Meursault lives a life of irrationality. He does not believe in the logic that society attempts to maintain. For instance, Meursault does not kill the Arab for a definite reason. To try and to come up with a reason as to why he killed the Arab would be to miss the entire point and to fall into the trap that Camus has placed for his readers and for society. The point is that there is no reason that he killed the Arab and he was free to do as he pleased.
When you accept pain and death and are supposedly gifted with happiness and liberation it follows that you are also free from morals. This is not a good way to live, in my opinion. It is certainly not safe for society if no one has morals.
During the trial, Meursault's lawyer and the prosecutor both try to tell a narrative, create a story and give a reason as to why Meursault committed murder. They, like the reader, are uncomfortable with Meursault's indifference. The prosecutor claims that Meursault must be evil in his heart and unfit for society. He defends this claim with the fact that Meursault did not cry at his mother's funeral and was friends with Raymond. I think that this rationalization is not entirely valid. There really is no reason for the Arab's death. Meursault even tries to explain that it was because of the sun before he realizes how stupid that sounds.
According to existentialism, the universe itself is irrational. Therefore, I think that this book is an example of how people try to make sense of irrational things using societal constructions such as religion, law and love.
I totally agree with you. I feel like the book really illustrates the irrationality of the world in order to explain why humans create stereotypes in society, to try and manipulate, and control the irrationality of the universe. Because of these stereotypes anyone who is outside of these boundaries is often times perceived as dangerous and different.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that society would be chaos if everyone acted like Meursault and didn't hate morals. I also have often thought about the institutions that have created and that have enforced the ideas around morality: gender, religion, government. Often times these systems themselves have acted without morality so morality becomes a subjective thing depended on who's acting and who is being acted upon. Just something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Our world would be entirely screwed if our society had no morals. Although there are some people who indeed have no morals, I believe it is important for the world to have that broad scheme of personal morals in order for our society to grow and develop for the betterment of our communities. But the extreme vision of a life in which everyone held no morals is far far far beyond a world worth saving.
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