Going even further, we never read anything about what Meursault looks like. We aren't given a particular age or any sense of how he dresses. The only physical attribute that's ever mentioned is Marie and his "brown bodies" (35) laying on his bed, and that was pretty darn general. And, considering the plot is set in Africa, that wasn't a hard attribute to guess anyway. And while his thoughts throughout the book can be interpreted, he never exclusively says much about his emotions, even though the story is first person, until the very end of the book. The only sensations we see him experience (for the most part) are purely physical; the hot sun when he shot the man, the uncomfortable heat every time a tense moment occurs in the story. We only see truly intense emotion emerge when he is put under the extremely high stress of his criminal trial, and even then his responses feel limited.
What we can interpret about his character from the events in the story is that he is honest, laid-back, unsentimental, atheistic, lacks a well defined moral code, and has a self proclaimed indifference to the world around him. While these are all solid personality traits, why aren't his physical attributes and deeper emotional responses more expanded upon in the story?
I think Meursault is meant to be the personification of existentialism as a whole, and without a face or an age of his own, he can easily become the physical embodiment of the philosophy as Camus defines it. Meursault does not follow the standards of society; he doesn't experience remorse for his reactions, he doesn't see a reason to follow religion, and he doesn't see any reasons to lie about his feelings, whether it's to protect others or even himself. Meursault is meant to be seen as an identity, not an individual, a canvas that Camus can paint his existentialist ideas on, and an individual without physical attributes that might restrict who Meursault can be identified with or interpreted as within that philosophy.
And following that same theme, he's also the embodiment of a rebel, a person operating outside the walls of society's systems. While other characters and society members are described in detail, Meursault is not. This serves to reiterate just how far outside society's norms he truly is. And society often kills what it doesn't understand.
And following that same theme, he's also the embodiment of a rebel, a person operating outside the walls of society's systems. While other characters and society members are described in detail, Meursault is not. This serves to reiterate just how far outside society's norms he truly is. And society often kills what it doesn't understand.
I totally agree with you. Meursault is, in my opinion, not an individual but an identity. I like how you ended the blog with how society often kills what it doesn't understand because it is clear how people are often ostracized for not being understood by the rest of society.
ReplyDeleteIn general when I read or watch movies, I get super invested in characters and what's going on, so it was interesting to think of Meursault as a manifestation of an idea, and not an actual person. With the way he thinks and behaves in the beginning and then evaluates his own thinking toward the end, it is almost like Camus is making his point about existentialism through him, and not actually writing about him.
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