Albert Camus: The Stranger and The Plague - Ivan Orta - Section 8 - Final Blog Post

     Albert Camus is the father of a very important variation of existentialism called absurdism. In my previous post about Albert Camus and absurdism, I discussed Albert Camus' philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus. In this essay, Camus introduces his theory of the absurd which is the rift between human's innate desire to seek meaning and the universe's lack of meaning to offer. Camus proceeds to describe how people find solutions in confronting the absurd which are: suicide, philosophical suicide, and embracing the absurd. Camus claims that the only viable way to confront the absurd is to embrace it. He offers the reader his perspective on what an absurd life looks like: a life that revolves around passion. One can pursue passion, use his or her passion to make a difference, express the passions of others, or use passion to create art. In the closing lines of the book, Camus relates his idea of an absurd life to that of Sisyphus, the Greek king who was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain that was doomed to always fall back down. In Camus' eyes, this is analogous to that of our lives, a meaningless struggle. The key to understanding the absurd life is akin to imagining Sisyphus happy in
his absurd struggle.

    In this post, I will be taking a look at some of Camus' other famous works such as The Stranger and The Plague in order to analyze aspects of absurdism found in these books.

    

    The Stranger explores aspects of Camus' philosophy through the main character's, Meursault, thoughts and actions. In this instance, Camus' belief in the irrationality of the universe coincides with Meursault's irrational thoughts and actions. In other words, Meursault is the personification of the absurd universe. When Meursault kills a random Arab, his prosecutor and lawyer attempt to rationalize Meursault's irrational action. This parallels how humans attempt to rationalize the irrational universe, and it's clear that Camus was trying to build some sort of connection. Another theme Camus tries to convey in the novel is the meaningless of human life. At first, Meursault wants to file a successful legal appeal and faces confliction when it comes to his approaching demise. However, once he reaches the dismal realization that all life is equally meaningless and that it does not matter whether he is executed or dies at an old age, he attains happiness. Camus implies that the reader would also attain happiness like Meursault if he or she lets go of the illusion that life has meaning. This is an important aspect of absurdist philosophy portrayed in the novel. The last important theme conveyed in the novel is the importance of the physical world. As a character, Meursault is far more interested in the physical aspects of life rather than the social or emotional aspects. A good example of this being Meursault being far more concerned about the heat at his mother's funeral than his mother's death. This relates to Camus' philosophy of appreciating the physical aspects of the world just as much as the non-physical ones.

    The next novel that I'll be looking at by Camus is The Plague. The Plague explores themes of death, freedom, suffering, and optimism. Before the plague struck the fictional city of Oran, the citizens of that city lived in unconscious enslaved to their habits. Camus creates an irony of freedom. The citizens of Oran lose their physical freedom when the plague strikes, but the ironic thing is that it was a freedom that they never really had. A priest of Oran attempts to rationalize the plague as some divine punishment, however, the main character of the story, a doctor, refutes this when he sees a newborn catch the plague. This shows Camus' distaste for religious dogma that justifies human suffering on the bases of moral grounds. In the novel, the townspeople come together to fight the plague. Although, their efforts are ultimately futile, Camus does not see this as meaningless. In Camus' eyes, humans are capable of giving their lives meaning, and there is no better way to do that than to come together and fight death and suffering. This shows Camus' optimistic side as he believes that we have the power to give our lives meaning.