thesis of the stranger

(Stanford users can avoid this Captcha by logging in.)

Send to text email RefWorks EndNote printer

Albert Camus's The stranger : critical essays

Available online.

EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection

More options

Find it at other libraries via WorldCat
Contributors

Description

Creators/contributors, contents/summary.

Acknowledgements
Contributor bios
"J' ai compris que j' étais coupable" ("I understood that I was guilty"): a hermeneutical approach to sexism, racism, and colonialism in Albert Camus' L'éstranger/The stranger / George Heffernan
Meursault: mad bad messiah? / Simon Lea
Dualisms in Albert Camus's The stranger / Peter Francev
Rien, rien n' avait d' importance et je savais bien pourquoi ("Nothing, nothing mattered, and I well knew why"): the world according to Meursault -- or a critical attempt to understand the absurdist philopsophy of the protagonist of Alber Camus's The stranger / George Heffernan
L'estranger and the messianic myth, or Meursault unmasked / Ben O'Donohoe
"It was there that it all started" : Meursault's ascent in Albert Camus' The stranger / Ron Srigley
Of dogs and men: empathy and emotion in Camus' The stranger / Ingrid Fernandez
Meursault and the indifference of death: a logotherapeutic perspective / Peter Francev
Reading Camus in the age of absurdity: toward a constructive reading of The stranger / Brent Sleasman
A stranger of words / Svenja Schrahe
Albert Camus' poetics of strangeness in translation: a comparative analysis of text in context / Roosje Dejonghe
Meursault and moral freedom: The stranger's unique challenge to an enlightenment idea / Matthew Bowker
Don Juanism and The stranger / Jasmine Samra
Does Meursault lie? / Mary Gennuso
Camus's literary criminal and the law: loathing the outsider / Stephan Lancy.

Bibliographic information

Browse related items.

Stanford Home
Maps & Directions
Search Stanford
Emergency Info
Terms of Use
Non-Discrimination
Accessibility

Close Menu X

Please note: we are aware of some payment processing issues with USA based orders, we are currently working to resolve this - sorry for any inconvenience caused!

Publish With Us
Meet our Editorial Advisors

"Thank you for being in the business not only of publishing books, but of changing lives."

- Professor Sherman Hawkins, Princeton University

Albert Camus’s The Stranger: Critical Essays

Description

Often marginalised on the sidelines of both philosophy and literature, the works of Albert Camus have, in recent years, undergone a renaissance. While most readers in either discipline claim Camus and his works to be ‘theirs’, the scholars presented in this volume tend to see him and his works in both philosophy and literature.

This volume is a collection of critical essays by an international menagerie of Camus experts who, despite their interpretive differences, see Camus through both lenses. For them, he is a novelist/essayist who embodies a philosophy that was never fully developed due to his brief life.

The essays here examine Camus’s first published novel, The Stranger, from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives, each drawing on the author’s knowledge to present the first known critical examination in English. As such, this volume will shed new light on previous scholarship.

Peter Francev is a Lecturer in Philosophy and English in southern California. Currently, he is President of the Albert Camus Society US and editor of the Journal of Camus Studies. When he is not writing on Camus, he can be found researching his PhD thesis on Lord Byron or loving the company of his children Katherine and Michael, his poodles Oliver, Mandy and Daphne, and his wife Jennifer, without whom none of this would be possible.

There are currently no reviews for this title. Please do revisit this page again to see if some have been added.

Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-4438-5391-7

ISBN13: 978-1-4438-5391-0

Release Date: 3rd February 2014

Price: £49.99

New and Forthcoming

Sales Agents
Unsubscribe

Cambridge Scholars Publishing | Registration Number: 04333775

Please note that Cambridge Scholars Publishing Limited is not affiliated to or associated with Cambridge University Press or the University of Cambridge

Designed and Built by Prime Creative

Please fill in the short form below for any enquiries.

Sign up for our newsletter

Please enter your email address below;

Literary Theory and Criticism

Thesis of the novel the stranger.

Analysis of Albert Camus’s Novels

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 7, 2019 • ( 2 )

Two persistent themes animate all of Albert Camus’s writing and underlie his artistic vision: One is the enigma of the universe, which is breathtakingly beautiful yet indifferent to life; the other is the enigma of man, whose craving for happiness… Read More ›

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The Stranger Albert Camus

The Stranger literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Stranger.

The Stranger Material

Study Guide
Lesson Plan

Join Now to View Premium Content

GradeSaver provides access to 2357 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11005 literature essays, 2763 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.

The Stranger Essays

Nonconformity: condemnation anthony haddad, the stranger.

"Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it in hiding." ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

A society constrained to specific social standards reprimands those who do not conform to such principles. In the process, a...

Irony Of The Stranger Sugato De

"Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it in hiding."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A society constrained to specific social standards reprimands those who do not conform to such principles. In the process, a supreme...

The Stranger: Existential Martyrdom Anonymous

The death of a loved one is typically one of the most emotionally distressing events people face, particularly when that person is a parent. In most societies, it would be considered taboo for a son to respond to his parent's demise with...

The Effectiveness of Violence in The Stranger Christina Harrison

Albert Camus's novel The Stranger is an extremely explicit work describing violent acts witnessed by a narrator who seems to be wholly unaffected by their brutality. The novel begins with death - "Mamman died today" (3) - and ends with the...

Truth Dawning: The Sun as a Symbol for Meursault's Awareness in Albert Camus' The Stranger Catherine Morrison

Truth Dawning:

The Sun as a Symbol for Meursault's Awareness in Albert Camus' The Stranger

In his novel "The Stranger," Albert Camus uses the relentless Algerian sun as a metaphor for the awareness of reality that pursues his main character,...

Sympathy for Protagonists of The Stranger and Metamorphosis Daniel Kell

In Camus’ The Stranger and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the protagonist finds himself in an extraordinary situation that challenges his will. In both novels, this initially unsympathetic character struggles to redeem himself. In so doing, his identity...

Super Women Anonymous

The main female characters of Sonia and Marie in Crime and Punishment and The Stranger, respectively, do more than faithfully support Raskolnikov and Meursault in their times of need. Their roles structure the men’s characters and ultimately help...

Symbolism and Characterization in The Stranger and First Confession Ben Dong

In Albert Camus’s The Stranger and Montserrat Fontes’s First Confession, symbols and characterization play a major role in outlining each novel’s primary message. Both authors’ use of these literary elements contribute to the reader’s...

Absurdity in The Stranger Anonymous

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the main character, Mersault, is confronted with life’s absurdity after killing a man at a beach in Algiers. Mersault spends his days absorbed in living for the moment, granting little import to the past or future,...

Rejection of the Abnormal in The Metamorphosis and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

Both Gregor Samsa from Franz Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis and Meursault from Albert Camus’ The Stranger struggle to communicate with the people around them. Although Samsa suffers from physical abnormalities while Meursault possesses...

The Strangest Stranger Caitlin Tran 11th Grade

When Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, was first published in 1942, many readers did not know what to think of Meursault, the emotionally disconnected protagonist of Camus’ story. His absurdist views confused the masses that yearned for meanings...

A Comparison of How Alienation Affects the Protagonists of The Thief and the Dogs and The Stranger Mark Wheeler 12th Grade

In Naguib Mahfouz’s The Thief and the Dogs Albert Camus’ The Stranger, we are exposed to two very different characters, Said Mahran and Meursault. Both these characters are alienated from their societies, and change drastically as a result of this...

Clothing and Social Constructs in The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

In some novels, even the most minuscule ordinary objects are subjects of great importance and symbolism; after all, symbolism which adds meaning to the text that cannot be overlooked. In the work The Stranger by Albert Camus, outerwear holds a...

Meursault as an Outsider to Society, to Himself and to his Environment Eleni Achnioti 12th Grade

Albert Camus was an Algerian-French absurdist author, who wrote novels like The Outsider and The Plague. In The Outsider he tells the story of an emotionless and immoral character, Meursault, and how he deals with the norms of the society and the...

The Absurd and the Concept of Hope in Camus's Novels James Min 12th Grade

When one questions the existence of God, one often reverts to a specific, troubling question: “if God exists, why are there moral tragedies that cause such great suffering?” In other words, humans find it very difficult when there is an event or...

Philosophical Morality in A Clockwork Orange and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

Many philosophers have believed for centuries that no intrinsic meaning exists in the universe. From this belief emerged many responses, including absurdism and existentialism. Although all are heavily influenced by the beliefs of Søren...

