Existentialism in The Stranger (The Outsider) :: Camus Stranger Essays

Existentialism in The Stranger           Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes a few main points, such as the license to choose and the choices you make should be do without the assistance of another person or standard.  From the existentialist point of view you must claim the essay and responsibility of your choices and follow the commitment to wherever it leads.  Someone that is put in a particular blank space understands it far more than someone flavour in on that same situation, one commonly used situation that appears often in existentialist writing is that of death.  The existentialist should learn to accept death when the time has to come and should know that the most important questions in life are not accessible to reason or science.  acting on your own experiences is essential in arriving at the truth and humanness is condemned to be free. (Sartre)         There were two part s in The Stranger that helped me fall in understand existentialist philosophy the most.  One part of the novel that helped me to understand existentialism remedy was when Meursault injectant the Arab on the beach and how he handled the situation afterwards.  The Arab had force his knife and held it up to Meursault, notwithstanding this wasnt what bothered him, it was the light from the sun that shot off the Arabs knife, and the intense heat along with the salt from his sweat in his eyes that was bothering him. Meursault shot the Arab mainly because he was uncomfortable and not because he felt threatened, scarcely in any case he made the decision to shoot him.  In the next chapter Meursault cant understand why he would need an attorney for his case because its simple to him, he had murdered a man and was now ready to pay the consequences.  He had made a choice that might not have been the right one but he accepted it and was ready to go through with h is decision to wherever it would lead.         The other part in The Stranger that helped me to understand existentialism better was at the end of the novel when Meursault is sentenced to death.  I dont think Meursault was an existentialist but I do think that he faced death the vogue an existentialist would have.