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The Stranger - by Albert Camus

by Prof.Ramlal Agarwal
(Jalna, Maharashtra, India)

Albert Camus Reconsidered: The Problem and the Solution

Few novels are as intriguing as Camus's The Stranger (1942). It intrigues the reader from the first line to the last. It is about a man who does not seem to belong to this world. Except for his physical comfort, he is indifferent to the world around him. He is without the warmth of human relationships and is indifferent to his own fate, and yet he is so fascinating because he represents the state of mind of post-World War I thinkers and philosophers.

The two world wars and their aftereffects plunged the homosapiens into total despair and disbelief. Words like "order," "purpose," and "meaning" ceased to have any meaning, and a sense of meaninglessness, futility, and absurdity began to take hold of their minds. Camus explores this poetically and philosophically, and Meursault represents this state. He has lost faith in his mood, family relationships, social norms, and even life. He finds himself alone in an adversarial situation and decides to bear it bravely and with naked honesty.

One day, Meursault receives a telegram that his mother has died. He is not disturbed. He calculates the time it would take to reach the nursing home he had left her. When he reaches the home, the caretaker asks him whether he would like to see the body of his mother, and he says, 'no.' At the vigil, he feels very uncomfortable and opts for a coffee. He suffers from acute discomfort in the funeral procession, and when asked whether he would like to see the face of his mother before her interment, he says, 'no,' and gets away from the place as soon as possible. While returning to his quarters, he takes a girl named Marie and spends the night with her.

One day, Raymond, a dubious character, invites him for brunch, and he joins him because it saves him from cooking his meal. Later, he and Marie join Raymond and Masson at Masson's chalet. There, they find themselves surrounded by a group of Arabs, but upon realising their adversaries are armed, they disperse. Later, except for Meursault, all others disperse. Meursault stays behind, and while strolling on the beach, he encounters an Arab flashing a dagger. The heat, the flash from the dagger, and the daunting Arab advancing at him disturb him, and he shoots. In jail, a chaplain visits him to console him, but he remains untouched. The court hearing veers around his behaviour at his mother's death, and he is sentenced to death. In his last display of nonchalance, he insists that his execution be witnessed by a large audience who should welcome him with cries of condemnation.

In his second book, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Camus offers a philosophical justification for the mood of the time and his take on it.
Sisyphus was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain. Although he exerts tremendous effort, the boulder repeatedly slips back down, compelling him to start over again and again. This process continues indefinitely. Sisyphus is engaged in fruitless, repetitive, and wearisome activity, and it makes no difference to the universe. The apathy of the universe begets absurdity. But Camus says, "One must imagine Sisyphus happy, for the struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart."

Camus's message is clear: while one cannot conquer the universe, one can still resist it by imposing one's own interpretation. It is an act of rebellion, another way of dealing with absurdity and ennui.

Another way of dealing with it is suggested in his story of Caligula (1944). Caligula loved his sister and lover Julia Drusilla. He is shocked when she dies rather suddenly, and he disappears from the Capitol for some time and faces people living dreary, purposeless lives and dying. He is seized with a feeling of absurdity and decides that power is the only thing that matters. He returns to his throne and tastes his power. He expropriates the properties of generals, marries their wives in their presence, and kills people randomly.

He makes impossible demands of his generals, like the moon from the sky. However, at the peak of his madness, he realises that he has been wrong and moves toward the conspirators who are planning to kill him.

Throughout his works, Camus confronts nihilism, absurdism, and meaninglessness. Yet, he ultimately gestures toward subtle paths of resistance and meaning that allow individuals to transcend despair.