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entertainment Anonymous 11th Grade

There is a Latin phrase “Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur,” which translates to “The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived” (Sebastian). These words resonate particularly well when applied to Albert Camus’ The Stranger. To conform...

Individualism and Escape: Hunger, The Metamorphosis, and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

Choice is inescapable and inevitable to all who exist or have ever existed. When meeting a fork in the road, a decision is always made, even if no action is taken. Utterly paradoxical, even the act of no decision at all is stepping in one...

The Stranger: Meursault’s Virtues? Sam Bennett 10th Grade

Meursault, the main character in Albert Camus’s The Stranger , is an intriguing individual with a complicated relationship to the world around him. He is curious by nature, and often wonders about the reality and purpose of the situations he finds...

Twentieth Century Turmoil Reflections in Literature Crystal Wu 12th Grade

During the twentieth century, life in Europe changed drastically, due to the multitude of events and changes that crowded this century. From the wars to the effects of the Industrial revolution, the lives of Europeans were constantly changing,...

Meursault: A Static or Dynamic Character? Sophie Lis 12th Grade

Throughout the duration of Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger , the narrator, Meursault, evolves in terms of his self-awareness and world-view, a change which Camus uses to aid the reader in understanding both his protagonist and the existentialist...

Humankind’s Drive to Find Meaning: Dostoevsky, Camus, and Woody Allen Anonymous 12th Grade

In absurdist fiction, authors and writers focus on characters who investigate the meaning of human existence in order to call into question existential notions. Some writers may utilize character’s confrontation with absurdism to either reject or...

A Sickness Called Death: The Significance of Salamano's Dog Anonymous College

The French novel The Stranger , written by Albert Camus and translated by Matthew Ward, describes a French-colonized Algeria in the 1940’s. Throughout the novel, central arguments and themes are being linked together by different scenes. In the...

The "Robot Woman" and Her Influence: Women’s Various Levels of Enlightenment Compared with Meursault's Own Elias Curran-Moore 12th Grade

In Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger , different women can be seen as having achieved various levels of enlightenment when compared to the final, ‘complete’ enlightenment Meursault achieves at the end of the novel. In the end, Meursault embraces...

Suggestions

Animal Farm
As You Like It
Heart of Darkness
The Crucible
The Handmaid's Tale

Please wait while we process your payment

Reset Password

Your password reset email should arrive shortly..

If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.

Something went wrong

Be between 8-15 characters.
Contain at least one capital letter.
Contain at least one number.
Be different from your email address.

By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy .

Don’t have an account? Subscribe now

Create Your Account

Ad-free experience
Note-taking
Flashcards & Quizzes
AP® English Test Prep
Plus much more

Already have an account? Log in

Choose Your Plan

Group Discount

$4.99 /month + tax

$24.99 /year + tax

Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!

Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?

Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!

$24.99 $18.74 / subscription + tax

Subtotal $37.48 + tax

Save 25% on 2-49 accounts

Save 30% on 50-99 accounts

Payment Details

Payment Summary

SparkNotes Plus

Change

You'll be billed after your free trial ends.

7-Day Free Trial

Not Applicable

Renews April 13, 2024 April 6, 2024

Discounts (applied to next billing)

SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount

This is not a valid promo code.

Discount Code (one code per order)

SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount

SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at [email protected] . Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.

For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!

You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.

Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.

Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.

Your PLUS subscription has expired

We’d love to have you back! Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools.
Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools.
Go ad-free AND get instant access to grade-boosting study tools!
Start the school year strong with SparkNotes PLUS!
Start the school year strong with PLUS!

The Stranger

Study Guide
Mastery Quizzes

Albert Camus

Unlock your free sparknotes plus trial, unlock your free trial.

Ad-Free experience
Easy-to-access study notes
AP® English test prep

Part One: Chapter 1

Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. See Important Quotations Explained

Meursault , the novel’s narrator and protagonist, receives a telegram telling him that his mother has died. She had been living in an old persons’ home in Marengo, outside of Algiers. Meursault asks his boss for two days’ leave from work to attend the funeral. His boss grudgingly grants the request, and makes Meursault feel almost guilty for asking. Meursault catches the two o’clock bus to Marengo, and sleeps for nearly the entire trip.

When Meursault arrives, he meets with the director of the old persons’ home, who assures Meursault that he should not feel bad for having sent his mother there. The director asserts that it was the best decision Meursault could have made, given his modest salary. He tells Meursault that a religious funeral has been planned for his mother, but Meursault knows that his mother never cared about religion. After the brief conversation, the director takes Meursault to the small mortuary where his mother’s coffin has been placed.

Alone, Meursault sees that the coffin has already been sealed. The caretaker rushes in and offers to open the casket, but Meursault tells him not to bother. To Meursault’s annoyance, the caretaker then stays in the room, chatting idly about his life and about how funeral vigils are shorter in the countryside because bodies decompose more quickly in the heat. Meursault thinks this information is “interesting and [makes] sense.”

Meursault spends the night keeping vigil over his mother’s body. The caretaker offers him a cup of coffee, and, in turn, Meursault gives the caretaker a cigarette. Meursault finds the atmosphere in the mortuary pleasant and he dozes off. He is awakened by the sound of his mother’s friends from the old persons’ home shuffling into the mortuary. One of the women cries mournfully, annoying Meursault. Eventually he falls back asleep, as do nearly all of his mother’s friends.

The next morning, the day of the funeral, Meursault again meets with the director of the old persons’ home. The director asks Meursault if he wants to see his mother one last time before the coffin is sealed permanently, but Meursault declines. The director tells Meursault about Thomas Perez, the only resident of the home who will be allowed to attend the funeral. Perez and Meursault’s mother had become nearly inseparable before she died. Other residents had joked that he was her fiancé.

The funeral procession slowly makes its way toward the village. When one of the undertaker’s assistants asks Meursault if his mother was old, Meursault responds vaguely because he does not know her exact age. The oppressive heat weighs heavily on him during the long walk. He notices that Thomas Perez cannot keep up, and keeps falling behind the procession. A nurse tells Meursault that he will get sunstroke if he walks too slowly, but will work up a sweat and catch a chill in church if he walks too quickly. Meursault agrees, thinking, “There was no way out.” He remembers little of the funeral, aside from Perez’s tear-soaked face and the fact that the old man fainted from the heat. As he rides home on the bus to Algiers, Meursault is filled with joy at the prospect of a good night’s sleep.

She was right. There was no way out. See Important Quotations Explained

Meursault immediately reveals himself to be indifferent toward emotion and interaction with others. Instead of grieving at the news of his mother’s death, he is cold, detached, and indifferent. When he receives the telegram, his primary concern is figuring out on which day his mother died. The fact that he has no emotional reaction at all makes Meursault difficult to categorize. If he were happy that his mother died, he could be cast simply as immoral or a monster. But Meursault is neither happy nor unhappy—he is indifferent.

Read an important quote about Meursault’s indifference to his mother’s death.

Though Meursault tends to ignore the emotional, social, and interpersonal content of situations, he is far from indifferent when it comes to the realm of the physical and practical. In this chapter, Meursault focuses on the practical details surrounding his mother’s death. He worries about borrowing appropriate funeral clothing from a friend, and he is interested in the caretaker’s anecdote about how the length of a vigil depends on how long it takes before the body begins to decompose.

Read more about decay and death as a motif.

Meursault takes particular interest in nature and the weather. Just before the funeral, he is able to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery, despite the sad occasion. Similarly, during the funeral procession, Meursault feels no grief or sadness, but he finds the heat of the day nearly unbearable.

Read an important quote about the unbearable heat at the funeral.

Meursault’s narration varies in a way that reflects his attitudes toward the world around him. When describing social or emotional situations, his sentences are short, precise, and offer minimal detail. He tells only the essentials of what he sees or does, rarely using metaphors or other rhetorical flourishes. These meager descriptions display Meursault’s indifference to society and to the people around him. Meursault’s narrative expands greatly when he talks about topics, such as the weather, that directly relate to his physical condition. When describing the effects of the heat during the funeral procession, for instance, he employs metaphor, personification, and other literary devices.

Read more about Meursault’s obsession with the physical world as a theme.

Meursault’s belief that the world is meaningless and purposeless becomes apparent in this chapter through Camus’s use of irony. Thomas Perez, the one person who actually cares about Madame Meursault, cannot keep up with her funeral procession because of his ailing physical condition. This sad detail is incompatible with any sentimental or humanistic interpretation of Madame Meursault’s death. Perez’s slowness is simply the result of his old age, and no grand or comforting meaning can be assigned to it or drawn from it. We frequently see such irony undercutting any notions of a higher, controlling order operating within The Stranger .

