The Stranger puts forth some points about the value of human life. We have a main character, Mersault, who doesn't seem to put much of a premium on the fact that we are alive. (I'm into justified font right now, though please tell me if it impedes your appreciation of my ideas).
When his mother dies, while he is a bit melancholy about the whole affair, he seems to shrug it off. Much to his defense lawyer chagrin, he remarks that "at one time or another all normal people have wished their loved ones were dead" (65). Concerning his own death, while for he toys with the idea of caring for a long time, he comes to the apathetic conclusion that it doesn't really matter, because we will all die eventually:
"What did other people's deaths or a mother's love matter to me; what did God or the lives people chose 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 who call themselves my brothers?" (121)
But Camus isn't endorsing this nihilistic, "damn the world", nothing-matters attitude. On the contrary, he is attacking it, showing it to be soul-crushing and deadly. In a way, Mersault is dead long before he is actually sent to the guillotine, because he doesn't care to live anymore. His execution will simply be the realignment of his physical state with his spiritual state.
Additionally, the "senseless" murder of the Arab is another example in which the sacredness of life is cast aside. And certainly, this is a negative event, furthering the point that Camus actively sougt to expose the flaws of apathy. Mersault doesn't even have a reason to take somebody's life, but he does anyway, even more unsettling in its lack of logic. When we consider the racial implications of the incident and the focus of the ensuing trial, the commentary broadens to not only a condemnation of Mersault's indifference, but the indifference of the white world to the suffering of people of color -- their lack of interest in whether they live or die.
Camus is definitely critiquing indifference, highlighting how it ends up killing both Mersault and his victim. In the subplot with Raymond, he even goes so far as to say that indifference is ultimately impossible (Think about how Mersault inevitably is dragged onto a side, even though he doesn't really care about Raymond).
Finally, a shameless plug: If you're into this whole "life is sacred" creed, and your interested in the implications of knowing your time of death (i.e. the temporary revolution that Mersault's thinking undergoes when he knows that he will die soon), I recommend checking out the Saw franchise -- or at least the first one, before they begin to descend into the category of "torture porn." Valuing one's life is a central theme, and if Mersault certainly has the makings of a "victim" in the series ( the movies actually raise similar questions to that of Mersault's perceived victimization by the court system).
You make some good points, and I really agree that Camus does not endorse a nihilistic, "nothing matters" approach to life. Instead, I think that he uses Mersault, with his absurd existence and even more absurd death, as an example to show the reader how to live correctly according to his philosophy. He's saying that you will only find satisfactory meaning and passion for life (as Mersault finally does when he pours himself into berating the chaplain) when you accept the fact that, contrary to the chaplain's beliefs, your human existence has no impact on the indifferent universe, and the only true meaning you will be able to find is that which you create for yourself. This philosophy is pretty life-affirming even though it is inherently challenging for us as humans to grapple with the fact that there is no ultimate meaning for us to discover in the universe that we exist in. I totally agree with you that Camus is critiquing human indifference (which is exemplified perfectly by Mersault in the first part of the book), and that he's urging us to rebel against universal indifference with the human passion that we are capable of.
ReplyDeleteI am not so sure that Camus is completely criticizing nihilism as a belief system that is unwarranted and deadly. I do however think that Camus is not in complete apathy vote. After reading Camus' "Myth of Sisyphus," it appears more that Camus sees the overall arch of life as somewhat meaningless, but also that you have to cherish the absurd things in that life. The moments that make you go "what the hell?" or stir up emotion in you are what really matters.
ReplyDeleteAnd when Muersalt is sent to the Guillotine, he wants to show everyone, not just that his own life doesn't hold value, but that none of theirs do. Muersalt wants to give "The French People" a moment of absurdity - he wants them all to be angry at him and happy that he is being executed. Muersalt wants to show them a lesson about life that he has finally understood after coming into conflict with the chamberlain.