The book The Stranger by Camus is strange. What the heck is the theme of it or the moral?

Question

The guy is a weird guy without no emotions. Can someone who read it tell me what is the message?

Answer 1

Its about existentialism- the idea is that the main character in the book feels almost nothing throughout his life. The only thing that he is sure of is that he is alive. This is called nihilism. Whether he is out in the sun living what others would consider to be a good life, or his mother dies or he is in jail, he still feels the same. And really, Camus is asking, why should he feel any different? Why would our environment have any effect on us? Or the death of someone else?

This was the best short essay that I could find on the book. Hope that its useful. The Stranger is one of my favourite books- if you have anyother questions for me then just send a message.

"In this essay it is assumed that the reader has not read Albert Camus' The Stranger but is aware that the plot involves a character called Meursault, the shooting of an Arab and a subsequent trial. This essay is not a ‘The Stranger a study guide' but a brief look at some of the themes of the book. The intention is to entice the reader into reading The Stranger for themselves. Accordingly all mention of specific characters or plot points have been avoided where possible.

For Camus, life has no rational meaning or order. We have trouble dealing with this notion and continually struggle to find rational structure and meaning in our lives. This struggle to find meaning where none exists is what Camus calls, the absurd. So strong is our desire for meaning that we dismiss out of hand the idea that there is none to be found. Camus wrote The Stranger as an enticement to his readers, to think about their own mortality and the meaning of their existence. The hero, or anti-hero, of The Stranger is Meursault. His life and attitudes possess no rational order. His actions are strange to us, there seems to be no reason behind them. We are given no reason why he chooses to marry Marie or gun down an Arab. For this, he is a stranger amongst us. And when confronted with the absurdity of the stranger's life society reacts by imposing meaning on the stranger.

It's worth noting here that L'Etranger is sometimes translated as The Outsider but this is inaccurate. Camus does not want us to think of Meursault as ‘the stranger who lives ‘outside' of his society' but of a man who is ‘the stranger within his society'. Had Meursault been some kind of outsider, a foreigner, then quite probably his acts would have been accepted as irrational evil. But Meursault was not an outsider; he was a member of his society – a society that wants meaning behind action.

In the second half of The Stranger, Camus depicts society's attempt to manufacture meaning behind Meursault's actions. The trial is absurd in that the judge, prosecutors, lawyers and jury try to find meaning where none is to be found. Everyone, except Meursault, has there own ‘reason' why Meursault shot the Arab but none of them are, or can be, correct. In life there are never shortages of opinion as to why this or that thing occurred. How close to any of them get to the meaning behind action?

An interesting motif in The Stranger is that of watching or observation. Camus is writing a book about our endless search for meaning. We are all looking for a purpose in our lives. The characters of The Stranger all watch each other and the world around them. Meursault watches the world go by from his balcony. He later passively watches his own trial. The world around him is a fascination to Meursault. He keenly observes the sun, the heat, the physical geography of his surrounding. The eyes of the other are also depicted by Camus. Antagonism behind the eyes of the Arabs, as they watch Meursault and his friends. The eyes of the jury and witnesses at his trial. Finally the idea of the watching crowd, representing the eyes of society."

Answer 2

The Book The Stranger

Answer 3

LOL I've not read the book since I was in college, but I can remember our class having a discussion with the professor; the central message just like yours: we don't quite get it!

I have it somewhere around. I think I'll read it again to see if my over thirty-five self feels the same way that my 21-year-old self felt.

Answer 4

a reflection of the industrialist society which strips away identity and moral conscience; very existential and dark like most of his other stuff

Answer 5

Looking for an answer on this too

Answer 6

existentialism, thinking & destiny.

Answer 7

Thank you for the answers, very much appreciated.