Raymond and Meursault: Fundamentally Similar Characters

Throughout the course of the The Stranger, Albert Camus contrasts Raymond with Meursault. Meursault is characterized as being amoral, passive, solitary, relatively modest, and intelligent. Raymond, however, is characterized as being immoral, aggressive, outgoing, chauvinistic, and ignorant. Despite these differences, Meursault and Raymond are made out to be similar in one fundamental way: both Meursault and Raymond are outsiders. It is through The Stranger that Albert Camus voices support for the philosophical theory of Absurdism - a theory that maintains that humans absurdly seek to find meaning and value in a meaningless world. Absurdist philosophers advocate for embracing the absurdity. To the Absurdist philosopher true freedom is attained only when the individual recognizes that the universe is meaningless. Most individuals fail to recognize that universe is meaningless and defiantly search for meaning. However, as they are represented in the book, Meursault and Raymond embrace the absurdity. Rather than search for meaning to life, Meursault and Raymond spend time doing whatever it is they feel like doing. It is because Raymond and Meursault behave in such a different and unfamiliar way that they are subject to the scorn and rejection of society. Thus, Camus presents Meursault and Raymond as two fundamentally similar characters.