Seminar Paper: The Outsider

The Outsider (also known as The Stranger) is a novel written by Albert Camus, a French Algerian and published in 1942. It is his first novel and one of his most successful works, though he was not simply defined as an author; he was also a journalist and philosopher, themes of the latter which feature prominently in his work.  

The story follows a young man named Meursault in a first person narrative following events preceding the murder he commits and after. The story begins as he learns of his mother’s death, he attends a funeral but does not appear be grieved and returns to normal life as if nothing had happened, sparing little thought toward his now deceased mother. 

He takes a vacation with his friend Raymond and girlfriend Marie. Some of Raymond’s enemies followed him and eventually a fight breaks out at the beach. Later, Meursault returns to the scene and meets one of the Arabs who they fought earlier and shoots the man dead. His trial follows and then several months in prison pass before the jury decides on capital punishment, decapitation by guillotine. In his final hours Meursault accepts the irrationality and indifference of the universe and realises he is happier for it.

Camus’s work was directly influenced through his experiences. As a native of French occupied Algeria we see the relevance of Arabs in his story. None of the Arabs have names, as if Camus is not even justifying them with a name and when Meursault kills the Arab his trial is more focused upon his character than his crime. There is even a heavy inclination that if he had pleaded self defence, prayed for forgiveness or taken some other redeemable action in the eyes of the court then his crime might have resulted in a far lighter sentence if not escaping punishment entirely. Such as when Raymond got off without charges after beating his Arab girlfriend, highlighting the injustice in French colonial Algeria and perhaps Camus’s favouritism towards the colonists. 

The Outsider, like Albert Camus himself is largely seen as existentialist. Camus himself denied such a label preferring the term Absurd, a belief system he had created himself. The difference between the two systems is relatively minor but distinct. Further to this whilst one can examine The Outsider in terms of existentialism, one will not learn as much as if they were to examine it for themes of absurdism, which is arguably the dominant philosophy prevalent through the book.

Absurdism was created as a belief system by Camus through the trials he endured in World War 2. As part of the French Resistance movement he, like all of Europe saw the untold death and destruction and like others attempted to understand it, to rationalise it and find some sort of meaning beyond mere survival, which many like himself had been reduced to during the war. He concluded that there is no greater meaning than that which we make for ourselves by existing. It is the conflict between the human want and need to seek out meaning in life conflicting with the fact it cannot be found. Absurdism is accepting this absurd state of nature, to stop looking for meaning that does not exist. To instead live our lives in the freedom this knowledge gives us, that we create a meaning to life personal to ourselves which makes it worth living. It is this realisation, that the universe is indifferent to our own feelings that brings Meursault happiness in his final hours as he waits for his execution.

Absurdism in itself is not an original concept and can be first seen in the works of 19^th Century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who wrote about the absurd and the absurdity of life. However it wasn’t until Albert Camus that it was formalised as a belief system by itself. Whilst existentialism does indeed share a lot of the values of absurdism, a key difference is that existentialism allows for theism whereas the prevailing view of absurdism; that the universe has no meaning, does not. 

Camus describes three ways of solving the dilemma of one’s meaningless existence and those are suicide, acceptance and religion:
-Suicide is simply removing yourself from an absurd universe, but in doing so you are committing an absurdity yourself.
-Acceptance is simply the acceptance of absurdity, acknowledging the irrational, indifferent nature of the universe.
-Religion is the fallback if one cannot accept the absurd and so they accept religion even though the acceptance of the meaning of existence beyond our current existence is absurd in itself. 

Thus religion is only compatible with absurdism insofar as it is itself absurd, especially absurd to take the irrationality of the universe and then apply meaning to it. Because the belief system of absurdism is predicated on the idea that one should accept the absurd and continue regardless, creating one’s own meaning and identity through their defiance of the absurd in their continued existence. 

This contrasts greatly with existentialism which can be split into two camps of either theistic or atheistic existentialism, it allows for the freedom of a subjective viewpoint where the absurd demands objectivity to the degree of being able to acknowledge and accept the absurd, failing this they might elude the absurd through religion or cheat it by death. Thus whilst many are quick to label Albert Camus and the novel The Stranger as existentialist works, I feel clear the difference is of such importance that a distinction should be made, even if absurdism as a belief system itself is vague in itself.

