Analysis of Camus' The Outsider

Road maps to unknown places are created in great literature.  Albert Camus’s 1942 french novel ‘The Outsider’ is an example of this. The book is based in Algeria and tells a story of a man who doesn’t believe in following the social normatives of emotional connection and emotional investment. The book highlights the ideas of existentialism and nihilism through the life of the protagonist Meursault. His inability to understand others and connect, the struggle of innocence and guilt, and his life being without emotions showcases the unfamiliarity of what is right and wrong in new circumstances. 

Having difficulty understanding and relating to others is a very unfamiliar way of experiencing life. Camus presents this idea through the death of Meursault's mother. He focuses on the practicalities of the death rather than how tragic the event is. The people in the novel don’t understand his lack of an emotional response towards his mothers passing. “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” Usually, when a death occurs, people are focused on what happened and when it happened and how it happened, Meursault doesn’t care about any of that. He refuses to behave as if there is meaning where there is none. His lack of care towards his mothers death is viewed as a threat by the general public and they find his behaviour to be suspicious and wrong. However, there is nothing actually wrong with the way he behaves since he doesn’t do anything illegal, yet his actions are still morally questionable as he seems to think of his mothers funeral as just another event he has to attend. Camus purposefully uses this event early on in the book to showcase the indifference Meursault feels about everything. This was done to give the reader an opportunity to decide whether they believe that Meursault is right or wrong in his beliefs of nihilism, absurdism, and existentialism and whether his beliefs actually affect anything. The way Meursault feels no regret about not spending more time with his mother before her death presents the idea that there might be something wrong with him, however, he still attends the funeral and it could be assumed that it is just the way he deals with grief.  

Fulfilling relationships typically require an emotional connection and it is unfamiliar that they are formed and maintained for convenience. Camus expressed the relationship between Mersault and Marie as being based around accessibility and not on attraction or love. “A moment later she asked me if I loved her. I said that sort of question had no meaning, really; but I supposed I didn’t.” Him saying this shows he doesn’t understand the meaning of love and he doesn’t seem affected by the lack of understanding he possesses. Camus portrays Meursault as a character that appears to not need to feel emotions as long as he can do just small things he enjoys, even if they are meaningless. Meursault enjoys Marie’s companionship and she enjoys the fact she is in a relationship that has a future. Both gain from the relationship and it isn’t hurting or affecting anyone else, however, his lack of an emotional connection can still be seen as morally wrong. Meursault finds making decisions on things, for example if he loved Marie, to be pointless, although he can admit his feelings to himself. This could be seen as unfair to Marie as he drags himself through what he believes to be a meaningless relationship. On the other hand, Marie knows this and she doesn’t mind as she still gets a husband who can provide for her. The relationship could be considered bad as the circumstances and dynamic between the two is very unfamiliar to most people. 

Morality is a very fluid principle based on each person's beliefs and values. Camus portrays Meursault as a character who seems to not care about, rather focusing on practicality and just existing without reason. Raymond (his friend and neighbour) beats up a prostitute who was unfaithful to him and Meursault had no thoughts about it. Raymond is perceived by the community as someone 'living off women’, a euphemism for prostitution. Ordinarily, people wouldn’t want to be associated with someone like that because of the moral implications, however, Meursault doesn’t seem to care as it isn’t his business and there would be no point in getting involved. Another example of Meursault's lack of knowledge on what is right and wrong is the neighbour's dog which was clearly beaten for 8 years. Meursault knew about this and did nothing, stating “Salamano and his dog choose to live that way; otherwise, the dog would run away. At any rate, it would be ridiculous to worry a lot or try to solve a situation that has lasted eight years.” His lack of a guilty conscience for letting the dog be treated that way shows how much he is an existentialist as he believes in individuals just acting, feeling, and thinking for themselves. Camus created Meursault as a nihilist as well meaning he believes all values are baseless. Camus himself is neither. Meursault chooses to be this way as to not conform to society's rules, and chooses instead to stand apart from his community and culture which is very unusual. Meursault is aware of his actions and Camus specifically wrote about Meursault's reaction to such events to showcase the lack of emotional response. As each event presents itself Meursault seems to have the same reaction to each. The events progressively get more morally implicated and Meursault's unchanging uncaring reaction becomes less understandable whereas society's reaction becomes increasingly understandable. 

Murder is morally wrong, almost always. Camus presents this idea to the reader through the eyes of Meursault who does not seem to understand morals. An incident at the beach leaves Meursault with heatstroke and a murder charge which he seems to feel no remorse for. The prosecutor viewed it as "cold blooded murder" and yet Meursault had no explanation for why he shot the Arab man 4 times when the man was unarmed and just lying on the beach. The fight between the man and Raymond prior to the murder was similar to the fight between him and the prostitute which might have caused confusion for the reader as previously Meursault hadn’t involved himself at all, rather keeping to his existentialistic views. On the beach, however, Meursault was supposed to be out walking to clear his head but ended up killing a man and has very little regret since Meursault is incapable of such things due to his belief that reflecting on past actions is pointless. If he had conformed to society, saying he was a simple passionate man who had a moment of madness when shooting the Arab man which now fills him with remorse, he might have been able to not be hanged for his actions. 

Society being so unused to a new peculiar and logical, practical way of thinking can have drastic effects on events that aren’t related to each other. The prosecution used the fact that he had not cried at his mothers funeral as a way of convincing the jury that he was a viable candidate for the death penalty. He was portrayed to the jury as someone who had planned and executed a murder, making sure the victim was dead when his abnormal behaviours and beliefs were just his way of getting through life without too much difficulty. However, Meursault was unsure of why he committed such a crime and even began to regret it slightly. He contemplates this in his jail cell. Camus does this to let Meursault take the position of being a judge of his own actions, to see if he can realise what a terrible thing he did. The cell brings him peace and he reviews his thoughts stating   “And so I learned that familiar paths traced in the dusk of summer evenings may lead as well to prisons as to innocent, untroubled sleep.” This illustrates the freedom he feels in prison, away from the chaos of society. Meursault is left to himself, not having to worry about anything in the future, just accepting his punishment of death, even if he still struggles to understand why it is happening to him. Camus presents the event showing how it happened in Meursault's eyes, while the reader contemplates how morally wrong the situation is while still being given another perspective to how it happened. In some people's perspective, Meursault should not have been given such a harsh punishment, but in the perspective of the people living in Meursault's society, him not having any emotional connection gives them reason enough to sentence him to death as they cannot understand why someone would choose to miss out on such an important part of life. 

Albert Camus’s 1942 novel ‘The outsider’ brings to life the implications of lacking morals and emotions through the eyes of Meursault. The book offers the reader a portrayal of unfamiliar places using a new perspective of existentialism and nihilism as it gives people a more fulfilling controlled conscious life rather than a chaotic emotional one. Camus purposefully writes about an inability to connect with people and a struggle with morals to give the reader new insight into the world and how others may view it.  Meursault's attitude towards his mothers death, his relationship with Marie and Raymond, and the murder of the Arab man are morally wrong, however, Camus gives a new approach to seeing how they can be viewed as acceptable in society.