Read more about the meaninglessness of human life as a theme.

The Stranger (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series)

Ace your assignments with our guide to The Stranger !

Popular pages: The Stranger

Character list characters, meursault characters, themes literary devices, absurdity quotes, full book quick quizzes, take a study break.

QUIZ: Is This a Taylor Swift Lyric or a Quote by Edgar Allan Poe?

The 7 Most Embarrassing Proposals in Literature

The 6 Best and Worst TV Show Adaptations of Books

QUIZ: Which Greek God Are You?

The Stranger

Albert camus, everything you need for every book you read..

Meaninglessness of Life and the Absurd

From Meursault 's perspective the world is meaningless, and he repeatedly dismisses other characters' attempts to make sense of human. He rejects both religious and secular efforts to find meaning. From the director at the old people's home who arranges a religious funeral for Madame Meursault to the examining magistrate who tries to guide Meursault towards Christian faith to the chaplain who lectures Meursault about repentance and the afterlife, Meursault is often advised to embrace…

Chance and Interchangeability

Meursault considers all experience interchangeable, arbitrary, and essentially meaningless. "One life was as good as another," he tells his boss, explaining his indifference towards the opportunity to move to Paris. To him, it's only a matter of chance that events turn out as they do. His thoughts on the beach steps as he decides whether to return to Masson 's bungalow or to go back down to the beach could summarize his attitude towards every…

Indifference and Passivity

The novel opens with Meursault 's indifference at his mother's funeral and the consternation it provokes among the people around him. This dynamic recurs much more starkly at the trial, where the account of Meursault's "insensitivity" towards his mother 's death proves to be what ultimately turns the jury against him. People's surprise and dismay at novel's start implied they were judging Meursault based on his indifferent attitude. The court scene in the second half…

Importance of Physical Experience

As Meursault explains to his lawyer , "…my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings." Indeed, throughout the novel, Meursault experiences physical sensations and pains/pleasures much more acutely than he experiences emotional/psychological ones. As a narrator, he constantly supplies physical details without analyzing their emotional or psychological import. The most extreme example of this can be found in his account of killing the Arab . Meursault initially…

Relationships

Throughout the novel, Meursault remains unable to experience deep, complex relationships to the people in his life. All of his relationships – from the filial relationship he had with his mother to his friendship with Raymond to his romantic relationship with Marie – are passionless, determined much more by incidental, superficial impressions than by deep-felt emotional bonds. His casual attitude towards these relationships enables him to treat the people in his life according to his…

The Stranger Themes

Theme is a pervasive idea presented in a literary piece. Themes in The Stranger , a masterpiece of Albert Camus . The novel presents the dilemma of absurdity and also demonstrates the dark sides of human nature such as indifference and insensitivity toward relationships. We discuss some of the major themes in The Stranger below.

Themes in The Stranger

Irrationality

The irrationality of human actions and decisions is one of the major themes of The Stranger. Camus presents the character of Meursault to show this irrationality in human actions, decisions, life, and relationships. For example, Meursault does not take his mother’s death to heart and, aside from a brief leave of absence to bury her, continues his routine work. It is irrational from a societal standpoint that a person does not experience sorrow as they bury their mother. On the other hand, it seems irrational to Meursault that he should weep when the old lady’s death was inevitably to come one day.

In the same way, whether Meursault speaks during his trial or not, he is to be condemned to death as the world is entirely indifferent to his plight. Therefore, it seems irrational to him to explain his position. The trial and its sequence seem a social attempt to give a rational order to the things that seem meaningless. Meursault’s reaction and his sham trial prove that irrationality is at the very heart of human affairs.

Meaninglessness

The meaninglessness of human life, human relations and life on earth is another major theme of The Stranger. Meursault, the mouthpiece of Camus, shows this meaninglessness when his mother dies and, rather than being sorrowful, he leaves for the office the next day as usual and enjoys life with Marie. Interestingly, Meursault does not love Marie, either. He would, nonetheless, marry her, for neither marriage nor love matter for him. They are meaningless and his seeming penchant for meaninglessness drives his life. Even when it comes to killing a person, he shows no emotion; life is meaningless, so there are no meanings in killing or not killing the Arab. His main aim has been to ward him off.

Even about legal and religious authorities, Meursault’s leanings toward meaninglessness continue. Because of his indifference, he does meaninglessness acts. Also, he is termed a monster, as he continues believing that life and the world as meaningless. Marie and Raymond, both inclined toward the passions of life, intensify his sense of meaninglessness.

Significance of the Physical World

The physical world and its significance as a part of human life is another major theme of the novel. Meursault seems to be interested in the physical aspects of his life more than its emotional side. He is interested in finding meaning, but when he finds nothing, it tortures him. His attention to his own physical pleasures and indifference to the passions of others makes him detached from human emotions. His indifferent performance of rituals over the death of his mother and the displays indifference toward his own marriage. Marie’s emotions show that he is interested in only his own existence and its physicality. Perhaps his killing of the Arab is a sense that he does not tolerate physical assault from others. At the same time, his reflection on his existence makes this sense of physicality more acute than before.

Miscommunication

Lack of communication or miscommunication is another significant aspect of The Stranger. Whether it is the communication of human passions, sorrow or love, there is a general lack of misunderstanding among the characters of the intended meanings. The most misinterpreted character is Meursault, whose indifference comes across as inhumanity. Raymond, too, misinterprets him despite his close friendship. Although he kills the Arab for brandishing a knife at him, Raymond believes that killing the Arab was a kind act. Even his lawyer and the chaplain fail to understand his communication, his passions, and his final words.

Absurdity of Life

Meursault feels at the very beginning of the story that he is condemned to live his life as it is. Therefore, it seems to him absurd to carry on living in this way. He doesn’t like working in the office and carrying out orders of his boss because he is financially dependent on this job. The death of his mother further alienates him from life. Even Marie’s attempts to convince him to marry her seem absurd to him. He merely acts upon common sense that everybody dies and that everybody marries; what so new and interesting about it?

Indifference toward Human Passions

Indifference toward humanity and human passions is another crucial theme explored in The Stranger. This indifference results in an extreme and cruel form of apathy. Meursault is branded as a monster. At the end of the novel, he does not follow the instructions of his lawyer. As he has not shed any tears and has not shown any remorse for leaving her alone , he is a monster and therefore does not deserve to be shown sympathy . Even in the narration, it appears at some point that Meursault is showing an extreme form of indifference toward others, including his own mother and girlfriend. That is why he faces the indifference of the world when he is incarcerated for killing the Arab.

Difficulty in Relationships

Difficulty in forming relationships is another minor theme of the novel. Albert Camus shows through Meursault that it is very difficult to form relationships with a person who cannot feel sympathy toward his own mother. Even with Raymond and Marie, his relations are mostly emotionless. He is deeply indifferent to deeper relations. Most of the time, his attitude toward relationships is superficial. He does not feel that marriage is such an emotional attachment and only agrees to make Marie happy. He simply refuses to admit that he loves her. Even the killing incident is just incidental and not linked to him in any way.

Passivity is another theme that recurs in the novel. Meursault is the first example of this passivity: he only wants to observe life passing before his very eyes. He feels himself alienated and detached from the stream of life as if he exists only to watch. He watches his mother pass away and even watches his girlfriend asking him to marry her. Even his own reaction to his would-be hanging is a passive one. He just reflects upon the mob looking at his execution.

Alienation is another minor theme of the novel shown through Meursault. Not only does Meursault feel alienated from himself, but he also feels alienated from others and the whole social fabric. He feels alienated as he is a Frenchman living in Algeria. He feels alienated from others as his mother has left him, and he has no sadness about the event. He is so alienated from society that others consider him to be a monster.

Detachment is another minor theme of the novel. Meursault shows a detachment from society as well as in relationships. He demonstrates that he is not attached to his mother by performing her funeral rites coldly. He does not react to his death sentence and leaves it to see how the crowd is going to react.