Other than Christianity, Camus does not specifically mention any philosophy or religion and so instead it is absurdism that resonates the most throughout the piece and can be clearly seen clashing with the ideals and values of Christianity.  We see in the book that the irrationality of the universe conflicts with the self imposed rationality of human society. Meursault does not take action for any rational reason, he is neither moral nor immoral, an amoral person who acts for reasons which are sometimes not even discernable to himself. He does not know why he shot the Arab again after shooting him once, but the rational nature of society demands an explanation for why this is so.

This clash between the rational and irrational is seen most clearly following Meursault’s arrest as he had just committed the most irrational act of all, killing a man with no want or reason and then shooting him four more times. The court proceedings are formal, both the prosecutor and defence presenting a case that attempts to explain and frame his actions in a rational way. There are many moments where Meursault has the opportunity to do something one might deem rational, he could have pretended to have found God or shown remorse for his actions. These would be deemed rational courses of action as they invoke positive benefits for him by appealing to the want of rationality in others. His defiance however makes him fall outside the natural order of things, an outsider whose irrationality clashes with the rational order men have created. Because his thoughts and actions do not appear logical he appears to be a threat and is treated as such by society, which ultimately results in his death.

The indifference of the universe and the meaningless of life is reflected in the way Meursault observes and is detached from events, people and emotions around him. At his mother’s grave he does not weep as one might expect him too, when Marie asks him if she loves him he does not say yes. Like the universe, he is honest in his simple detachment from everything else. He has peace within himself and can speak and act honestly with no thought to the consequence of his actions, because he as much detached from the consequences as he is from everything else. Whilst he has at many points what one might say are ample reasons to lie, he never does so, the thought of lying never even crosses his mind and he speaks simple bare truths, more concerned with the physicality of things rather than creating or maintaining emotional attachments.

Death is another theme of novel which ties in closely with absurdism. The notion of death frightens a great many people; because of this many turn to religion to provide the comfort and protection they need, so that they can be stronger in life through less fear of death. Despite this prevalent belief in the afterlife by the religious, a place supposedly better than life, people still know and seem to acknowledge the finality of death in the novel. 

For despite notions of an afterlife, the idea that the loved one is in fact in a better place waiting for you, it is still expected for one to mourn the death of a loved one at their grave. The funeral in the story itself marks the underlying truth of the sheer finality of death, if people truly and unequivocally believed in the afterlife, then in a rational universe they might act the same way as Meursault or perhaps even be happy. Thus absurdism is clear in the act of being expected to mourn for the loss of a loved one, by those who demand you would also accept there was nothing final about her death and it has in fact made her better off. 

In the novel Christianity presents itself as the alternative and opposition to Meursault’s absurdist philosophy. In the first instance where Meursault talks to the Christian magistrate he has the option multiple times to repent or simply lie to appease the judge’s Christian sensibilities and be rewarded with a lighter sentence. In the story, Christianity plays the role of one of the rational orders of society like the court proceedings themselves. A societal construct that removes chaos, (which according to absurdist philosophy could be interchangeable with the word ‘freedom’) and brings rationality by presenting an ordered universe that has meaning, which therefore gives meaning to our actions. 

Thus when Meursault defies the Magistrate he is also defying Christianity and what is deemed to be a rational order. The absurdist views the universe as irrational and Christianity opposes the idea of a meaningless universe and thus opposes it. Consequently the confrontation between Meursault and the magistrate can be seen as a personification of the dismal of religion by absurdism. They are two incompatible belief systems which are each an enemy if not a threat of each other in their own right. The rational order cannot sway Meursault in his defiance of rationality and as such he is seen as alien, something to be feared and punished accordingly.

Similarly this rejection of Christianity has greater meaning a second time at the end of the novel where the Chaplain tries to get him to repent, to be saved before he is executed. Still Christianity presents its rationality, an ordered universe with meaning and no absurdity and still Meursault rejects it. One could argue through his rejection of the increasingly desperate Chaplain he is rejecting death itself, or the notion that death is something to be feared. Whilst death fits into the rational order of Christianity, it only does so on the predicate that one truly believes in something beyond it. Thus his rejection marks his acceptance of the finality of death, a notion very few people, in the story at least can even comprehend. Meursault accepts his position and realises he is happy because he understands the universe has never been for or against him, it is simply indifferent.