The stranger, Psychology, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - Psychology

The stranger

The stranger In Camus’s “The Stranger” I will be discussing how the character Meursault utilizes all of the six existential themes: Freedom, Contingency, Individuality, Existence, Reflection, and Passion. I will also address how Meursault utilizes the existential givens of existence: Death, Freedom, Existential Isolation, and Meaning/Meaninglessness. I will then go on to discuss Meursault’s responsibility (guilt) throughout the novel. Finally I will discuss the interaction between Meursault and the Chaplain and it’s significance. In “The Stranger” Meursault embodies all of the six existential themes. The first existential theme is freedom. Freedom means that whatever happened prior to now does not influence what your next choice in life will be, we are free to make any choice we want. Meursault displays Freedom by just doing as he wishes to do. In part one of the novel Meursault’s mother dies so he attends the funeral, nothing out of the ordinary. While at his mother's funeral, Meursault decides to smoke cigarettes, drink a cup of coffee, and also he fails to cry. This just shows how Meursault is displaying his free will, he does not let the influence of his mother dying effect what he wants to do. The second and the third theme’s Meursault displays together. These themes are existence which is the awareness of our choices, and passion which are psychological feelings that we understand before thinking kicks in. Meursault displays both of these themes at the end of the novel. Meursault wants his life to be here and now, he is not concerned with the here after. Meursault wants the remembrance of his life. Through this thinking Meursault displays Existence and Passion. The fourth theme is contingency. Contingency basically says that life is unpredictable, prone to chance happenings, also to the unexpected. Meursault displays this theme at the very end of part one of the novel. Meursault is so content with walking back down to the spring unaware that he is going to end up destroying his happiness by shooting the Arab. This is a very unpredictable event because Meursault is just so happy and content with the sun shining on him, then all of a sudden something unexpected happens and his happiness is gone. “I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I’d been happy.” (Page 59). The fifth theme is individuality. An individual is a single unique member of a collectivity. Meursault lives out his individuality. The strongest display of individuality is at the very end of the novel when Meursault wants a large crowd of people to witness his death, and he also wants them to greet him with cries of hate. “I had only wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” (Page 123). By being hated Meursault retains his individuality, because if Meursault goes out there begging for forgiveness he would just become a member of a collectivity. The final theme is reflection. The term Reflection refers to the capacity to bring that which we are unaware of into awareness. Meursault leads a pre-reflective life. He goes through his day to day events and is so absorbed in each moment that he never reflects on them. Meursault does this until he looks at a reflection of himself for the first time in prison. Meursault looking at himself shows his transition from pre-reflective to reflective. He begins to become aware of what he was unaware of. Now we move to the four existential “givens” and how Meursault utilizes these. The four “givens” can be summed up as being particularly relevant to the existential psychotherapeutic experience. Mortality is the first given. Death is inevitable, our own death and the death of those whom we love. This “given” is perhaps the most evident, and is 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 Meursault confronts his nothingness and the impossibility of justifying the immoral choices he has made, he realizes the pure contingency of his life, and that he has voided, in essence, his own existence by failing to accept the risk and responsibility that the personal freedom of an existentialist reality entails. Meursault never really takes responsibility for his actions, all Meursault does is wish that his life could go back to the way it used to be. The final encounter with the chaplain forces Meursault to articulate his philosophy of life and death: “I was pouring out on him everything that was in my heart, cries of anger and cries of joy.” (Page 120). Just as he refused the temptation for legal redemption during his trial, he refuses the metaphysical redemption offered by the chaplain. In Meursault eyes, the chaplain is interfering with the first time in his life when he has tried to live. He is not deciding to play the game of society's codes and he is not transforming his moral character. He still, as he vehemently alerts the chaplain, does not believe in God or look for His help. In contrast, the chaplain appears to be playing a game with Meursault as he stares him down. Meursault holds solidly that death will bring only nothingness. This does not depress Meursault nearly as much as it does the chaplain. Meursault wants to use his time left to live and relive the moments of his life. When Meursault points out that he has never seen a face or sweat in the stones of his cell, the priest recognizes his sincere attachment to the earth as opposed to any external or divine force. Meursault was living now solely for himself. He did not mourn the supposed death of Marie and expected no one to mourn for him. In fact, he realizes what he wants most is another chance to remember the life he has had and relive it again. There is no need to mourn. He simply hopes that he can enjoy remembering the time he has spent on earth for a little longer. Camus character Meursault utilizes all of the existential themes which are, Freedom, Contingency, Individuality, Existence, Reflection, and Passion which are all components of human nature, as well as the existential “givens” Death, Freedom, Existential Isolation, and Meaning/Meaninglessness. Meursault’s responsibility accompanies these elements ultimately helping decide the morality of his existence. The main idea of the interaction between the Chaplain and Meursault is that, the Chaplain, does not focus on the here and now but on the divine and the afterlife which he has no control over. Meursault on the other hand concentrates on the here and now and does not want the afterlife he just wants one more chance to live his life. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1423