Albert Camus's story The Stranger, portrays the main character Meursault as having lack of conviction. He changes with the ebb and flow of the world; his own opinions and wants very due to what the people around him desire.
On page four, he enters the old folks home with an urge to immediately see his mother. However, he is stopped by a caretaker who tells him to see the director first. He immediately bends to the will of the caretaker waiting for the director to finish his meeting. Once he finally gets in to see the director he caves once again, not defending himself and allowing the director to talk over him. He displays this apathy and lack of resilience throughout the book.
This lack of conviction echoes from Camus's actual life. Albert Camus grew up in French Algeria. During the Algerian civil war Camus began siding with his fellow Algerians, a supporter of the Algerian cause. However, after the war progressed Camus began to shift slowly moving towards a simple peace agreement and then falling completely silent, his opinion voiced no more.
One wonders from this mirroring if Meursault is simply an extension of Camus who is written to give an outlet for Camus's inner turmoil.
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