The Stranger

The Stranger both fits with the themes of modernism but also differs in many significant

ways. While the common modernist themes of meaninglessness, social alienation,

disillusionment, and a sense of hopelessness are present Camus shifts the focus from social

issues and human suffering to a more philosophical cosmic horror. The dark reality of The

Stranger does not come from the actions, inactions, or ideologies of people but from the shear

pointlessness of reality and insignificance of humanity and its affairs. This marks a deviation

from other modernist works which were heavily influenced by the unfolding events of the

geopolitical stage and the injustices that followed them, instead Camus seems disinterested in the

political issues or social injustices of his time, despite being written in during World War II.

Similarly, The Stranger breaks from traditional ideology, specifically religious, ethical, and

moral norms, however, Camus did not offer a critique of specific issues or atrocities and instead

presented the reader with an existential crisis. One trademark of modernist literature that

permeates The Stranger is the use of absurdism which Camus, being and absurdist philosopher,

used extensively.

Camus presents Meursault as passive and detached in addition to being socially deviant

in his nihilistic beliefs. This serves several purposes such as providing a foil for the irrationality

of the non-nihilistic society and characters that appear in the story, however, the main purpose of

depicting Meursault in such a specific way is to show the differences between nihilism, general

existentialism, and absurdism and how these subtle differences in ideology affect how one views

reality.

Meursault begins the story without any defined purpose and a near sociopathic disregard

for others, he is as near a textbook depiction of nihilism as one can be without relying on cold
rational and advanced scientific ideas to not only disregard but explain away with logic. He is

also a hedonistic sensualist who only finds momentary happiness through physical sensation yet

refuses to find purpose or meaning in these endeavors. Meursault blindly follows the ideology of

nihilism and refuses to find any personal meaning or purpose in his life, instead he decides to

simply exist until he ceases to exist, allowing the world around him to make his decisions for

him or doing things only because he cannot find reasons not to.

Camus shows the pointlessness of such beliefs while asserting a strangely similar yet

diametrically opposed ideology. He does not discredit the nihilistic pointlessness of reality, yet

he does assert that one cannot be happy in simply knowing that the universe is indifferent to our

existence and we must instead embrace an absurd ideology in which each individual must

construct a meaning for themselves despite their understanding of how absurd and inherently

pointless those purposes are. Thus, Camus argues that one must not only understand the bleak

nature of the universe and the pointlessness of our choices and existence, but we must be brave

enough to also choose an absurdly pointless meaning for ourselves, without any façade of hope

or underlying truth.

For example, one must not only accept that no matter what we do either as individuals or

as a species we will never matter to the universe and even the utter destruction of our planet will

go unnoticed by the vastness of the universe, and the idea that massive supernovas have erased

whole swaths of stars and planets potentially containing countless undiscovered intelligences that

were wiped out by an uncaring universe while we likewise are unaware and unmoved by their

destruction, and by extension that from the perspective of the universe and the cold rational laws

that govern it, life is arbitrary and meaningless, and that no matter how we try to understand our

reality, either through discovering those universal laws or by creating and adhering to a faith we
will all eventually die and render our choice unimportant, yet also choose to have a self-imposed

purpose anyway.

Camus plays both sides of the argument in the message of the book, he argues both that

accepting the total lack of meaning of reality, or simply a nihilist perspective, while not wrong, is

deeply flawed and does not lead to happiness or freedom from existential dread. He also argues

that blind dedication to socially accepted norms and beliefs without the understanding of

meaninglessness of the universe is also flawed and does not lead to true freedom or happiness.

Thus, only by having both a nihilist’s understanding of the universe and personally held beliefs

or convictions can one find the absurd balance required to be happy.

The ending of the book shows an important change in Meursault’s ideology. Up until the

scene with the priest, Meursault had exhibited an emotional detachment which had precluded any

authentic feeling on his part. However, during this final scene, Meursault finally accepts the

absurdity of his reality and allows himself to have genuine opinions and emotions and despite

being hopeless he was happy. Meursault finds that he feels a kinship with the entirety of the

universe, as they both looked at the meaninglessness of the world with a benign indifference.

Further, he concocts a seemingly meaningless goal of being publicly hated by a large group of

spectators on the day of his execution, he even uses the word hope to describe his objective. This

is the affirmation of his acceptance of absurdity rather than the denial of all meaning he had

shown as a nihilist.

Meursault is an ironic hero, while he is guilty of actions and possesses attributes, such as

apathy, often thought of as villainous, he also manages to undergo a profound yet utterly

meaningless hero’s journey, with his transformation being from nihilism to absurdism. This

irony continues in his defiantly atheistic stance and refusal to accept religion even if it might
save him from death, yet still being a Christ like figure in the story. Meursault like Christ is

unwilling to change his beliefs and is persecuted because of the threat he poses to traditional

values rather than the crimes of which he is accused. He says that he is unaware of any sin rather

he knows he is guilty of violating a law but does not believe his actions to be sinful, just as Jesus

was guilty of violating a law but did not see this guilt as a sin. Finally, he sees his death being

heralded with hateful spectators, cementing him as an absurdist Christ of existentialism.