Meaursalt As A Meaningless Person example essay topic

The new approach to the philosophical thinking of humankind being has been developed recently by many trends in the cultural development. A very popular now belief that the meaning of life is meaningless resembles the written works of the last century. Many people argue that the ignorance of socially accepted principles can lead a person to the freedom of his perception and eventually behavior. However, the real life is often far away from that what these philosophies teach us. It happens that the person, who decided to follow the existentialistic way of life, finds himself lost and broken at the end. In his novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus misleadingly portrays his existentialistic views of life, death, and the world.

Camus portrays the world as absurd or without purpose, to the author, people do not live, but rather exist. The author uses the characters of the play to deliver his idea to the reader, which in his turn can agree or disagree. Personally, through the examination of two main personages, I will try to show how the idea of meaningless existence ruins the lives of these people. The main character of the book - Meaursalt - is a reflection of Camus, a foreign and indifferent to his own life and death.

Meaursalt is a puzzling character, who leaves readers to be uncertain about Camus views of life. Meaursalt is neither intellectual nor emotional; when his mother died, he did not feel or show any sorrow. He is a character rather distracted by his surrounding, such as people walking by and nature. He would feel much irritation whenever the sun would shine red and bright.

On a thoughtless walk on the beach, he ends up killing an Arab for no apparent reason, but because his [Arabs] blade reflected the sun. Meaursalt is trialed in court, during which he feels like the spectator. Meaursalt gets convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Before execution, he feels guilt for the first time because he would miss the simple things in life. However, he is never scared to die, because for him death comes eventually. Just before the execution, a chaplain tries to make him believe in God, but Meaursalt angrily defends his atheistic views.

Meaursalt is an uncommon character who prefers simplicity. Some readers could find him too simple and even completely apathetic of life. He is an atheist; he is not immoral or moral, but amoral. There is no good or evil, because it is meaningless for Meaursalt. He has a job, a girlfriend, friends, and the things an average person has. But he is without meaning, which reflects his indifference to emotions, such as the reaction to his mothers death.

His thought was that he would go back to work and that nothing would change. When his boss offers him a position in Paris, Meaursalt answers, People can never change their lives, that in any case one life was good as another: I wasnt dissatisfied with mine here at all (41). When his girlfriend Marie suggests marriage, he says, yes, because marriage would not make any difference in his life. Camus portrays Meaursalt as a person who finds no meaning in life and doesnt bother to find it either. His actions could enable readers to perceive Meaursalt as a meaningless person. When he sits across some elders in a dim room during his mothers vigil and when he is in trial, both symbolize his judgment.

In both cases he is indifferent..