The Outsider Essay

448 Words2 Pages
The novel “The Outsider” by Albert Camus explores a variety of aspects of the diverging mentalities in society. In particular, this essay will examine and analyze how the protagonist, Meursault, reacts to his perplexing feelings towards the events at the end of Part 1 that resulted in him murdering the Arab. Since the beginning of the novel, readers can sense the feeling of indifference that Meursault seems to have towards everything and everyone. Initially, it is a more personal feeling, located within the character’s own being. However, it is noticeable that he realizes that the universe positively correlates to his carelessness. Reflecting on the moment when Raymond gave him the gun, Meursault says, “It was then that I realized you could either shoot or not shoot”. His comment implies that he believes that no difference exists between the two alternatives. The story is divided into parts that feature Meursault’s first-person narrative view before and after he apathetically kills the Arab. This chapter is the climax of the first part of the book. Since Meursault’s return from his mother’s funeral, every event has led him to the beach house. Nevertheless, the Arab’s murder comes unexpectedly; throughout the narrative, nothing has prepared us for it. Camus intentionally composes the feeling of…show more content…
Camus’ philosophy of absurdism emphasizes the futility of man’s inevitable attempts to find order and meaning in life. The “absurd” refers to the feeling man experiences when trying to find or create order in an irrational universe. Cleverly, Camus tempts us, readers, into an attempt; he lures us into trying to determine the reason for Meursault’s killing of the Arab, when in fact Meursault has no such answer. Camus forces us to confront the fact that any rational explanation we try to offer would be based in a consciousness that we create for
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