Meursault and the Czechoslovakian Man. Essay Example

In "The Stranger," Camus exhibits an overabundance of themes that are oriented to existentialism. Through this, it comes upon the absurd. An absurd can be identified as a person who does not deliberately connect or adhere to anything or any other person via human emotions. In my opinion, the absurd does not engage in any activity of demonizing or justifying all actions. An absurd tries to portray, represent, and see things from their objective vantage point. It is because they may go to the extent of believing that life bears no purpose. These definitions and characteristics of the absurd are much portrayed during the murder trial of Meursault. The paper focuses on investigating Meursault and the Czechoslovakian man article and how they expand the theory of Absurdism.

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While in prison, Meursault coincidentally finds a Czech article. It entailed a murder case, where a man was murdered by both his daughter and mother. It also encompasses the murder trial of the man and how the events converge. From the article, the events are truthful by chance, even though they transpire oddly. An example is that, from the Czech article, at the hotel, both the mother and the sister came across the brother/son without their knowledge. However, their intentions were precise since they wanted to steal valuable items and money from the man. It meant that they did not have definite rational purposes of accomplishing the situation after they murdered and disposed of him.

It can be perceived that they could accomplish the crime due to the habitual behavior of greed. Being greedy was the major fueling factor in crime. In other explanations, the action committed by the mother and daughter was coincidental. While comparing Meursault's murder trial, it is vivid that this concept is entirely mirrored. Based on the concept, the reality and fact of him shooting the Arab five times were not premeditated. However, the prosecutor attempts all chances to refute the actual case. The prosecutor does not accept the possibility of Meursault to be an existential character. However, the reality was that he just stumbled upon the Arab.

Soon after that, he committed the 'heinous crime' since the entire society wanted to believe it to be the case. There was no unjustified or justified reason for the community to perceive the crime in that manner. Moreover, the Czech article points out and elaborates on other themes. The article expands on detachment and alienation as themes in "The Stranger." Based on the article, the man had detached himself from his family. He had left his village in a quest for a wife and enormous wealth. It took him several years for him to achieve all that.

After being successful, he returned to his motherland, only to get a surprise reunion. Over the years, he got detached from both his mother and sister, such that they barely identified and recognized him when they murdered him. The theme of alienation and detachment make the murder case to be absurd. It is because being alienated for an extended period makes the murder scenario absurd because the motive of being greedy and killing the rich man becomes futile and pointless when the daughter and the mother identified that the victim belonged to their family.

Camus's philosophy of the absurd is supported in both "The Stranger" and the Czech article since there is no real motive highlighted. Camus's philosophy of the absurd exists since it is not viable, and rather pointless to pursue motive in both scenarios. In the first case, the daughter and mother committed murder crime due to greed. However, after a shocking revelation, they both committed suicide. They faced excruciating guilt and resolved it by committing suicide.

Even though there was an actual murder of the son/brother, no solid rational basis existed for the crime. It happened due to a harrowing coincidence and an odd tragedy that sets all events in progress. Due to a long detachment from each other, the killers could not identify the victim as their son/brother.

In the text "The Stranger," the author Albert Camus includes an article concerning a murdered Czechoslovakian man. The author's aim in including the passage is to create foils between the Czechoslovakian man and Meursault while trying to foreshadow Meursault's fate and create an emphasis on the character's antihero status (McCarthy). A brief appearance has been used to introduce the Czechoslovakian man in the story, which plays a critical role in Meursault's presentation as a dynamic character. Meursault can be described as an at face value and flat character, as shown throughout the story by his emotionless demeanor.

Meseurlts always found a way of passing the time while in prison, especially his character o "recalling on how to remember." The story about a Czechoslovakian man comes amid his special moments of trying to remember his past experiences. He reads the story multiple times and tries to form real opinions by memorizing the story details. His concern on every single entity is represented by his regular shifts, even if the entity's existence is meant to pass the time.

The juxtapositions off Czechoslovakian man and Meursault creates a presage for Meursault denouement. The live changes undergone by the Czechoslovakian man later leads to his fate. He tries to pursue activities that can make him have a better life and finally return with a family and riches to his village. Since he was hardly recognizable, he decides to play as a joke to his mother and sister "of taking a room" (Brombert, 119). Finally, his joke leads him to fate when during the night, he is killed by his mother and sister as they try to rob him. In contrast to the Czechoslovakian man, Meursault's case is almost similar since his life appears to be simple before he finally commits a murder crime.

Both the Czechoslovakian man and Meursault lack understanding of how their actions could potentially result in ultimate tragedy until they undergo a similar death fate. The author uses the title strange to reflect the fate that awaits Meursault and the Czechoslovakian man. The return of the Czechoslovakian is considered completely odd-even to his own immediate family. Both men have similar qualities hence completely foil each other. While Meursault leads a dull, emotionless life, which ultimately ends as a result of the murder case, his contemporary Czechoslovakian man lives a life of perseverance chasing his dream and finally dies due to trickery-related acts.

Meursault appears to be different from the society he lives both emotionally and mentally. The society also does not consider his presence as a human being, as portrayed by his emotionless character. Meursault refused to see his mother's body in the casket as well as mourning at the funeral. As a result of standing with his belief, society views him as a monster and condemns him to die. By considering such an aspect, society shows how much it has failed to understand his feelings. His emotionless life is due to not having a sense of life. He does not consider his presence in society to be having any notable impact. Considering the Arab he earlier murdered, Meursault does not even regret having committed the act; he is, however, concerned about how society interprets his acts and considers it not a big deal.

He becomes bothered by the conviction process; he does not see the need for the court to take extreme measures and considers it to have gone off-topic by trying to testify against him. He wishes the jury could consider his little feeling about the importance of life. To murder, someone in society is considered a big deal. However, his judgment, in this case, is completely strange.

In the text, Camu makes it seem like the attention being made towards Meursault was completely annoying considering his action of pleading guilty hence considering it valid to serve a life jail sentence. After the court and jury reveal that he did not mourn during his mother's burial, they consider it not normal. The jury considers him as a monster, an individual without morals (Camus, 95-96). The court's consideration of Meursault is a man without morals and a monster, can be considered to be partially untrue and also partially true. Being a believer of Absurdism, Meursault lacks life meaning, which makes him have fewer morals compared to a moral person.

Meursault is a stranger in society, every individual around him fails to understand the fact that he is not a monster but a simple person with different morals and little needs than the immediate person who does not consider his thinking and believes. Meursault remains glued to he believes that personal life does not always have to correlate impacting the lives of other people.

Meursault is an Absurdist to himself and also a stranger and a stranger to society. He fails to understand the simple meaning of his own emotion or even the rationale behind making certain decisions. These factors directly contribute to Absurdism. In his mind, he considers himself as a man with little needs and a simple man. However, the societal view is completely the opposite considering him as a monster, meaningless, and emotionless person who only deserves death. Camu plays with audience emotions by trying to make them emotional as they navigate through the emotionless novel. By combining Czechoslovakian man makes the theme of Absurdism a reality in the society while portraying how the aspect of being emotionless can potentially lead to undefined fate for an individual.

Works Cited

Brombert, Victor. "Camus and the Novel of the" Absurd. " Yale French Studies 1 (1948): 119-123. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928869McCarthy, Patrick. Camus: The Stranger. Cambridge University Press, 2004. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kItXNEolJJMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=Camus+The+stranger&ots=5jAls8wKhg&sig=hhOWpsnizLDD0T8Fhk9daZMy5pI