The Stranger
The Stranger Characters
The Stranger Quotes
Macbeth Themes
Hamlet Themes
1984 Themes
The Crucible Themes
Frankenstein Themes
Oedipus Rex Themes
The Metamorphosis Themes
Beowulf Themes
Odyssey Themes
Beloved Themes
Slaughterhouse-Five Themes
Antigone Themes
Inferno Themes
Fahrenheit 451 Themes
Into the Wild Themes
The Alchemist Themes
Night Themes
Life of Pi Themes
The Invisible Man Themes
The Tempest Themes
The Iliad Themes
The Jungle Themes
Siddhartha Themes
The Aeneid Themes
Dracula Themes
To Kill a Mockingbird Themes
The Scarlet Letter Themes
The Canterbury Tales Themes
Heart of Darkness Themes
Brave New World Themes
Death of a Salesman Themes
Things Fall Apart Themes
A Tale of Two Cities Themes
A Doll’s House Themes
The Grapes of Wrath Themes
Twelfth Night Themes
Crime and Punishment Themes
Their Eyes Were Watching God Themes
Wuthering Heights Themes
In Cold Blood Themes
The Kite Runner Themes
The Glass Castle Themes
King Lear Themes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Themes
Stranger Danger
Romeo and Juliet Themes
Lord of the Flies Themes
Jane Eyre Themes
Julius Caesar Themes
10 Different Themes in Taylor Swift Songs
A Huge List of Common Themes
Examples of Themes in Popular Songs
To Kill a Mockingbird Racism
Albert Camus

“The Stranger” by Albert Camus Essay

Introduction, brief plot overview, the novel analysis.

The Stranger is considered to be a novel written by Albert Camus in 1942. This work is regarded to be the embodiment of philosophical concepts developed in the previous century. Many scholars refer the novel to existentialism direction, though the author never considered himself the representative of this branch. It is necessary to underline the fact that The Stranger depicts the author’s world perception, who treated it as indifferent and absurd. Nevertheless, Albert Camus managed to show the narrator’s attempts to rebel against personal indifference to obtain the best human values and virtues.

The Stranger is dedicated to the story of Meursault, a Frenchman and a story protagonist, who is characterized as an innately passive and emotionally detached person. His killing of an Arab man is perceived as a burst of irrational action. The investigation carried out by the police, led to Meursault’s execution for his disability to express proper feelings for the character’s dead mother, but not for the murder he committed. It is necessary to underline the fact that the novel is logically divided into two parts, one of which tells the story before the murder, and the other reflects Meursault’s life after his crime.

The Stranger appeared to be a successful philosophical masterpiece, bringing numerous criticism and responses on the part of scholars. The central concept of the novel is dedicated to the symbolization of ‘absurd’ as the key element accompanying a person’s life and impacting the formation of human behavior and actions in society. Camus demonstrates the idea that human existence is not evaluated through its rational meaning. Nevertheless, the difficulties connected with this author’s concept identification make people unintentionally create artificial rational structures, providing a sense for their lives. The Stranger allows the readers to evaluate the concept of ‘absurdity’ on the example of the narrator’s style of life and behavior.

Irrationality is symbolized throughout the whole novel; it characterizes Meursault’s connection with the internal and external world. Unreasonable thoughts and decisions made by the protagonist, such as marriage and crime, can not be characterized as rational.

‘For the first time maybe, I really thought I was going to get married’ (Camus and Stuart, 50)

It is necessary to underline the idea that the author strived to make the readers think of their mortality and life meaning. Analyzing the characters’ behavior one can stress the idea, that people live in constant search for the meaning of existence and actions, but very often we forget, that there is nothing to be searched for in reality. All the actions are treated as unreasonable making Meursault be a stranger among others. (Shoham, 54)

The Stranger is a novel translated from French, having several translated copies with considerable differences in interpretations. Thus, very often the novel is translated as ‘outsider’, identifying the character as the one, living outside the society. This idea is different from the one, which the author strives to demonstrate. Meursault is a symbolic representative of irrational evil, living in the society and feeling its pressure in search of meaning. Nevertheless, the second part of the novel is dedicated to social absurd embodiment through the trial and attempts to find the meaning in Meursault’s actions. (Kaplan, and Skolnick, 39)

One more aspect analyzed in the novel is dedicated to the importance of the physical environment. The Stranger cannot be called emotional or expressive, because its protagonist discloses no feelings or worrying about emotional life aspects. All the relationships the character has with Marie and her family is based on physical satisfaction, rather than moral happiness. For example, the case of his mother’s death is not so oppressive for Meursault, as funeral procession heat, causing physical inconvenience; the same reason appeared to be the key motivation for Arab killing, caused by character’s sufferings under the sunlight.

‘Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.’ (Camus and Stuart, 3)

One of the central novel motifs is observation, showing how people live in a state of constant watching each other’s actions and behavior. The evaluation of absurdity and meaningless is reached through social observation centralized in the story. For example, the physical inconvenience of the character is caused by the sun watching, and Meursault’s execution is the result of the jury observation. The idea of depicting human life in search of meaning is based on the concept of watching and analyzing external and internal human activities. (Morris, 117)

The Stranger can be analyzed as a valuable contribution to philosophical thought development through Camus’ successful presentation of human life in the modern world. The central idea depicted by the author gives an opportunity to understand absurdity of our meaning search, instead of creating the meaning with our hands. It is necessary to stress the point that the novel can be regarded as real masterpiece to be read by the students for the purpose of watching their order of life and balancing physical and moral values.

Camus, Albert and Stuart, Gilbert. The Stranger . Vintage Books, 1954.

Kaplan, John and Skolnick, Jerome. Criminal justice: introductory cases and materials . Foundation Press, 1982.

Morris, Donald. Opportunity: optimizing life’s chances . Prometheus Books, 2006.

Shoham, Giora. Society and the absurd: a sociology of conflicting encounters. Sussex Academic Press, 2006.

Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, December 8). “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/

"“The Stranger” by Albert Camus." IvyPanda , 8 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/.

IvyPanda . (2021) '“The Stranger” by Albert Camus'. 8 December.

IvyPanda . 2021. "“The Stranger” by Albert Camus." December 8, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/.

1. IvyPanda . "“The Stranger” by Albert Camus." December 8, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "“The Stranger” by Albert Camus." December 8, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/.

Meursault in "The Stranger": A Novel by Albert Camus
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus: Meursault’s Personality
Albert Camus’ Meursault Review
Absurdity in Kafka's “The Trial” and Camus' “The Stranger”
Albert Camus’ Novel "The Strange": The Death Penalty
Reflective Entry: “The stranger” by Albert Camus
Albert Camus “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “The Stranger”: Meursault’s and Sisyphus’ Happiness
"The Stranger" a Novel by Albert Camus
The Novel The Outsider Camus: Character Analysis
"The Stranger" a Book by Albert Camus
"The Serpent and the Grail" by A.A. Attanasio
Identity in African American Literature
“A Secret Lost in the Water” by Roch Carrier
“A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner, “The Handsomest Man Drowned in the World” by Marques, and “Cathedral” by Carver
The Ideas of American Realism and Naturalism in Litetrature

The Stranger

73 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 2, Chapters 1-3

Part 2, Chapters 4-5

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Existentialism, Absurdism, and the Meaning of Life

The Stranger is famous for its themes of existentialism and absurdism. Existentialism is a school of philosophy that attempts to deal with the dread or anxiety brought about by a seemingly uncaring and meaningless world. The search for purpose or meaning in an uncaring universe is a key element of existentialism, and it emerges as a key theme of The Stranger , though Camus did not consider the book an existentialist novel. Absurdism, an extension of existentialism, holds that pursuing meaning and order where none exists incites conflict between the individual and the universe. In the absurdist view, accepting this meaninglessness is the only way to attain happiness and purpose. The protagonist Meursault rejects society’s expectations and concludes that life lacks any real meaning. In this respect, he becomes the embodiment of the text’s philosophical themes.

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

By Albert Camus

A Happy Death

Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt

Featured Collections

Colonialism & Postcolonialism

View Collection

French Literature

Good & Evil

Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics

Required Reading Lists

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Stranger — Existentialism In Albert Camus’ The Stranger

Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger

Categories: Albert Camus Existentialism The Stranger

About this sample

Words: 1544 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 1544 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof Ernest (PhD)

Verified writer

Expert in: Philosophy Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 887 words

6 pages / 2692 words

3.5 pages / 1676 words

3 pages / 1406 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger Essay

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on The Stranger

Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger" follows the story of Meursault, a man who embodies the philosophy of existentialism. Meursault's character is enigmatic and complex, and his actions and thoughts throughout the novel provide [...]

Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger" is a powerful examination of the human condition, delving into themes of existentialism, alienation, and the absurdity of life. Throughout the novel, Camus utilizes various symbols to enhance [...]

"Hamlet" has been widely studied and debated for centuries, and one of the key questions that arises is whether the protagonist, Prince Hamlet, can be considered a good person. This essay will explore various aspects of Hamlet's [...]

