courses which I had taken at a different school,...

One of the most remarkable stylistic features of the philosophical novel The Stranger by Albert Camus,at least in the original French, is Camus' continuous use of the past perfect and imperfect...

In the novel The Stranger, Meursault is a self-proclaimed atheist who insists that he does not believe in God. Throughout the novel, Meursault demonstrates that he believes he is in complete...

I would not describe his behavior as any of the characteristics we would normally expect at a moment like this in life. Most people would mourn, wonder, get angry, cry, pray, or grieve. Meursault...

The Stranger is narrated in the first person by Meursault, who famously announces the death of his mother to the reader in the opening sentence. He then goes on to describe the details of his visit...

From what Meursault tells us, he seems to be drawn to Raymond because Raymond is a fellow outsider. According to Meursault, Raymond is a warehouse worker and "not very popular." Furthermore,...

This is a difficult point to argue for, because Meursault himself struggles to articulate it in a satisfactory manner both to himself and to others. As with nearly all elements of the narrative of...

Albert Camus's 1942 novel, The Stranger (L'Etranger), bears multiple readings. A feminist reading would most likely have some serious issues with the novel. He has a casual affair with a former...

The Stranger is a philosophical novel. Philosophical fiction is classified less by certain genre conventions (such as love triangles in romance fiction, red herrings in detective stories, and so...

Meursault's lack of emotion has often confounded readers of The Stranger. He is more bored and uncomfortable at his mother's funeral than he is aggrieved. He does not love his girlfriend, nor does...

In a compare/contrast essay addressing The Stranger and Slaughterhouse-Five one comparable point common to both is the theme of free will. Both novels address free will and its importance to life...

The last line of The Stranger relates to Meursault's epiphany regarding the universe. He has come to believe that reality is as indifferent to human actions as he himself is. There is no moral...

In Albert Camus' The Stranger, Meursault is a man of little emotional depth. As he sits beside his mother's casket during the vigil, concern for the death of another—even his mother—seems alien to...

There is no direct textual reference to "noble" or "nobility" in Camus' The Stranger. Camus rejected the idea that he was an existentialist but sought to find a unity between an absurd world and...

Meursault tells the reader his mother died in the first line of the novel. She was living at The Home for Aged Persons in Marengo near Algiers and the reason there weren't many people at her...

Meursault could certainly be considered an existentialist figure, though it would be more accurate to term him an absurdist one. Existentialism is a complicated topic, involving thinkers as diverse...

Looking at terminology to use in the essay, you may point to a distinction between "cultural traditions" and "individual expectations". Mersault defies both, but is, perhaps, most conspiciously...

Meursault is alienated because he does not "play the game," as author Albert Camus once explained it. Unmoved by his mother's death, his girlfriend's love, or the joys or sufferings of other...

The title The Stranger refers to the novel's protagonist, Meursault, an alienated young man who comes to view life and existence in general as absurd. Meursault is detached from everything and...

The Stranger ends on the night before Meursault is to be executed for the killing of the Arab man on the beach, so it can be assumed that he does indeed die—just not within the text itself. Camus...

Yes, but also no. Camus was an existentialist, but he was also a part of a subset of existentialists called the absurdists. The philosophy of existentialism relies on the thought that life is about...

Albert Camus's The Stranger is considered timeless and universal because it is an existential text which deals with the intrinsic nature of life, the insignificance of the individual, life's...

The Stranger is considered a classic due to its striking presentation of the idea that life is absurd. In this context, the term "absurd" does not mean comical; instead, it implies that life has no...

As the the story is told from Meursault's point of view, it is easier to understand why he likes Marie than she does him. However, we can infer reasons for her attraction. Marie, in fact, likes...

The fact that you found no point or purpose to this book IS the point Camus is trying to make. This book was written as an attempt to explore his philosophy of Abusurdism which states that the...

The eponymous stranger in Albert Camus's novel is Meursault. Meursault is a stranger in various senses. The most obvious way in which he is a stranger is that he himself is French and of...

In French, the language in which Albert Camus wrote, “étranger” means both “stranger” and “foreigner.” Both meanings fit well with themes of distance and separation that dominate the book. The...

Meursault is largely indifferent to everything. After his arrest and during the course of his trial, he comes to realize that death doesn't matter. In his jail cell, wondering if his appeal will be...

I would say it does have an existentialist theme but don't leave out Absurdism (check out link below). Camus did not consider himself an extentialist; he considered himself an Absurdist. There are...

Mersault rejects totality throughout his narrative. He does not see "truth" as anything akin to a totalizing condition. "Telling the truth" indicates that there is an intrinsic value or meaning...

I actually *just* reread this book two days ago - one of my all-time favs. Meursault is complicated; he'd be a horrible protagonist if he wasn't. Deciding whether or not you think he's a hero will...

The family tree of a character should illustrate the relationships in their family. Sometimes, a character can have an intricate family tree that spans generations. The complex relationships within...

Kudos to you taking on this ambitious topic. Both Kafka in The Metamorphosis and Camus in The Stranger deal, comically and absurdly, with how the individual is detested in society. As is the...

Existentialism is the philosophy that we are living in a senseless universe without any reason or logic. What happens in this world is therefore incomprehensible and often absurd. Man has no...

Albert Camus's works are philosophical allegories that explore, primarily, human evil and inherent sin nature. The three works chosen here all have overarching themes of violence, desolation, and...

Albert Camus's novel The Stranger was first published in France in 1942 under its original French title, L'Étranger. It was later translated into English and published as The Stranger in the United...

If the reader has earlier labelled Mersault as an anti-hero and as possessing an apethetic nature, the final chapter offers little to change this assessment. While Mersault contemplates a sense of...

One of the key elements of this novel is the absurdist philosophy that Meursault embraces. He finds increasingly that life has no sense of meaning or purpose and that the world is profoundly...