Blood, Sweat, and No Tears
In Albert Camus’ absurd’ book The Stranger, most events are illogical and have no purpose such as shooting a man because of the sun, but the trial is the strangest due to Meursault’s lack of emotional connection to the crime and his overall disconnection to the trial, though the court tries to find meaning in it. Throughout the book, the protagonist, Meursault, conveys aspects of both existentialism* and absurdism* in his thoughts, however they seem to shine the brightest during the trial.
In existentialism, there is little knowledge of what is right or wrong, good or bad, therefore, little emotion is shown by Meursault. After killing a man for no reason and being on trial for it, Meursault does not empathize with societies feelings towards murder, stating that he “didn’t feel much remorse for what [he] had done.” (100 Camus) This shows just how absurd Meursault’s trail is, he does not grieve the loss of his mother because it was inevitable, and it does not matter, yet the court who do not believe in existentialism or absurdism take his lack of emotion as reason to kill someone for they see the man who does not even have a glimmer of a tear in his eye as he talks about the murder to be cold-hearted.
Likewise, Meursault is very disconnected from the trial which also leads the court to believe he Ridiculously unreasonable or unsound; not rational. shows no regret for killing the Arab. While the lawyers are disputing and Meursault is pushed to the side of the case, he sees the case being argued “as if it had nothing to do with [him]” (98) From there he wants to stand up and force the court to let him back into his own case, but then realizes that he “didn’t have anything to say.” (98) This shows that, though he does convey a little emotion, Meursault portrays his beliefs again because something as important as the murder trial in which he is the one convicted does not matter.
Meursault’s detachment to the case is absurd for the rest of his life does not seem to matter to him, but this detachment also leads the court to believe that he does not care about the trial, but about the Arab whom he killed. Though an absurd book with existentialism and absurdism echoed throughout, the trial was the least rational event because of Meursault’s lack of emotion and detachment to the case that lead the jury to believe false truths.
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2 Judge, jury, stenographer, etc. (Throughout the essay “court” will be used to
represent these people)
3 Regards the human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice
and responsibility for consequences of one’s own actions without any certain
knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad. (Existentialism)
4 Belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe. (Absurdism)
Works Cited
- ‘Absurdism.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absurdism>
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Random House, 1988. Print. - “Existentialism.” The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/existentialism>.
- “Existentialism.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/existentialism?show=0>.