The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, is a thought-provoking novel that delves into themes of existentialism, absurdism, and the human condition. The setting of the novel is crucial to understanding the story and the characters [...]

In Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger, different women can be seen as having achieved various levels of enlightenment when compared to the final, ‘complete’ enlightenment Meursault achieves at the end of the novel. In the end, [...]

"The Stranger" by Albert Camus is a classic novel that delves into the existential themes of absurdity, alienation, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world. Through the lens of the protagonist Meursault, Camus [...]

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Our Analysts
Free Reports
Newsletters
My Services
Portfolio Tracker
Manage Account

Cosmic Profits: 3 Space Stocks With Sky-High Potential

Explore the dynamics of space stocks

Let’s see the latest on these top space stocks.
Virgin Galactic ( SPCE ): SPCE’s successful has spaceflights and a roadmap to free cash flow.
Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ): A NASA contract and lunar landing suggest upside potential.
Northrop Grumman ( NOC ): NOC benefits from increasing military budgets.

space stocks - Cosmic Profits: 3 Space Stocks With Sky-High Potential

Source: Shutterstock

Space stocks attract investors for two principal reasons: space tourism and space exploration. Because space tourism is so young, the market size is hard to peg, but Grand View Research is forecasting a 45% CAGR from 2024 to 2030, eventually leading to a $10 billion valuation. The benefits of space exploration are similarly hard to measure. However, the resources in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter alone are worth an estimated $700 quintillion .

I take all of these estimates with a grain of salt, but one thing is certain: Space is uncharted territory offering rich returns, with North America leading the market.

Virgin Galactic (SPCE)

After completing its 11th successful spaceflight — and its first in 2024 — Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE ) looked to lead space stocks this year. However, it’s in hot waters thanks to a Boeing (NYSE: BA ) lawsuit , which could cause delays in the commencement of commercial Delta class spaceflights slated for 2026.

Boeing contends Virgin Galactic failed to fulfill contractual obligations and eliminate two sets of trade secrets after terminating their partnership to create a Mothership jet carrier. Boeing alleges Virgin continues to use these trade secrets to develop its new aircraft carrier, potentially exposing vital data to public disclosure. Virgin Galactic plans to fight back , but the stock is already pricing in the lawsuit, down 47% in 2024.

There’s no denying that the issue clouds Virgin Galactic’s 2026 targets. Following the completion of its Galactic 06 mission — which made headlines because all four seats on board VSS Unity were occupied by private astronauts — Virgin Galactic talked about increasing the number of flights it can conduct by building its next-generation Delta-class ships, scheduled to begin testing next year and go into commercial service in 2026.

A narrowing of its loss in the latest quarter built on its promise to generate positive free cash flow by 2026.

However, until a replacement mothership is created, Virgin Galactic’s growth will probably be hampered by the current constraints of its VMS Eve, which lost its alignment pin during its most recent space mission.

On the other hand, if matters between the two parties get settled out of court, Virgin could be back on track and make a run for its consensus target price of around $3, translating into 123% in potential upside. This combines to make SPCE one of the most high-risk, high-reward space stocks.

Intuitive Machines (LUNR)

As Virgin Galactic battles the Boeing lawsuit, Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR ) is seeing growth in its shares after securing a big NASA contract to aid in lunar exploration.

Intuitive Machines will help develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for upcoming moon missions. Intuitive Machines, acknowledged as a main contractor for NASA’s Artemis program, will receive a $30 million payment. Working with partners such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the deal has a potential value of up to $4.6 billion .

The most recent development intensifies the attraction of LUNR, which is already booming due to the private Odysseus lander’s moon landing — a first for the U.S. since 1972.

The moon landing enhanced Intuitive Machines’ remarkable first quarter. The company announced exceptional financial results for Q4 2023, comfortably exceeding projections. It reported earnings per share of 33 cents, a noteworthy 120% increase from the previous year, while Q4 revenues of $30.6 million exceeded estimates by $8.4 million.

However, tempering this excitement in Q1 was announcing a $300 million stock offering . The markets, though, are in a forgiving mood, exemplified with a year-to-date return of 141%. Strong execution thus far has investors trusting that the money will go towards enhancing space crafts, building on an already impressive cash balance of roughly $55 million on March 1. Despite the sharp increase, analysts still forecast a 115% upside for LUNR.

Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Suppose you want to invest in space stocks but dislike the volatility of Virgin Galactic and Intuitive Machines. In that case, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC ), with 21 consecutive years of dividend hikes, certainly grabs attention.

Northrop collaborates with NASA to create spacecraft and orbit stations for lunar exploration. In particular, the multinational defense and aerospace company is notably working on NASA’s lunar Gateway, an important lynchpin of the NASA-led Artemis missions to go back to the Moon and map a route for the first human flights to Mars.

Northrop is not a stranger to government work, which gives it access to smooth, recurring free cash flow. Notable examples include its work with the U.S. Army’s Precision Strike Missile System and the development and testing of Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) vehicles, which it carried out under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract in collaboration with Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX ).

Northrop is also cashing in on the AI wave through its partnership with EpiSci to create and implement autonomous tactical solutions.

Finally, Northrop will continue to benefit from the rise in military budgets in the U.S. and Europe. NATO data shows the bloc’s European arm is back to spending 2% of its GDP in 2024. The cash stockpile from this segment will help pacify investor concerns regarding potential losses in the space division, which is still nascent.

The stock holds a 5% upside based on a $480 price target.

On the date of publication, Muslim Farooque did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines

Faizan Farooque is a contributing author for InvestorPlace.com and numerous other financial sites. Faizan has several years of experience in analyzing the stock market and was a former data journalist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His passion is to help the average investor make more informed decisions regarding their portfolio.

Industrial , Space

Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2024/04/cosmic-profits-3-space-stocks-with-sky-high-potential/.

Subscriber Sign in

Not Yet a Premium Subscriber?

The best new science fiction books of April 2024

There’s an abundance of exciting new science fiction out in April, by writers including The Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, Douglas Preston and Lionel Shriver

By Alison Flood

1 April 2024

The last remaining free city of the Forever Desert has been besieged for centuries in The Truth of the Aleke

Shutterstock / Liu zishan

There are some huge names with new works out this month: Cixin Liu and Ann Leckie both have collections of shorter writing to peruse, plus there’s a dystopic future from the award-winning Téa Obreht and a world where woolly mammoths have been brought back from the bestselling Douglas Preston. I also love the sound of Scott Alexander Howard’s debut The Other Valley , set in a town where its past and future versions exist in the next valleys over, and of Sofia Samatar’s space adventure The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain . So much to read, so little time…

A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu

This is a collection of short works from Liu, the sci-fi author of the moment thanks to Netflix’s new adaptation of The Three-Body Problem , ranging from essays and interviews to short fiction. I love this snippet from an essay about sci-fi fans, in which he calls us “mysterious aliens in the crowd”, who “jump like fleas from future to past and back again, and float like clouds of gas between nebulae; in a flash, we can reach the edge of the universe, or tunnel into a quark, or swim within a star-core”. Aren’t we lucky to have such worlds available to us on our shelves?

3 Body Problem review: Cixin Liu's masterpiece arrives on Netflix

Cixin Liu's novel The Three-Body Problem has been turned into an eight-part series for Netflix by the Game of Thrones team. There is much to admire so far, but will the adaptation stay on track, wonders Bethan Ackerley

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

Leckie is a must-read writer for me, and this is the first complete collection of her short fiction, ranging across science fiction and fantasy. On the sci-fi side, we will be able to dip back into the Imperial Radch universe, and we are also promised that we’ll “learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls” in a brand-new novelette.

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

In a catastrophic version of the future, an 11-year-old girl arrives with her mother at The Morningside, once a luxury high-rise, now another crumbling part of Island City, which is half-underwater. Obreht won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 for her debut, The Tiger’s Wife .

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Samatar won all sorts of prizes for her first novel, A Stranger in Olondria . Her latest sounds really intriguing, following the story of a boy who has grown up condemned to work in the bowels of a mining ship among the stars, whose life changes when he is given the chance to be educated at the ship’s university.

A boy grows up working in a mining ship among the stars in The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

D-Keine/Getty Images

Extinction by Douglas Preston

This is set in a valley in the Rockies, where guests at a luxury resort can see woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths and Irish elk brought back from extinction by genetic manipulation. But then a string of killings kicks off, and a pair of investigators must find out what’s really going on. This looks Jurassic Park -esque and seems like lots of fun. And if you want more mammoth-related reading, try my colleague Michael Le Page’s excellent explainer about why they won’t be back any time soon.

