Matthew Sunderman IB English 11 World Lit. Paper 2c Meursault is Existential In Albert Camus The Stranger uses existentialism in the character of Meursault to express the existential meaning of life, morality and values, and the concept of the absurd. Though Albert Camus was not an existentialist, he incorporated many existential ideas into his novels. Meursault is the embodiment of an existential human being in The Stranger. In existentialism existence precedes essence and existentialist Jean-Paule Sartre coined. In this statement I states that as humans we are born without a purpose, no reason for being alive. What it is to be a human is not given as a definition but has to be found within oneself and decided by the individual. This means that there is no definite human nature and social norms cannot exist because of it. The essence of being, the purposes of life, has to be discovered by the individual. In The Stranger Meursault has no purpose in his existence. He goes through his life without regards to what others think of him. He is emotionally dead and exists only in the physical. This is seen through how Meursault focuses only of the heat and light at his mother s funeral and does not cry or mourn. He does not feel attached to his mother at all. Meursault s identity is not constituted by neither nature or by culture. He lives within the society and the culture of French Algeria but that does not define him as an identity. Meursault is not merely a Frenchman; he is an individual with no essence in life and a different set of morals and values. Meursault shoots the Arab not out of fear of the knife that he thought he saw the Arab take out but because of the heat and light that discomforts Meursault throughout the day. He has no recognition of human worth, no guilt of murder. But during the trial the prosecutor begins the trial with a conviction of murder but Meursault is ultimately convicted for being an individual and not being a part of society. The main focus of the trial was how Meursault did not cry at his mother s funeral and did not wish to see the body, which is unusual by social standards. Individuality of Meursault was hindered by the society and culture that he lived in. Meursault lived in a different set of morals than the average man in the novel. He did not think about the consequences of his actions in the future after he shot the Arab but only noticed how it disrupted the peace of the day. Meursault is Nietzsche s Übermensch or Superman because the morality that governs the society in the novel does not apply to Meursault, he is above what society thinks is right or wrong. In existentialism, it is up to the individual to decide what is right and wrong for him, and to come up with their own moral standards and values. Though Meursault does not decide whether killing the Arab was right or wrong, he is only reacting to a stimulate, in this case being the light reflected of the Arab s knife. Meursault has no conception of love. Meursault is distant from his mother showing no love for her and no feelings for her at her funeral or when questioned about her in the trial. He also does not love Marie. He was only interested in the physical of their relationship and when asked if it was another woman in the same position whether he would marry her too he said yes. Twice in the novel the priest tries to convert him to Christianity and both times Meursault refuses to convert. This can be seen as Atheistic existentialism in place of theistic existentialism or absurdism because in theistic existentialism the individual must find meaning before God and in absurdism there may be a inherent meaning of life either given by oneself or by god but humans will never know it for certain. Meursault rejects any idea of a God and the moral standards that come with Christianity. It is the Christian morals that the priest is trying to install into Meursault, and with those morals Meursault would not have to face his death. Albert Camus rejected the label of existentialism and embraced absurdism. Absurdism focuses mainly of inability of human to find meaning in life and the pursuit is doomed to failure and is absurd. The absurd is the conflict of the human inability to find the inherent meaning of life and the universe. Meursault confronts the absurd by dealing with his death. And through this confrontation Meursault finds meaning in his life and becomes happy. There are three basic ways someone deals with the absurd: elusion, suicide, and coping. Elusion being just avoiding the fact that everything is absurd and living and suicide is avoiding the absurd by taking their own life. Meursault copes with the fact that life is absurd that there is no meaning in life and embracing the absurd Meursault finds his peace. In accepting the absurd, in this case his death, Meursault becomes free. In the first time in his life he reflects on his life and decides that he had been happy and that he was happy once again. In a manner of speaking I am thus brought face-to-face with my own finitude, my death as the possibility in which I am no longer able to be anything. This experience of my own death, or nothingness, in anxiety can act as a spur to authenticity: I come to see that I am not anything but must make myself be through my choice. In committing myself in the face of death that is, aware of the the roles nothingness of my identity if not supported by me right up to the end that I myself own up to, become responsible for. (Crowell) Though Albert Camus was not an existentialist, existentialism is seen through his novel The Stranger and particularly the character of Meursault. Meursault is the embodiment of existentialism, an Übermensch in the sense that he exists before he has a purpose, has his own moral standards and faces the absurd. He lacks emotion, love and he is rejected by society. Convicted of murder he is executed for not crying at his mother s funeral. Albert Camus used existentialism in The Stranger to advance his own philosophies through Meursault. that I have hitherto thoughtlessly engaged in as one does now become something