Published: 1942 (Gallimard)
Albert Camus’ novella, The Stranger, follows a man who murdered another for no reason other than the sun. Set in the French colony of Algiers, a French colonist named Meursault attends his mother’s funeral. Not particularly sad or fond of his late mother, Meursault sleepwalks through the funeral arrangements and complains about how hot the sun is as they finish the funeral procession. A man of few words, Meursault travels home and starts a tryst with a woman named Marie. They seem to enjoy each other, swimming in the ocean and going on cute beach dates. When pressed to profess his love, Meursault declines stating that it is irrelevant whether he loves her or not. Marie asks him if would marry her and he says yes, but that it doesn’t matter to him and he would only be doing it for her sake. Additionally, Muersault’s boss asks him if he will take a job in Paris, to which Meursault gives the same exact response. The man is like a paper bag rolling in the wind, letting any passing gust move him with no will of his own… this trend will continue.
Meursault interacts with his neighbor Salamano, a man who has a codependent love-hate relationship with his dog. Salamano hates his dog, but gets profoundly sad when it runs away not to be found again. Lastly and most consequential to the plot, Meursault becomes friends with his scumbag neighbor, Raymond, who uses women as a pimp to survive. One night, Raymond comes over to Meursault’s apartment and asks him to write a letter convincing his current girlfriend to come over so he can hit her and spit in her face. Meursault dispassionately and almost unthinkingly agrees to this. Raymond executes his plan, but the cops are called and Meursault inexplicably covers for him. Meursault gives no moral or ethical reason to support Raymond other than that he is his friend and it is a decision he made.
The plot thickens when Meursault and Marie are invited by Raymond to go to his Parisian friend’s place on the beach. The couple go on the trip, but upon going to the beach they are met by the relatives of the girl Raymond beat, two Arabs standing on the other side of the beach. Raymond, Meursault, and Raymond’s friend have a Sharks and Jets style fight with these lads but nothing more comes of it as they walk away after a few punches. For no reason whatsoever, Meursault takes a gun Raymond bought, storms back down the beach as the sun beats down on him. Heat and sunlight are used in this novel frequently to both blind Meursault and intensify his visceral emotions. While the sun beats down on him, gun in hand, Meursault walks right up to one of the Arabs and shoots him once, pauses, and then again four more times executing him. This concludes Part 1 of the novel.
In the second half of the novel, Meursault’s murder trial commences. During the investigation, Meursault is inundated with lawyers, magistrates, and chaplains who all try to pull any sort of emotion, religious guilt, or remorse out of him. Nothing works, as Meursault slowly realizes that he really only cares about his next meal, the cell he is sleeping in, or whether he is annoyed at having to answer questions. During his trial, Meursault admits he killed the Arab and that he couldn’t really put his finger on why he took the four extra shots. The Magistrate points to his disinterest in morality or emotion towards his mother’s death as moral defects befitting a heartless and guilty man, and the jury agrees. Meursault’s lawyer appeals, at which time he for a brief instant wishes that he were freed so he could experience life. However, a visit with a chaplain, where Meuresault verbally accosts him at pushing Christianity onto him, spirals Meursault’s mental state into one of complete nihilism. Thoughts about his life, his fate, remorse, or any sort of God are frivolous to Meursault. He killed someone, he will be pardoned or sentenced to death, and although being freed would give him more time on this earth, it is ultimately immaterial to him because nothing matters in this life. As Avon Barksdale said on The Wire, there are only two days in this jail of a world, the day you go in and the day you come out. Meursault takes this principle to heart as he spends his last thoughts in the novel hoping that a large crowd of people show up to his execution rooting for his death so that his life can come to a fitting end.
Some final thoughts:
- The character of Meursault as a half-empty vessel blown around by those in his life is crucial to the nihilist message in this novel. Sometimes the characterization in a novel contrasts with the symbols and themes of the novel and muddles the message or effect. However, Camus finds a man with nothing to live for other than life itself, and saps him of any personality so the major life decisions within the novel are directed by others, except for when he shot the Arab. That flashpoint is indicative of something more, a possession of sorts which propels him without thought or principle headlong into absurd and reckless behavior. The one thought/action not properly explained is those last shots at the Arab, and I think that builds tension more than excusing or muddling the message of the novel. I compare this almost perfect execution of a theme and message to Mishima’s Life for Sale, which took a similar nihilist approach but found the character somewhat growing out of his existentialism/nihilism throughout the course of the novel.
- This is the last of the recent books I have read that I also read during my junior year in high school. Like Snow Country, I hadn’t revisited this one but am not sure I have found anything new out reading it a second time except for the comparison to Life for Sale.
- During some half-assed internet research I found out that an Algerian writer named Kamel Daoud wrote a parallel novel to the Stranger, entitled, The Meursault Investigation, from the point of view of the Arab’s brother. A few years later, Daoud wrote a book which compelled an Islamic religious sect to put a fatwa on him and forced him to hole up in Paris.
Rating: 4.3/5
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