Mania by Lionel Shriver

The award-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin brings her thoughts about so-called “culture wars” to bear on her fiction, imagining a world where a “Mental Parity Movement” is in the ascendent, and “the worst thing you can call someone is ‘stupid’”.

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

This speculative novel is set in a town where, to the east, lies the same town but 20 years ahead in time and, to the west, the same town but 20 years behind, repeating endlessly across the wilderness. The only border crossings allowed are for “mourning tours”, in which the dead can be seen in towns where they are still alive. Odile, who is 16, is set for a seat on the Conseil, where she will be able to decree who gets to travel across borders. I love the sound of this.

The best new science fiction books of March 2024

With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March

What If… Loki was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux

Many will question whether the Marvel superhero stories are really science fiction, but I’m leaning into the multiversal aspect here to include this, as it sounds like it could be a bit of fun. It’s the first in a new series that reimagines the origins of some of the biggest heroes: here, Thor died protecting Earth from one of Loki’s pranks and, exiled on our planet, the Norse trickster god is now dealing with the consequences.

The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

The second book in the Forever Desert series is set 500 years after The Lies of the Ajungo , following a junior peacekeeper in the last remaining free city of the Forever Desert, which has been besieged for centuries. It was actually out in March, but I missed it then, so I’m bringing it to you now as it was tipped as a title to watch this year by our science fiction contributor Sally Adee.

Anomaly by Andrej Nikolaidis, translated by Will Firth

It is New Year’s Eve on the last day of the last year of human existence and various stories are unfolding, from a high-ranking minister with blood on his hands to a nurse keeping a secret. Later, in a cabin in the Alps, a musicologist and her daughter – the last people left on Earth – are trying to understand the catastrophe. According to The Independent , Nikolaidis “makes Samuel Beckett look positively cheery”, but I’m definitely in the mood for that kind of story now and then.

Martin MacInnes: 'Science fiction can be many different things'

The author of In Ascension, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on why he wrote his novel, cultivating a sense of wonder and the role of fiction in the world today

Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton

In this techno-thriller, Mal is a free AI who is uninterested in the conflict going on between the humans, until he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary and becomes responsible for the safety of the girl she died protecting.

science fiction /

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

More from New Scientist

Explore the latest news, articles and features

In Frank Herbert’s Dune, fungi are hidden in plain sight

Subscriber-only

Is the woolly mammoth really on the brink of being resurrected?

The Morning

Iran’s axis of resistance.

We examine what could push Iran and Israel toward a confrontation.

People walk past posters of men with arabic writing below.

By David Leonhardt

Its members refer to it as the Axis of Resistance.

It is the network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East dedicated to reducing U.S. influence in the region and ultimately eliminating the state of Israel. The network’s name is a play on former President George W. Bush’s 2002 claim that Iran, Iraq and North Korea made up an Axis of Evil.

The Axis of Resistance includes Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other groups, and both its strategy and its tactics have long been radical. The official slogan of the Houthis — the Yemen-based group that has attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea — includes “death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews,” for example.

Nonetheless, the conflict between the Axis and its enemies had remained limited for years. Even though Iran funds and supports the Axis, other countries have often treated its member groups as distinct from Iran. Attacks by Hamas or Hezbollah usually did not lead to reprisals against Iran.

The events of the past few months threaten to change this dynamic. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why.

A murky distinction

The main turning point, of course, was Oct. 7. Hamas conducted the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history and said it would repeat the attacks until Israel was destroyed. Israel has responded by vowing to destroy Hamas, and its war in Gaza has flattened neighborhoods and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. In solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah has fired missiles into Israel, while the Houthis have disrupted global commerce .

Initially, Iran remained somewhat removed from the fighting. Although its leaders praised the Oct. 7 attack as a step toward the end of Israel, they privately said they did not help plan the attack — and U.S. officials agree they did not. All three countries took steps to avoid a wider war.

All have good reasons. Iran’s economy is weak, and its fundamentalist government worries about pro-democracy activism. A war could destabilize the country. Israel eventually hopes to sign a diplomatic agreement with Saudi Arabia, as it already has with Bahrain, Morocco and the U.A.E., which would reduce the long-term risks to Israel’s existence. A bloody war could make it harder for the Saudis to do so (much as the war in Gaza has put the Saudi talks on hold ). And President Biden very much wants to avoid a wider war.

Despite these factors, a basic reality may push Iran and Israel toward confrontation: The distinction between Iran and the Axis of Resistance has always been murky.

Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis could not exist as they do without the money and weapons they receive from Iran. Hezbollah is especially close with Iranian leaders. Iran, in short, makes possible an alliance that routinely attacks another country and calls for its demise.

This situation helps explain Israel’s bombing of an Iranian Embassy building in Syria on Monday, which killed several Iranian officials who helped oversee the relationship with the Axis of Resistance. The Oct. 7 attack left Israel feeling newly vulnerable, and it has become more aggressive in attacking Iranian officials ( This Times article catalogs other recent Israeli attacks.) Monday’s was the starkest: Countries rarely attack embassies, even those of their enemies.

Iran has promised to retaliate, and U.S. officials are concerned that Americans may be targeted as well as Israelis, as my colleague Eric Schmitt notes . Experts are also worried that an Axis group could go further than its Iranian sponsors prefer.

The Suleimani case

I want to emphasize that escalation isn’t the only possible outcome. Iran and Israel both still have the same incentives to avoid a full-scale war, and officials from both countries are carefully calibrating their actions, according to Julian Barnes, a Times reporter who covers intelligence.

Recent history offers an example of an audacious attack that didn’t lead to spiraling violence. In 2020, a U.S. drone killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, one of Iran’s most powerful officials, in Baghdad. The Trump administration said the assassination was punishment for Suleimani’s work with Axis of Resistance groups that had killed American troops in Iraq.

Afterward, many experts warned of a cycle of escalation. Instead, Iran retaliated in a limited way, and the U.S. did not respond. Today, though, the tensions between Iran and Israel are sharper than they have been in a long time.

More on the Middle East

Can Israel bomb an embassy? In The Times’s Interpreter newsletter, Amanda Taub examines the legality .

Israel’s military can hit with precision. But its strike on an aid convoy showed the difficulties of picking targets in war , experts say.

One of the aid workers’ brothers kept calling him after the strike. Finally, a stranger answered .

The White House invited Muslim community leaders to a dinner celebrating Ramadan. Many declined because of Biden’s position on Israel .

Biden privately said that Jill Biden, the first lady, had urged him to stop the war . The White House denied any difference between their positions.

THE LATEST NEWS

International.

More than 200 aftershocks followed Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years. At least nine people died and more than 1,000 others were injured. Many are trapped in rubble .

In South Korea, a doctors’ strike is testing the public’s patience .

2024 Election

Biden and Donald Trump get to decide what they share about their health. Voters are asking questions .

Trump claimed he’d spoken with the family of a Michigan woman allegedly killed by an undocumented man. Her sister said Trump never contacted the family .

A political strategist forecast the Democrats’ surprising strength in 2022. His next prediction? A Biden victory .

Trump Trials

The judge overseeing Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial denied Trump’s request to postpone the start date.

Federal prosecutors, frustrated by the pace of Trump’s classified documents case, pressed the judge overseeing it to move faster .

The billionaire whose company gave Trump a $175 million bond got rich by offering high-interest car loans to people with bad credit.

Investors have so far lost tens of millions of dollars betting against Trump’s social media company.

Disney shareholders, endorsing chief executive Bob Iger’s leadership, rejected an activist investor’s bid to win two board seats.

The first patient to receive a transplanted kidney from a genetically modified pig is doing so well that he left the hospital for home .

Once rivals, Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders are together pushing for lower prescription prices , CNN reports.

A drug similar to Ozempic and Wegovy modestly slowed Parkinson’s disease in a study.

MORNING READS

Carefluencers : Some young people are supporting their older relatives — and making them TikTok stars .

Soccer: Muslim players once faced pressure to avoid fasting during Ramadan. Many teams now provide support for fasting .

Brand logo: Some runners are not happy with the Boston Marathon’s new medal design .

Social Q’s: “How can our friends choose a Realtor other than my husband ?”

Big purchase : Should you buy a second home? Read these tips to decide .

Lives Lived: Christopher Durang was a playwright who mixed high art with lowbrow jokes. He died at 75 .

