The stranger notes PDF

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notes on Albert Camus' the stranger...

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Albert Camus – the stranger notes -

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The novel takes place in a colonial setting in Algeria. Algeria at that time was part of France. Despite Camus revulsion through towards the French colonial prejudice and Arabs, he believes that Algeria needs to be part of France. There is racial tension between the Arabs and the French. The Arabs seem shadowy figures with no history, no identity. They do not have a proper name, they are anonymous individuals. Characters in the novel that are perceived as Arabs are the nurse who has no name, Raymond’s girlfriend and Meursault. The nurse is characterized by her condition, she has to wear a bandage on her head, there is no other specific attribute of hers. Raymond’s girlfriend accuses Meursault of being a pimp and he hits her. Meursault is not bothered by the fact that his friend has relations with an Arab. The group of people that follow Raymond to the beach have no name. The Arab is a member of the group. When he was found alone he got shot. The Arab can be seen as an outsider, he can be perceived as the other. The “other” is marked by the use of the third person pronoun “he”. Camus excluded the colonial Arab population of North America from his work. However, both Meursault and the Arab are strangers and have a sense of indifference and dissociation. Meursault can be seen as a white man who struggles in the land of the “other”. He does not fit in, he does not comply to the place’s norms. He is alienated from the society he is in. His relationship with Marie is complex. Marie wanted to have the choice of marrying Meursault. Meursault does not want to marry her just because society places this expectation on him. There is a scene where the magistrate waved a crucifix at Meursault. He does not waver from his beliefs and he does not negotiate what he thinks is right either. He rejects Christianity and in extent every system that seeks to define a rational order within human existence. The Arab’s voice is effaced. As the colonized he is not given the opportunity to voice his own story and describe his own experience rather he is always described and talked about by the colonizers. Camus also deals with the issue of the sexualizing of the Arab. Raymond beats his arab mistress because he views her as inferior. He asks Meursault to write a scathing letter so that he has the opportunity to beat her again. Overall, the colonizers viewed themselves as the embodiment of what a human being should be. Meursault watches Raymond beat her but refuses to call the police. He testifies on the police station on Raymond’s behalf.

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In the end Raymond fabricates rational experiences for Meursault’s irrational actions. Death just like life is senseless, without reason. So even if he hadn’t kill the Arab he would die at some point. If he had not been executed, he would still die. So he blames the sun which alludes to the lack of deeper meaning in the world. he believes that his action does not need to be rationalized, there is no need for justification. He shows no remorse. Overall the trial represents the society’s attempt to manufacture rational order. The trial could be viewed more as a philosophical reflection about the judiciary system and the ambivalence of the issue of capital punishment. It is as if the killer deserved to be killed as well. The irony is present. Meursault took the life of the Arab away and now his life is taken away as well. “The stranger” is revolutionary because it denounces the norms and advocates for the individual’s freedom to shape his life in the way he wants, away from the restrictive imposed on him by the expectations of society that limit a person’s aspirations. There are no absolutes to which one can adhere, only limits. Meursault developed from a figure whose total indifference and apathy allowed him to act without limits to an ambivalent figure who claims the right to be different. He comes to the realization of the meaninglessness and powerlessness of human life. Death is inevitable. Only after one makes this realization, he will be happy. It is an existential novel because the human being wants to go beyond these rules, against these established sets that predate our existence. Existence precedes essence. Presence curtails human freedom. You cannot grow as a free individual in the essential regime. A person needs to have a choice as well as freedom. A person needs to have a choice as well as freedom....