Spoiler alert. This blog deals with the full context of the story “The Stranger” by Albert Camus.
I recently read Albert Camus’ “The Stranger,” one of the seminal existentialist writers of the 20th Century and Noble Prize winner for literature. Camus’s book digs deep into the central questions of pathos and human existence but isn’t for the feint of heart, as it is deeply disturbing and engages the reader on soulful levels that can inspire questions that spiral into more unending questions.
Told in the first person, the story tells of Meurasault and his return to a small village in Algeria for his mother, Maman’s, funeral. He meets with and befriends a seedy character named Raymond. Raymond is a troubled soul and has few social graces. He often mocks and beats his own girlfriend. When Raymond is confronted by the police and his girlfriend threatens to press charges, Raymond looks to Meurasault to lie on his behalf. Raymond also asks Meurasault to join him when confronting the brothers of the girl he abused, and Meurasault is drawn into a senseless murder. He is thrown into prison.
Meurasault, like the Greek King Sisyphus who defied death twice and paid the price in eternity by rolling a rock up a hill, has to reconcile with his feelings about death and life in order to make sense of his circumstances on earth. The primary thought in existentialist thinking is that this senselessness is due to an absurdist universe, and humanity has no other choice but to try and derive meaning through personal responsibility, and soul-searching inquiry.
In this story, Meurasault has no inclination of recognizing love within himself. This lack of love and the hedonist pursuit of experience for the sake of experience itself becomes problematic. The choices he makes are reprehensible and his inability to reconcile with the injustice of the murderous act is even more abhorrent and his pathological sensibilities lead to his undoing and death.
Before Meursault’s death he is confronted by a priest whom he tries to strangle to death, thus illustrating the protagonist’s inability to acquiesces to any context of spirituality and his own spiraling out of control. His unwillingness to concede to a reality of deeper all abiding conscious awareness of love is troubling.
Meurasault’s unwillingness and overt attitude to resist examining the role of love in his life points to the fact that he is bereft of any sense of self love and therein lies the problem. It’s difficult to make sense of this world if you are not willing to open your heart to the possibility that love has a role to play in your life. It is even more difficult if you are unwilling to accept that love may even play a greater role in the larger scheme of things – even the universe.
Meurasault loves the physical encounters he has with his girlfriend Marie, but has no intention of taking it to another level with her and exploring the deeper aspects of their love. This pathology and unwillingness to care on a deeper level is the central problem of the book. Although there are people there who care for him, he is blind to this and refuses to see it – even when people testify to his goodness on his behalf to save him.
It begs the question, does Meurasault have the capability to love or is he devoid of it? As a conscious thinking breathing human being, I couldn’t help but consider that he was certainly capable of it. On the other hand, looking at humanity there clearly are individuals who are born sociopathic and unable to connect with love in any meaningful way. Their inability stems from gross narcissism and this brings with it deeper ponderings of the role that immorality plays in our society.
Some people respond to stimuli rather than think through the deeper implications of their actions. Serial killers and assassins are lacking something in their makeup that allows them to realize the full context of their immoral actions. This expression of evil begs the question why? Does one become so steeped in his own misery and the hell that he’s created that there is no way out? Is this acquired through nature or nurture? Is there an argument for trance states and demonic possession?
Sometimes we become indifferent to our own souls in profound ways. Our inability to tap into love in our hearts and express that love can undermine who we are as people. Our unwillingness to see this is critical to our being. People who become depressed sometimes feel it is impossible to be reached. If this illusion persists, the reality of a deeper alienated persona is inevitable.
Sometimes complexes arise in our mental lives that stem from trauma or untreated childhood wounds that can fester and cause more problems for us. An honest assessment of our mental, emotional and spiritual needs can help us identify those problems like a doctor serves a patient in healing illness.
This is where an abiding sense of a soulful spiritual reality comes into play. Great spiritual teachers would say remaining open to a conscious understanding of love in our lives can be a salve for the wounds inflicted from traumatic experiences and help us reclaim our wits on our spiritual journeys.
Mindful recognition of love in our lives and our willingness to open our hearts creates opportunities to see deeper manifestations of God’s presence in our lives. Examination of love’s healing presence and creative problem-solving can touch the heart and remind us we are not far away from the presence of love in our lives.
Had Camus’ character realized this, things might have turned out differently.
spirit beat 