College basketball: The L.S.U. star Angel Reese declared for the W.N.B.A. draft two days after Iowa eliminated her team in the Elite Eight.

N.F.L.: The Houston Texans acquired the star wide receiver Stefon Diggs from the Buffalo Bills, a big swing for a young Houston team now expected to compete for a Super Bowl.

Sports gambling: Louisiana is banning prop bets on college athletes .

ARTS AND IDEAS

The seat of modernism: An exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, “Crafting Modernity,” explores modernism and domestic design in Latin America. It focuses on 1940 through 1980, a time of industrial expansion.

“I can’t recall the last time I coveted so many beautiful chairs,” Michael Kimmelman writes about the show . “The photographs give you some idea.”

More on culture

The Chicago Symphony orchestra announced a 28-year-old Finnish conductor as its next music director.

A 32-year-old from South Korea has become a rising star as a violin maker in Italy .

The Cut has put together an encyclopedia of celebrities who have launched beauty brands.

Beyoncé has been sending flowers to artists whose work she admires. See her signature bouquets .

Lizzo clarified that she was not leaving the music industry , days after a social media post saying, “I QUIT.”

Late night hosts joked about Trump’s call for a “ Christian Visibility Day .”

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Make a midnight pasta with roasted garlic, anchovies, capers and red pepper.

Visit a hotel with a good pool .

Photograph the solar eclipse .

Choose the best tampon .

Here is today’s Spelling Bee . Yesterday’s pangram was puppylike .

And here are today’s Mini Crossword , Wordle , Sudoku and Connections .

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

David Leonhardt runs The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has been an economics columnist, opinion columnist, head of the Washington bureau and founding editor of the Upshot section, among other roles. More about David Leonhardt

Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

The 24 Best Beach Reads of 2024

Just you, the sand, the sun, and the latest in thrillers, killers, and love

In a list like the one below, genre really gets to shine, from thrillers (see: Amy Tintera’s Listen for the Lie or Alyssa Cole’s inventive One of Us Knows ) to romances (Ashley Poston’s A Novel Love Story ) to crime fiction (Tana French’s The Hunter ). Sometimes great beach reads are also set in vacation towns during the summer months, like Swan Song , the final novel in Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket series, or Carley Fortune’s electric This Summer Will Be Different . That’s a real thrill—it’s like double vacation. Below, find 24 vastly different stories that will keep you entertained, moved, and engrossed all the way to Labor Day.

Good Material , by Dolly Alderton

Dolly Alderton , a British author with a growing U.S. following, writes a funny book. Her second novel (and third book overall) begins with a breakup. Jen ends things with Andy, which pitches him into a lovelorn fit, searching for the why of it all. Andy, 35, is a stand-up comedian whose agent is ghosting him and who can’t find friends who have time for him. (They’re dedicating all their previous hangout time to raising their young families.) This one is for those who love Nora Ephron, Nick Hornby, and Hugh Grant’s early work.

Come and Get It , by Kiley Reid

Kiley Reid’s follow-up to New York Times bestseller Such a Fun Age takes us back to the heady, hazy days of 2017. In Come and Get It , Millie Cousins is a resident assistant at the University of Arkansas who dreams of buying a house after graduation. Agatha Paul is a visiting professor writing a book about weddings. Agatha’s and Millie’s paths cross when the academic heads to the dorms to interview students, ends up fascinated with how the young women talk about money, and ultimately pays Millie to let her eavesdrop from her dorm room. This is a book about how money shapes people’s lives, and it’s for you if you enjoy a character-driven narrative in which everyone introduced comes with an elaborate backstory.

The Women , by Kristin Hunter

This book will pull on your heartstrings. Opening in the mid-1960s, during the Vietnam War, and spanning two decades, it follows Frankie McGrath, who joins the Army Nurse Corps. Thrown into the war-torn jungle, she must watch young men die and is forced to build relationships to help endure the pain. It’s a heavy, emotional book that you won’t be able to put down. It’s also a story will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.

Leaving , by Roxana Robinson

Former college flames Warren and Sarah meet at the opera after years (and marriages) have gone by. This second meeting at age 60 sparks something in both of them, but exploring a relationship is not as simple as it once was. Warren is still married, and he and Sarah both have grown children with opinions. Though he seems ready to leave his wife, Sarah feels conflicted, having gone through a difficult divorce herself. Leaving delves beautifully into what families are to each other and what’s owed to them, love in our later years, and how to balance passion and morality.

The Hunter , by Tana French

Cal Hooper left the Chicago PD to live a quiet life in the tiny town of Ardnakelty in western Ireland. He found a girlfriend, Lena, and took in a mess of a teenager, Trey. But just as Cal has guided the young woman onto a decent path, her father—a charmer and a cad—returns home with a posh Englishman. He’s plotting to strike it rich, while Trey is plotting her revenge. A couple of caveats to know going in: The Hunter has a different, more winding tone than French’s beloved Dublin Murder Squad series, and it behooves the reader to tackle her first book about Cal, 2015’s The Searcher , prior to picking up this one.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last , by Xochitl Gonzalez

If you couldn’t look away from the relationship dynamics explored in A Star Is Born or Anatomy of a Fall , you’ll want to read Xochitl Gonzalez’s new one, Anita de Monte Laughs Last . Raquel Toro arrives at Brown in 1998 to find the famously crunchy Ivy is still a bastion of wealth and whiteness. Raquel, from a Puerto Rican working-class background, pursues her thesis in art history by researching a promising young Cuban-American artist who died in 1985 under mysterious circumstances. As she discovers more about Anita de Monte and the dead woman’s tricky romantic relationship with Jack Martin—a fellow artist, philanderer, and Anita’s biggest critic—Raquel begins to see parallels with her own work and relationship. Well paced, entertaining, and full of flights of fancy, this story about tragic power dynamics and dueling careers is heavy but flies by.

Queen Charlotte , by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes

Yes, this book was reverse-engineered from last year’s prequel spin-off of Bridgerton , the immensely popular Netflix series adapted by Shonda Rhimes’s company from Julia Quinn’s novels—but with such good source material, it would be a mistake not to adapt the show into a book perfect for the lazy, hazy days of summer. As in the show, this one—out now in paperback—begins when Lady Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz arrives at the court of King George III to marry him. As the headstrong new queen is adjusting to her fresh life in a strange palace, she discovers a dark secret about the husband she’s just met.

The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir , by RuPaul

RuPaul—a name synonymous with drag—tells the story of his life, from sticking out like a queer thumb in San Diego all the way to finding both sobriety and love with his husband, Georges LeBar. It’s less a celebrity memoir revealing decades-old gossip from a safe vantage point, and more a searching examination of Ru’s road to self-acceptance. Heady stuff indeed, but chock-full of the longtime star’s wit and humor.

Listen for the Lie , by Amy Tintera

What happens when a wildly popular podcast and its enigmatic, handsome host begin to investigate the mystery of your best friend’s murder—in which you are the prime suspect? The story of Texas sweethearts Savvy and Lucy—one murdered, the other unsure if she did it or not—is one of those totally engrossing reads that will have you looking up from your beach chair every once in a while to say, “Oh, that’s right. I’m at the beach.”

Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans , by Jane Marie

Jane Marie hosts popular podcast The Dream , an investigation into pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing companies that have been embedded in the United States for decades—and in this nonfiction book, she’s put it all down on paper. Her exploration of MLMs—and how they trap people in working-class communities, enriching those at the top and leaving those at the bottom poorer than they were before—is a wide-reaching, well-researched, look at a business structure most Americans eventually rub up against, either directly, through a friend or family member, or indirectly, through the powerful politicians who’ve built their wealth on MLMs.

Kill for Me, Kill for You , by Steve Cavanagh

Kill for Me, Kill for You is about two grieving women, Wendy and Amanda, who meet in New York and realize they have a lot in common. They’ve both suffered unimaginable tragedies, and they’d really like to get revenge on the men who harmed them and their families. Over drinks, they make a pact: Each will kill the other’s tormentor. It’s like Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train if both parties were into the revenge idea. For readers drawn to white-knuckle plots and unpredictable twists, this one won’t disappoint.

Just for the Summer , by Abby Jimenez

Emma Grant meets Justin Dahl thanks to an “Am I the Asshole?” post he wrote on Reddit, in which he described a curious “curse,” under which the women he dates all seem to leave him and then immediately find the loves of their life. Emma has the same problem. The two hatch a plan to break the curse by dating each other: They’ll give it a go for just four dates (the number it usually takes for women to break up with Justin) over the course of a month (the length of time Emma’s relationships typically last), and then split. It won’t surprise you to learn it’s not quite that simple.

