| Term Paper Title | Camus The Stranger: Choice And Individual Freedom Are Integral Components Of |
| # of Words | 409 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 1.64 |
Camus' "The Stranger": Choice and Individual Freedom Are Integral Components of
Human Nature
Camus's The Stranger is a grim profession that choice and individual
freedom are integral components of human nature, and the commitment and
responsibility that accompany these elements are ultimately the deciding factors
of the morality of one's existence. Meursault is placed in an indifferent world,
a world that embraces absurdity and persecutes reason; such is the nature of
existentialist belief, that rationalization and logic are ultimately the essence
of humanity, and that societal premonitions and an irrelevant status quo serve
only to perpetuate a false sense of truth.
Meursault's virtue, as well as his undoing, lies in his unique tendency
to choose, and thereby exist, without computing objective standards or universal
sentiment. His stoic, de facto existentialism is a catalyst for endless
conflict between his rationalization- and logic-based existence and that of
others, which focuses on an objective subscription to "the norm" ; such is
evident in heated discussions with the magistrate and prison minister, who are
seen as paragons of invalid logic and the quixotic, quasi-passionate pursuit of
hackneyed conformity.
No windmills are slain1 in this simulated existence; absurdity of a
different ilk dominates the popular mentality, one which would alienate a man
based on his perceived indifference towards the mundane, and try, convi...Read entire document
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