The Stranger by Albert Camus - Book Critique

"What did other people’s deaths or a mother’s love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me when we’re all elected by the same fate, me and billions of privileged people like him who also called themselves my brothers? Couldn’t he see, couldn’t he see that? Everybody was privileged. There were only privileged people. The others would all be condemned one day. And he would be condemned, too. What would it matter if he were accused of murder and then executed because he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral? Salamano’s dog was worth just as much as his wife." (121)

It’s not that often that characters like this our found in fiction stories. Monsieur Meuersalt’s life is quite dark and dull, but his personality and his reactions to things that happen are very interesting and unique. The book is based on the philosophy called existentialism, which states that individuals are responsible for all meaning in their own lives. “The Stranger” is a perfect name for this character, as his thought system seems alien. The situations he was involved in were awkward, but his responses to them were even more so. However, the character’s ideas are certainly noteworthy. It raises some questions as well, for example: “Should this man be punished for we he physically does, even though it wasn’t really his intention? Shouldn’t his thought system backfire and cause misery and self-punishment if it would be truly harmful to anyone?

The book starts off with Meuersalt’s mother dying, where he had tearless eyes at the funeral. Later, he finds a girlfriend, Marie, who he often thought he wanted during pleasurable moments at the beach and the movies. But, Marie asked him once if he wanted to marry her, and he said that would be fine. She questioned him again, asking him if he would marry another woman if she asked to marry as well, and he said yes. Within this time, he made friends with Raymond; a man who justified the abuse of his own girlfriend when he thought it was needed. Raymond asked Meuersalt to write him a letter to his girlfriend, who Raymond thought was cheating on him. Raymond wanted her to feel bad for what she’s “done,” and Meuersalt went ahead and wrote this “hate letter” for him.

Later on, Raymond, Meuersalt and Marie went to a barbecue on the beach with Raymond’s friends. On the way, they ran into two Arabs on the street that Raymond had fought with before, and they later encountered each other again on the beach. Masson, Raymond and Meuersalt almost ambushed the two Arabs (while Raymond carried a gun), but they ran away and Meuersalt took the gun from Raymond for safety. They all headed back toward the barbecue, but Meuersalt took a different route. He claimed it was very hot, and he felt pressured by it as it was beating down on him. He ascended a flight of stairs and ran into one of the Arabs on a bench a few steps in front of him. The heat forced him to continue forward, and the Arab pulled out a knife while Meuersalt raised his gun and shot several bullets at him.
A lot of these actions seemed careless and pointless to Meuersalt, but the court found him to be quite a strange character. The would likely think, “Why didn’t he cry when his mother died? Why did he write such hateful letters for people? Why did he shoot this man?” These things make it look like he was very hateful. Towards the end, Meuersalt’s chaplain, a man with strong Christian faith, was upset that Meuersalt didn’t believe in God, but claimed he would pray for him anyway. This made Meuersalt furious, since he doesn’t feel that he should be prayed for or that any man should be concerned with someone else’s life. He didn’t feel guilty or upset about his life so far, except for the fact that he was in prison. He thought that everyone was privileged, and that was all that people should know. He knew he could care less if someone did the same thing as he did. He goes far even to declare that his neighbor’s dog is equal in value as his neighbor’s wife. He observed that everyone would be condemned anyway, and we all have the same fate.

Even though Meuersalt seems to be so strange, what is it that we can learn from this? We can basically say that this shows existentialism through the thought that everyone should be concerned with himself or herself, since our life is all up to ourselves, and no one else. If someone was to do what Meuersalt did, he would say it’s their problem, not his. Even though Meuersalt’s life seems valueless, we know that the way we think and what we do is up to us, and punishment only comes from ourselves. Otherwise, punishers will be punishing themselves as well. This book is one of the strangest but most interesting of its kind, and brings up many questions that could change the way we see our lives.

I recommend this book to everyone, but specifically to people who like to contemplate the validity of the world’s morals and punishments. The world tends to judge people more on what they do than what or how they think. This book is very controversial, and is focused on this point of thinking/action. We are too worried about other people’s lives when we should worry about our own. The Stranger is not really for people who prefer fiction genres like science fiction, fantasy, and mystery, since those tend to make people daydream. Nevertheless, this book can free people from the seeming burdens and worries that the world presents to us, and can reveal our tendency towards prejudging and blaming others. You will find that this “stranger” has something to prove: that he is not as strange as we think.

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Vintage International. New York. 1988.