Theme of Moral Deficiency Perception

Absurdity is the act of contradicting a clearly followed norm, proven evidence, or established fact. Albert Camus makes extensive use of the theme of absurdity in The Stranger. Meursault, his main character, is an absurdist. Throughout the book, we see Meursault's life as a mute human, but when he talks, he says things that average people would find difficult to comprehend. We will investigate how a breach of principles or morality leads to absurdity. An absurd individual can act absurdly due to morality or a lack thereof (La-mei 400).

Meursault is a completely absurd person. When he is called at work with the news that his mother has died, he seems unconcerned. When he goes to his employer to ask for a two-day leave to attend the burial, his employer is astonished. When he is obviously not comfortable with the leave, Meursault finds himself apologizing for the same. “Sorry, sir, but it’s not my fault, you know” (Camus 1). He further surprises the reader when he remembers to borrow a black tie for mourning purposes from his friend Emmanuel. The reason he borrows the clothes is that Emmanuel had lost his uncle a few months ago. “….as at the last moment I had to call in at Emmanuel’s place to borrow his black tie and mourning band” (Camus 1).

At home for the aged, he reflects on her mother’s life. The three years she had stayed there, especially her last year. He says he seldom went to visit her. He wanted to enjoy his free Sunday, which visiting her mother would not allow. He further dreaded the hassle of getting a ticket at the bus station, and the journey to and from the place. For most people, that would seem a small price to pay to visit a loved one. To Meursault, he preferred not to visit. At night during the vigil, he smokes cigarettes and even offers one to the keeper. The keeper, in turn, offers him coffee to see him through the night. Other old people at home are surprised by his callousness as they call it. During the funeral, one of the undertakers asks him how old his mom was. He is evidently taken back by this question since he does not know. “Well, she was getting on.” As a matter of fact, I didn’t know exactly how old she was.” (Camus 11).

The day after the funeral, he goes for swimming at the beach. He finds Marie, a girl who worked briefly at their office. They swim together and even ask her to the movies that night. After the comic movie, she agrees to come back with him to his room. She initially gets shocked on learning that his mother had died the previous day, but later enjoys herself. The prosecutor when trying his case brings the actions of that day to light later on. “Gentlemen of the jury, I would have you note that on the next day after his mother’s funeral that man was visiting the swimming pool, starting a liaison with a girl, and going to see a comic film.” (Camus 59).

When they continue seeing each other with Marie, they become intimate. Marie brings out the subject of marriage, which does not seem to rattle him at all. He promises to marry her even that moment, but says he does not love her. His view of marriage, as a vessel of convenience, surprises the reader. “…she murmured something about my being “a queer fellow.” “And I daresay that’s why I love you.” (Camus 59). He says he can marry any girl who likes him if it will make the girl feel good.

Raymond approaches him to ask for help. He offers to write a letter to his estranged girlfriend and even does it right away. He is okay with whichever punishment that Raymond wants to give her. He does not discourage him at all. Later, he gives evidence to the police supporting Raymond. Even later, when he kills the Arab who has a grudge with Raymond, he does not seem to mind. He shoots him five times with a revolver. The reader is left wondering when he tells Arabs that he had killed an Arab. Normally, he would hide that fact, but he simply spits it out. “I told them I’d killed an Arab…” (Camus 42) His simple statement makes them go silent immediately.

He is sentenced to death by guillotine. He consistently refuses to meet the chaplain. Most inmates in the death row ask for the chaplain before their execution. After the encounter with the chaplain, he reflects on how he had lived his life. He had a happy life, but the people had misunderstood him (Saleem and Hussam Bani-ata 56). During his execution, he wishes for many spectators. He even looks forward to it.” To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still.” (Camus 76).

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. "The Stranger. 1942." Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Knopf (1993). Print.

Camus, Albert. The myth of Sisyphus, and other essays. Vintage, 1955. Print.

La-mei, Y. E. "Out of Absurdity—On the Ending of Catch-22." Journal of Literature and Art Studies 4.6 (2014): 423-435.

Saleem, Abdul, and Hussam Bani-ata. "Theme of Alienation in Modern Literature." European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies 2.3 (2014): 67-76.