Meursault the Absurd Hero

Having spoiled myself two years ago with Albert Camus, existentialism, the philosophy of the Absurd, and an overview of The Stranger, I knew what to expect before reading this. However, it still surprised me by how the writer managed to write Meursault to have no sense of judgment on moral, social, and emotional grounds, but still convey him as a believable human character, if not more than human, whenever unique traits such as his enjoyment for washing his hands exclusively during lunchtime are revealed.

Meursault's notes of the weather and nature in particular are simple yet striking because they fall outside of the archetype of both an amoral and a pragmatic character. Frequently, he dedicates a few words to mentioning them despite how it never appears to serve any practical purpose, which is something he is concerned with in all other cases. Take note of how the sun bothers him in pages sixteen and seventeen during the funeral procession; this makes a return at the end of Part One.

Although we should see The Stranger as a work of literature before anything else, it might be worth mentioning its background. That being said, I think Meursault serves as an example of an "Absurd Hero" that Camus sees an ideal person. In his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus," Camus wrote about humans' search for rational or inherent meaning in their lives and morality despite their inability to find it. He likened this struggle to that of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, who defied the gods and, as a consequences, was condemned to repeat the pointless, never-ending cycle of pushing a boulder up a hill, seeing it roll down once he's reached the pinnacle, and pushing it up. Camus said that the only challenge to this process would either be suicide, or to simply imagine that Sisyphus was happy with his life, the latter of the two choices of which meets the criteria of being an "Absurd Hero". Camus himself was a rather delightful man compared to other existentialists and western philosophers. Although I'm just making a weak inference here, I think this will become clearer towards the end of Meursault's story.