Seminar Prep: The Stranger and Existentialism
Part 1:
Throughout the book, Camus hints different ways that you can live a meaningful life and also ways that you can live a not so meaningful life. However, in this book, one scene in the book, it talks about how Mersault is sitting in his apartment, gazing out his window and watching the people who walk by. He sits there watching for almost the whole day. This scene represents the idea of alienation and it shows that Mersault is not really living his life but rather watching others life their lives.
Part 2:
Existentialism Key Term
Page # and excerpt of the quote
Brief description of how this passage represents the key term
The Absurd
Trial scene: closing arguments from prosecutor and defense lawyer
Pg. 98-104
-Mersault represents the fact that life is meaningless because of his actions and his lack of emotions while the whole trial represents the search of meaning because the lawyers are both trying to find meaning behind Mersault’s actions.
Existence precedes essence
“I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”
Pg. 123
-Throughout his life Mersault didn’t really seem to embody any part of existence precedes presence other than the fact that he didn’t really have emotions and he didn’t care what people thought. In this scene, he finally starts to accept who he is and the choices he has made. He recognizes that he is responsible for how he has been defined by the court and by himself. He wants people to see him for who he really is and because they would see him as he really is, they would greet him with cries of hate.
Alienation
“ The sky changed again. Above the rooftops the sky had taken on a reddish glow, and with evening coming on the streets came to life. People were straggling back from their walks. I recognized the distinguished little man among others. Children were either crying or lagging behind. Almost all at once moviegoers spilled out of the neighborhood and into the street.
Pg. 23
This scene is where Mersault is watching the world from his apartment window. I feel that this embodies alienation because he is watching people live their lives while he isn’t really living his. He is the lone figure gazing outside his window, watching life pass by.
Angst/Individual Freedom and Responsibility of choice
(Either of him avoiding responsibility or accepting free will or experiencing angst in recognizing his free will.)
“Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across the years that were still to come, as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living. What did other people’s deaths or a mothers love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me when we’re all elected by the same fate, me and billions of privileged people like him who also called themselves my brothers?
Pg. 121
“As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself-so like a brother, really- I feel that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone. “
Pg. 122-123
This is when Mersault starts yelling and pouring out all of his feelings to the Chaplin and then after the Chaplin leaves, he reflects on life and on his decisions and actions and comes to peace with his responsibility to die. He accepts and comes to peace with his fate like Sisyphus did.
Part 3:
Chosen Question:
2. What is the significance of the conclusion of the novel? How does it reflect Meursault’s transformation as well as Camus’ philosophy of the Absurd and/or existentialism as a whole? Look specifically at this quote from pages 122-123:
“For the first time in a long time, I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life, she had taken a ‘fiance,’ why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really- I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”
Answer:
In the beginning of the book, Mersault cannot really relate to anyone. He goes through life as if he were watching it instead of living it. He is indifferent to the world and he doesn’t seem to have any emotions or feelings. For example, at his mother’s funeral, he couldn’t look into the eyes of the old people at the vigil and he didn’t mourn his mother’s death. However, towards the end of the book at first he comes to the realization that he does not want to die. After he yells at the Chaplain and expresses his feelings of joy and anger, he comes to peace with his reality and he accepts his angst. He accepts that his life wasn’t all that meaningful and he accepts that he is responsible for his actions and that he needs to die. Much like the Absurd hero Sisyphus.
Part 1:
Throughout the book, Camus hints different ways that you can live a meaningful life and also ways that you can live a not so meaningful life. However, in this book, one scene in the book, it talks about how Mersault is sitting in his apartment, gazing out his window and watching the people who walk by. He sits there watching for almost the whole day. This scene represents the idea of alienation and it shows that Mersault is not really living his life but rather watching others life their lives.
Part 2:
Existentialism Key Term
Page # and excerpt of the quote
Brief description of how this passage represents the key term
The Absurd
Trial scene: closing arguments from prosecutor and defense lawyer
Pg. 98-104
-Mersault represents the fact that life is meaningless because of his actions and his lack of emotions while the whole trial represents the search of meaning because the lawyers are both trying to find meaning behind Mersault’s actions.
Existence precedes essence
“I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”
Pg. 123
-Throughout his life Mersault didn’t really seem to embody any part of existence precedes presence other than the fact that he didn’t really have emotions and he didn’t care what people thought. In this scene, he finally starts to accept who he is and the choices he has made. He recognizes that he is responsible for how he has been defined by the court and by himself. He wants people to see him for who he really is and because they would see him as he really is, they would greet him with cries of hate.
Alienation
“ The sky changed again. Above the rooftops the sky had taken on a reddish glow, and with evening coming on the streets came to life. People were straggling back from their walks. I recognized the distinguished little man among others. Children were either crying or lagging behind. Almost all at once moviegoers spilled out of the neighborhood and into the street.
Pg. 23
This scene is where Mersault is watching the world from his apartment window. I feel that this embodies alienation because he is watching people live their lives while he isn’t really living his. He is the lone figure gazing outside his window, watching life pass by.
Angst/Individual Freedom and Responsibility of choice
(Either of him avoiding responsibility or accepting free will or experiencing angst in recognizing his free will.)
“Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across the years that were still to come, as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living. What did other people’s deaths or a mothers love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me when we’re all elected by the same fate, me and billions of privileged people like him who also called themselves my brothers?
Pg. 121
“As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself-so like a brother, really- I feel that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone. “
Pg. 122-123
This is when Mersault starts yelling and pouring out all of his feelings to the Chaplin and then after the Chaplin leaves, he reflects on life and on his decisions and actions and comes to peace with his responsibility to die. He accepts and comes to peace with his fate like Sisyphus did.
Part 3:
Chosen Question:
2. What is the significance of the conclusion of the novel? How does it reflect Meursault’s transformation as well as Camus’ philosophy of the Absurd and/or existentialism as a whole? Look specifically at this quote from pages 122-123:
“For the first time in a long time, I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life, she had taken a ‘fiance,’ why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really- I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”
Answer:
In the beginning of the book, Mersault cannot really relate to anyone. He goes through life as if he were watching it instead of living it. He is indifferent to the world and he doesn’t seem to have any emotions or feelings. For example, at his mother’s funeral, he couldn’t look into the eyes of the old people at the vigil and he didn’t mourn his mother’s death. However, towards the end of the book at first he comes to the realization that he does not want to die. After he yells at the Chaplain and expresses his feelings of joy and anger, he comes to peace with his reality and he accepts his angst. He accepts that his life wasn’t all that meaningful and he accepts that he is responsible for his actions and that he needs to die. Much like the Absurd hero Sisyphus.