"Take a flying leap"

Who is a stranger? Someone you do not know. Someone who lives by a different social norm. If someone is different can they be trusted? After all, he or she is a stranger. While reading Camus’ The Stranger I was introduced to a character who was not what you would call by normal standards. Most people know the age of their mother, become upset during funerals, show their emotions, and have opinions. Meursault, however, cannot claim any of these previously mentioned attributes. The lack of emotion or sympathy for others lives’ is exemplified by Meursault’s own view that life can be described as redundancy with no changes ever occurring, and thus, he exemplifies the definition of an existentialist. Through a world wind of events, Camus depicts man’s inability to have compassion for one another through descriptions of unusual behavior and actions.

After shooting an Arab man four times, Meursault finds himself in the middle of a trial, from which he becomes more and more withdrawn. Though his murder trial, those participating in the trial ignore Meursault, telling him to “Just keep quiet” and use evidence against him from behavior and actions at and after his mother’s funeral instead of evidence concerning Meursault’s actions when he shot and killed the Arab. During the trial and the jury deliberations leading to the guilty verdict, I questioned whether the happiness that comes from being different is worth it. Meursault is judged by being different and no one understands him; yet in his final days, Meursault comes to the conclusion: “I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again,” (Camus, 123). Meursault did not need a “nod” from society telling him what he felt and did was correct, and he simply did as he pleased without any desire to adhere to other’s beliefs or opinions. After much thought, I came to the conclusion that those who are truly different can have a have a large impact on the world even though their ending might not be happy. Meursault feels what he likes and does as he pleases without regard for acting “normal.” However, his fate becomes that of meeting the guillotine. Similar to many modern day criminals who commit white-collar crimes like embezzlement or securities fraud, or are repeat offenders f violent crimes, Meursault feels no remorse for his actions. Or Meursault simply does not understand that his actions are wrong.

You could say after reading this book, though we all want to say we are different, most of us do in fact adhere to the written and unwritten social rules that dictate our every move. Only people like Meursault find a different sense of happiness even though he finds he alone enjoys being “differnt.” We are responsible for our actions and our actions create the person we become, those actions however, are primarily in our own hands and we must, “…[be the] first to grab hold and take a flying leap,” (26) into our futures.