I don't read as much as I'd like to anymore. But once in a while a book finds me that moves me and makes me think. That is what I look for most in books now. A new idea, something that makes you question or wonder. Gone are the days when I would read books voraciously, drink up every word and page and idea and boast it as my own. I just don't have the patience for it anymore.
So when a close friend recommended The Stranger, by Albert Camus, I agreed to read it based only on its small size. It is considered to be one of the key texts depicting the 20th century philosophy. In a time and age when we're obsessed with behavior patterns and freud and understanding the human psyche, the book challenges your thoughts and beliefs and makes you question. It tackles existentialism and more closely the malaise in the 20th century.
The book is a narrative as described by the main character, a French man by the name Mersault, giving an insight into his mind. It starts when Mersault receives the news of his mother's death. His reaction to this news is contrary to "normal" as he doesn't show remorse and has a lack of empathy to the situation. Through the rest of the events that follow he shows similar detachment and is unaware of the absurdity of it all. Sometimes you feel as if he is sleep walking through his life because of his lack of reaction to it. But there are instances when he is impulsive, passionate and those are what make the stranger an enigma. His actions do not show any social or conventional restrictions. I am tempted to use the term immoral, but there is no evidence of that.
As a reader I understand the justification of his final incarceration, the society's lack of acceptance of him. He is stranger than the average person, does not follow the same patterns..but as the reader, you are him and you feel what he feels and see what he sees. It is the beauty of Camus's writing that makes the book so personal. It also gives an up close and personal look at the post world war malaise in Europe. The book is a must read for anyone who dabbles in philosophy and existentialism.
Dissecting the character, during the first half I was convinced that he was a nihilist devoid of any existential cares. But his violent and passionate reaction to his incarceration in the second half makes me think otherwise. He is just a stranger to the norms of the society and that is his biggest downfall. Towards the end he battles with the absurdity of the human condition; his personal anguish at the meaninglessness of his existence without respite. Meursault ultimately grasps the universe's indifference towards humankind (while coming to terms with his execution):
As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really—I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
As I finish the book and this review, I try to grasp the meaning of Mersault's existence. The absurdity does not escape me and I still try to make sense of it. I don't think Mersault can exist today. Only because I know that he was intelligent and that survival instinct is greater than indifference or nihilism. If he does, then he is as much a stranger now as he was then. And while I empathize with him, I still don't understand, why did he shoot the dead Arab 4 more times...
