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The Stranger by Albert Camus

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Existentialism is “a philosophy which emphasizes the significance of existence and those actions which enable one to experience their own existence, such as making decisions or feeling emotions.” The novel "The Stranger" was written during the Existentialist movement, and that’s why the leading character in the novel, Meursault, has a neutral and emotionless character because objectivity is the main aspect of existentialism. "The Stranger," can be analyzed with the themes of absurdity, man’s relationship with life, society, god, and free-will. The novel conveys many examples of the absurdity of the human condition. While reading the novel, firstly it is noticed that Meursault shows no affection after he hears about his mom dying. He receives a telegram. “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: "Mother Deceased. Funeral Tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” (Camus 3). When he gets home, he makes himself a coffee and smokes. He doesn’t even bother to see the dead body or mourn. Instead of grieving, he seems more worried about the time he will take to go to his mother’s funeral. Although Meursault has no emotions, he has a girlfriend named Marie. In their relationship, Meursault mainly focuses on the physical features of her rather than her characteristics. When he talks about Marie, it is mostly about her appearance. “I wanted her so bad You could make out the shape of her firm breasts...” (Camus 34). When Marie asks him to marry her, he says that he does not love her, but he would marry her to make her happy. Their relationship portrays a good example of existentialism philosophy. Another example is the murder. Meursault kills the Arab on the beach not because he threatened him, he did not seem to bother with that, but because the sunlight hit him on his eye so he got angry and killed the Arab brutally. “The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes

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