s apparent through humankind's enormous expenditure of energy and the endless array of schemes devised in order to elude and escape death's grasp. Meursault displays this “given” by coming to the realization that he is inevitably going to die. “Well, so I’m going to die.” (Page 114). This shows that Meursault has come to realize that he is not going to escape death and might as well just accept it. Freedom, the second “given,” is ours so that we may tailor life to our choosing. Meursault displays this by the choices he makes in his life, he does not conform to a collectivity he just does what he wants to do. “His name is Raymond Sintes . . . And once he said to me, talking about Salamano and his dog, “If that isn’t pitiful!” He asked me didn’t I think it was disgusting and I said no.” (Page 28). Right there Meursault does not conform to a collectivity instead he voices his free will by saying no. The “given” of existential isolation implies our day to day struggle with thoughts of our ultimate aloneness. Meursault struggles against others in a finite world. Meursault wishes that his lawyer would understand him but Meursault is to lazy to try and make him. So Meursault becomes isolated. Meursault notices that the reporters all wear the same indifferent faces towards him during the trial. One would not have though indifference would seem remarkable enough to him to comment on before but in this case it points to his isolation from others. Finally, the given of meaninglessness implies absence of any obvious meaning or sense to our life. This “given” is unable to be explained, because no one can explain someone else’s sense of meaning or meaninglessness towards life.The discussion of Meursault’s responsibility takes place at the end of the novel. Meursault’s execution symbolically brings forth outpourings of emotion, as M...
