Albert Camus’s “The Outsider” is a brilliantly written novel that deals with the questions of existentialism and the norms of society when dealing with a situation that doesn’t fit the rules of the game called life. Meursault was an employee in a local company.
His mother died in a nursing home. He received this news, and the first concern that came to his mind was that he had to be there for the funeral and for that, he needed to take a leave and ask his boss for permission.
He was granted leave, and obviously, the boss was not happy. Still, Meursault replied that it was not his fault that his mother decided to die, which he regretted saying.
The Character of Meursault
This tells a lot about his personality, a hollowness of emotions and feelings. He went to the funeral, where the other people at the nursing home accompanied him. He didn’t look at his mother in the coffin; there was no tear in his eyes, and to relax, he smoked in the hall. When he was to bury his mother, he first thought about the sun and how bright and hot it was. After the whole event, he went back to his place. He was tired and took some rest.
The next day, he went swimming and met a former colleague, Marie. They conversed, and Marie was sorry to hear about Meursault’s mother. Later that night, they both went out to Meursault’s place. She left early the next day, and Meursault was alone in the apartment again. So he watched people through the window.
Story Ahead
The next day, he and Marie went out to watch a funny movie, not more than a few days after his mother’s death. Things were every day for him or were never changed for him. Raymond used to live in the Meursault building. They had a few interactions now and then.
One day Raymond asked Meursault for a favour. He wanted Meursault to write a letter to Raymond’s mistress, whom he believed was cheating. He tried to bring her back and teach her a lesson. And the same thing happened on a day when police were involved as Raymond was caught beating his mistress.
The whole event passed by in front of Meursault’s eyes. Raymond was thankful for the letter that he had written for him. One day he asked Meursault to join him for a weekend at the beach with Marie.
They all were joined by one more couple who were associates of Raymond, where they encountered Arabs following Raymond, as one of the Arabs was the brother of his mistress, whom he had beaten. They were seeking revenge, and on the beach, both Raymond and Meursault encountered the Arabs, and Raymond beat one of the guys but, in return, got injured.
The Aftermath
After the incident, Meursault went to the beach again but had a pistol in his hand this time. As he walked the shore of the beach, he was affected by the same hot sun as it was on the day of his mother’s funeral. When he came in contact with Arab, he was confronted with the sun shining in his eyes and making him uncomfortable just before he pulled the trigger. He shot the Arab five times for no apparent reason.
He was arrested for this act of murder, and a court case was started. The decision went against Meursault, and he was found guilty. He was to be executed publicly. Just before his execution, a pastor visited him to make him repent. Still, Meursault was so angry that he grabbed the pastor by his collar.
Meursault didn’t believe in God or see a point in this. Just before his execution, he accepted his fate and welcomed death with open arms and concluded that none of this made sense as, sooner or later, everyone would be dead. In his case, it is a bit early. Still, eventually, it will happen to all of us, even to the people in the crowds watching his execution.
Question Defining The Theme of the Book
The underlying theme in this story is the absurdness and inherent meaninglessness of life. The story deals with a man’s lack of ability to show remorse for his dead mother or love for his then-engaged fiancé. He killed a man and was repeatedly asked a straightforward question during his trial.
The question was, “Why did he kill that man”. The best answer he came up with was the sun. It was as if his lack of motive showcases the deep meaningless. It could be self-defence or instinct, but whatever the case may be. A man was dead, and he was found guilty. It was how things were, and even though the patient had no meaning, the jury tried to make sense of the whole scenario.
Final Theme of The Outsider
They wanted to attach words like a sociopath or inherit criminal with him to make sense of his act when it has nothing to do with the shooting. The shooting was an act with no rationality. The only thing that could have been more rational was people’s judgement to make the event sound reasonable to their senses, which they ultimately accomplished.
nice🔥
Nice….will read the novel soon