The definition of existentialism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary is, "A philosophical theory or approach that emphasized the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of will."
We discussed earlier this week if we thought that Camus was promoting or discrediting existentialism The Stranger or not. It seems to me, that throughout the novel, Camus is writing about how there is no meaning or order to the universe and people's lives. This was clear to me when Meursault killed the Arab. Nobody really seemed to care that the Arab was dead, it wasn't even that big a part of the story. The only reason that anyone cared about the murder at all is because Meursault had never felt remorse about anything--his mother's death in particular. How can there be rationality and order in the world when a life is taken and nobody cares? At that point in the story, I believed that Camus was supporting existentialism.
This belief faltered, however, while reading the very last line of the book. "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate," (123). This made me think that, even with all of his oddities and revolutionary qualities, Meursault needed other people to judge and form himself by. This would contradict everything that existentialism stands for, and therefore made me question whether or not Camus supported existentialism.
I also thought the last line was contradictory to the rest of the story. I think it ultimately reinforces the idea that we can never escape others' opinions of us and must constantly seek approval in order to be validated, no matter how detached or indifferent we make ourselves out to be.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I was also very confused about the last line of the book. I wasn't sure how that line fits in to the rest of the book and what the actual meaning of the last line was. It's very interesting that Camus ended his novel on this line.
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