THE OUTSIDER
"I looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign difference of the world."
ALBERT CAMUS
The Outsider
(previously translated from the French, L’Étranger, as The Stranger) is Albert
Camus’ most widely known work, and shows his understanding of
Absurdism. Camus utilized The Stranger as a platform for this concept
and his questions about the
meaning of life. There are a number of elements that are of interest in
The Outsider, but most significant is the issue of the protagonist, Meursault,
and how he, and his story, represent the philosophies that are
portrayed in the novel.
Meursault, the major protagonist of The Outsider is shown as a self-absorbed man in the beginning but ultimately emerges to be a man of truth. Meursault lives a quiet life of routine, content with his simple office job and uncomplicated way of living. He is a man without a past, without definable motivations; a blank canvas upon whom the reader is forced to project their own self, their own experiences, and identify with intimately, provided they acknowledge their own inherent comradeship with him. But in a sense neither Meursault, nor we, have any history until we realize it in the face of our own mortality.
Meursault, arguably,
has two defining characteristics. Significantly, he does not lie - adhering
very strictly to his objective view of truth. This honesty is not born from a
firmly held moral position, rather it grows out of his indifference. He feels
no grief for his dead mother, has no romantic or career aspirations, and makes
no moral judgement of others.
“I had been right, I was still right, I was always right. I had lived my life one way and I could just as well have lived it another. I had done this and I hadn't done that. I hadn't done this thing but I had done another. And so?”
Camus demonstrates the impossibility of living a life of principled sincerity, of honesty without compromise. Meursault is shunned by society for upholding their ideals to an extent that they themselves cannot; there is complete congruence between his emotions, thoughts, and acts, which is unpalatable to the society. Meursault is hence a menace to society, only in so much as he undermines it, and it is for this reason that he must be put to death.
Meursault comes out to me as, paradoxically, both impenetrably complex and risibly
simplistic. There is an interesting interplay between the reader, narrator, and
third-person characters, who all perceive Meursault’s character differently.
Whilst the reader may view Meursault as emotionally-stunted, there is little
evidence that the other characters view him in this way, in fact they treat him
as a fully-rounded human being, whose company and companionship is to be
sought. Meursault's relationship with Maria shows nothing but how detached
he is with humans and human emotions. Yet, Maria continues to choose him.
“A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her that it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so”
Meursault’s absolute
and unshakeable indifference to life is a result of his inability to find sense
in the absurd strictures placed upon human behavior by society. Indifference is the
expression of ultimate nihilism; and this becomes clearer as we see how he reacts to his own mother's death-
“Aujourd'hui, maman
est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.” (“Mother died today. Or
maybe yesterday; I can't be sure.”)
In his final revelation,
Meursault comes to the conclusion that death is the ultimate canceller of
freedom, that the way one chooses to exist ultimately has no impact on this one
universal truth. Death creeps slowly towards us all, and for Meursault his
imminent execution represents the final victory of fate over freedom.
“Have you no hope at
all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and
nothing remains?" "Yes," I said.”
In many ways the story is more than a retelling of the past; it is a re-experiencing. The narrative occasionally slips in the present tense, emphasizing the immediacy of the action, and the evolving nature of Meursault’s consciousness. But at the same time the narrator is able to pull out the key elements that have led to the novel’s conclusion, and so one must conclude that a degree of hindsight, or distance from the events is needed to describe them.
For Meursault being close to death is
an opportunity to live life again in the real sense. He has courage and
imagination to face the bleak reality of his life and enjoy the recovery, which
in his eyes is his sincere and honest attempt to free himself from a deep sense
of sin.
“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.”
For me personally, the Outsider is not very satisfying when read purely as fiction, maybe because of its 'essay' type style and blatant writing pattern. But then, it gives one a lot on the platter to think about.
Comments
Post a Comment