Albert Camus and the philosophy of the absurd
The foreigner is a work written by Albert Camus (1913-1960), a successful philosophical novelist, published in 1942, considered as his most valuable work, in this work a literary style of quality is introduced, considered a radical story . Throughout the work, different situations are exposed where its main character Meursault shows its nature as an absurd man, as reading progresses, it is demonstrated that it is not a believer of any religion or that it has social principles.
This character is one of the best examples of the philosophy of the absurd which refers to the conflict of finding some objective to life, Meursault’s actions in the different situations in which it is exposed demonstrate it, he is not able to haveThe same feelings of the people who are around him live his life in complete neutrality to the situations that is exposed, as the whole seems absurd. Through this work, Meursault’s actions will be verified to what extent they are a reflection of the philosophy of the absurdity.
To begin with, the narrative of the foreigner is as if the author was giving a testimony of the philosophy of the absurd as already mentioned above, the problem of finding some meaning to life is mentioned and according to Albert Camus the philosophy of the absurdity is:
“The philosophy of the absurdof existence "
Camus argues that man fails in the attempt to find the meaning of the universe. This philosophy is annexed with existentialism, one of the main themes that Camus uses more frequently and abroad tries to express accurability with life, has as one of the main concepts the absurd man being one of the best exponents the character Meursult, at least three fundamental characterizations of the work that make it successful, which play a very important role in understanding the development of history: its absurd condition, the lack of interest by others and the actions it performs are present.
Meursault lives with insensitivity to events that occur around them being the main reason that they are absurd, the lack of feelings is what distinguishes the character for example "the death of her mother", he does not show any feeling of sadness. Gets carried away by the feeling of boredom becoming an insensitive person and could be said inhuman. When he says everything that goes through his head, what he thinks, could not access him, rather than superficially. The short phrases with them get to express themselves are clear for example the conversation with the employee of the funeral pomp “was old? Answer: more or less ”, their answers are short, they do not arrive to contain complete clarifications and these are very descriptive.
These details are notable in Meursault’s lucidity thanks to these Camus manages to transport us to Algeria, the sea draws us, the people who inhabit it “the children with sailor suit, the pants below the knee, a wicon … behindThey a huge mother, with a silk suit …, and the father, a little man … ", but despite this, it does not allow you to have completely access to the thoughts of the main character. In a situation where the philosophy of the absurd is present is when, "Marie asks if he wants it and he answers that this does not mean" it remains important to clear feelings of a person who is considered in a relationship, this returns toTo happen when "Marie asks for marriage and he did not care, if she wanted they would do it," Meursault acts without any care, access such propositions, without having feelings in mind. According to Camus, what matters to the absurd man is to live as much as possible and not live as well as possible.
The lack of interest on the part of Meursault for the welfare of others, causes a large percentage of bewilderment, a clear example is when "Meursault presence of a woman’s mistreat .He does not mentally want to go to help her since he thinks if in a day to his life he adds a goal this would end up becoming the slave of his own freedom.
He can be considered a threat to society, since in a part of the work the moment is narrated when an Arab is "threatening" with a knife, Meursault murders him cold blood " .When he is arrested for the murder, "Meursault begins to consider that now all its problem consists in spending time and that his life stopped just there" . It is here where this unique character begins to feel desperate, although he does not realize, for example, "he wanted to be with Marie again" despite saying that he did not love her, he has thoughts of a free man and wisheslive as a man of society.
In this work, Meursault is the antagonist, this is because during his judgment they are responsible for making known the absurd condition of Meursault, this happens when he replied that the crime he had committed happened by the intense sun and the extreme heat he made inThe moment, but more than accusing him for that crime seemed to be “accusing to bury his mother with a heart of criminal” an event that occurred before said crime therefore it is not justified to join the previous situation with a murder. The climax of this work begins to notice when, "they communicate to Meursault that the verdict was already done and that his conviction is the death penalty", he receives a visit from a spiritual guide, offers him what CamusTo called "El Salto" so that it can "evade the problem through the hope of a totally new world", but due to the nature of Meursault, it rejects the spiritual guide and carries all its knowledge and emotions to the limit to the limit. The work ends with a Meursault asking himself existential questions and reflecting on his life and analyzing his mother’s life in the asylum conclusion in which he was willing to relive everything.
By way of conclusion Camus shows through the actions of Meursault a reflection of the philosophy of the absurd since situations can be distinguished: the death of his mother, when Marie asks her to marry her, kill a person, her person, herJudgment for such crime, his death sentence, in which he seems that he does not show the importance of feelings, are clear situations that many would make happy, nervous, sad, etc. The end in Camus’s work is with a Meursault reflecting on the life of his mother and his concluding that he could have acted in another way and it is willing to revive everything. We must emphasize the fact that it seems an interrogation for many readers of this work is the fact that during the trial and interrogations of Meursault it seems that he was judging him for his way of being instead of for the crime he committed. You have to recognize the author’s ability to create everyday situations that, more than one, personally would feel different emotions and the great imagination when creating such a complex character and above all that is not typical, this allows the analysis of differentcharacteristics and understanding situations from different perspectives. In short, this work was thought and written to reflect the importance of finding meaning to life since the character Meursault lives in a monotonous and boring way that seems not to imported that it will be of him in the future and that later without realizing it endsregretting.
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