Sociopath: A Memoir , by Patric Gagne

Consider, for your spring break reading, a different kind of memoir: Patric Gagne realized from an early age that she wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t feel fear or guilt. Empathy eluded her. Eventually, she learned of a diagnosis that explained her lack of certain emotions (and also the behaviors she dabbled in, trying to fill in that void, like stealing cars and lying): She’s a sociopath. But Gagne didn’t like how people like her have been portrayed in the media, nor did she care for the grim prognosis for living a happy life as a sociopath. When an opportunity to love presents itself, she begins to hope that she is more than her diagnosis, and that may be able to change the world’s perception of people like her.

One of Us Knows , by Alyssa Cole (April 16)

When Kenetria Nash was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (colloquially known as multiple personality disorder), it stalled her career in historic preservation. At the start of this story, Ken has been dormant for six years while her alters fronted for her—and when she wakes up, she’s on a dock with some luggage. She discovers she’s taken a job as a caretaker of a historic home on an island in the Hudson River. As she attempts to piece together how she got there and what has been happening in the world over the last few years, mysteries arise both within Ken and in the house. Then a group comes to stay, one of them ends up murdered, and she is blamed. The unusual premise works well in Cole’s capable hands, and she writes about DID with human nuance. One of Us Knows will certainly keep your heart beating while you’re relaxing by the shore.

Funny Story , by Emily Henry (April 23)

The inimitable Emily Henry is back with a story of opposite attraction and fake relationships. Funny Story tells the tale of Daphne, who was engaged to Peter—until they moved to his hometown in Michigan, where he realized he was in love with Petra, his childhood friend. The polished Daphne decides to move in with Petra’s ex, the disorganized and slightly unkempt Miles. Daphne and Miles then fake a relationship until they potentially, maybe, you’ll-have-to-read-to-find-out-if-they make it.

Silk , by Aarathi Prasad (April 30)

Silk is known as the queen of fibers. Its sheen is alluring, beautiful, and slippery, and it has a rich, rich history. Allow researcher Aarathi Prasad—who has a PhD in molecular genetics—to walk you through that history, how silk is made, and how it has been used across cultures. It’s a mix of science, history, and textiles that will teach more about the alluring fabric than you’d ever think you could know.

This Summer Will Be Different , by Carley Fortune (May 7)

Carly Fortune is a growing voice in the world of perfect beach reads, and This Summer Will Be Different is one of her best so far. In it, she takes her readers to the coastal Northeast—beautiful Prince Edward Island. On vacation there, Lucy discovers her electrifying chemistry with a local man named Felix—before discovering Felix is the brother of her best friend, Bridget. That only makes her subsequent annual visits more complicated. What’s so great about this novel is that it’s a story about friendship as much as it is about a forbidden kind of love. (Your best friend’s brother? Has someone ever been more off-limits?)

Last House , by Jessica Shattuck (May 14)

This one is for readers who like to immerse themselves in a decades-long, multigenerational familial saga while their toes dangle in the sand. Over most of a century, Last House explores the American empire after World War II through one man’s pursuit of oil and how his family contends with the legacy made from the stuff. Jessica Shattuck is a best-selling author, and this novel, like her others, both moves and is incredibly moving.

Housemates , by Emma Copley Eisenberg (May 28)

Here’s one for the road-tripping vacationers: Bernie, a photographer, answers writer Leah’s ad for a housemate, and they develop a friendship. When Bernie’s photography professor dies and leaves her a surprise inheritance, the roomies leave their home in Philadelphia to drive to his place in rural Pennsylvania, meeting an engaging cast of characters along the way. It’s a genuine book about art, love, friendship, chosen family, and America in this moment.

Swan Song , by Elin Hilderbrand (June 11)

Elin Hilderbrand is the doyen of the beach read, the queen of all things sun, fun, and intrigue, one of the best to ever do it,and Swan Song is the cleverly titled final installment of her popular Nantucket series. It’s a stranger-comes-to-town tale, and these particular strangers—the Richardsons—are mysterious, wealthy, and mysteriously wealthy. No one seems to know how they made their money. When the lavish summer home they bought for $22 million burns to the ground and a woman goes missing, the town is obviously upset. You’ll see all your old favorite characters from the previous Nantucket novels, and this final act is chock-full of all Hilderbrand’s hallmarks, from family drama to romance.

preview for Harper's BAZAAR Culture Playlist

Art, Books & Music

For Tyla, Music and Movement Go Hand in Hand

Who Is Linda Martell? All About the Trailblazer

anita de monte laughs last by xochitl gonzalez

Bazaar Book Chat: “Anita de Monte Laughs Last”

The Meaning Behind Beyoncé’s “Bodyguard”

Beyoncé & Miley's “II Most Wanted” Explained

On "Cowboy Carter", Beyoncé Reclaims What's Hers

What to Know About Cowboy Carter

’60s Fashion Reigns Supreme in Palm Royale

Kacey Musgraves Gets Real at Intimate Artist Talk

Ariana Grande Releases Her Seventh Studio Album

evan peters ariana grande we cant be friends music video

Ariana Grande Enslists Evan Peters for New Video

IMAGES

The Stranger: Essay Example
The Stranger Essay Example for Free
PPT
The Stranger.docx
The stranger camus thesis proposal
The Stranger by Albert Camus

VIDEO

Red Eye Romance
Candyman Trailer REACTION
Mashup
Stranger's Kind Gesture: Rich Man Returns Family Heirloom and Helps Mother in Need #shorts

COMMENTS

The Stranger Critical Essays
1. Meursault never questions morality of writing such a letter. 2. Society's view of a man like Raymond and Meursault's association with him. D. Murder of the Arab and reasons for pulling the ...
PDF Albert Camus's The Stranger
essays, he is the author of Sartre's Theatre: Acts for Life (Peter Lang 2005), editor of J.-P. Sartre, Les Jeux sont faits (Routledge 1990), and co-editor of Sartre's Second Century (CSP 2009) and Jean-Paul Sartre: Mind and Body, Word and Deed (CSP 2011). He is currently editing a third volume of essays, Severally Seeking Sartre (CSP 2013 ...
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus: An Existential ...
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus is a classic novel that delves into the existential themes of absurdity, alienation, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world. Through the lens of the protagonist Meursault, Camus challenges conventional notions of morality and societal norms, prompting readers to question the human condition and the nature of existence.
The Stranger: Themes
The Irrationality of the Universe. Though The Stranger is a work of fiction, it contains a strong resonance of Camus's philosophical notion of absurdity. In his essays, Camus asserts that individual lives and human existence in general have no rational meaning or order. However, because people have difficulty accepting this notion, they ...
Albert Camus's The stranger : critical essays
The essays here examine Camus's first published novel, The Stranger, from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives, each drawing on the author's knowledge to present the first known critical examination in English. As such, this volume will shed new light on previous scholarship. (source: Nielsen Book Data)
The Stranger Analysis
The Stranger is probably the most original of all of Camus's works. A narrative rather than a novel, it was really executed in the spirit of a "new novel" that writers of the 1960s ...
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus: Literary Analysis Essay
Based on the analysis of the newly acquired philosophical ideas, Camus started to work on his first novel The Stranger. It incorporates the ideas of absurdity which question the value and sense of human life depicted throughout the subjective experiences of the protagonist. He acts based on his prejudices and choices but realizes what he is ...
Albert Camus's The Stranger: Critical Essays
For them, he is a novelist/essayist who embodies a philosophy that was never fully developed due to his brief life. The essays here examine Camus's first published novel, The Stranger, from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives, each drawing on the author's knowledge to present the first known critical examination in English.
Thesis of the Novel The Stranger
Thesis of the Novel The Stranger. Analysis of Albert Camus's Novels. By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 7, 2019 • ( 2) Two persistent themes animate all of Albert Camus's writing and underlie his artistic vision: One is the enigma of the universe, which is breathtakingly beautiful yet indifferent to life; the other is the enigma of man, whose ...
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Albert Camus, born in French-colonial Algeria, wrote The Stranger in the early 1940s, during WWII. The violence, death, and trauma of this period gave rise to emotions of futility, pessimism, and disillusionment. Camus, influenced by the moral and intellectual bewilderment of WWII, contributed to the development of a philosophical theory called ...
The Stranger Essays
The Stranger. Albert Camus's novel The Stranger is an extremely explicit work describing violent acts witnessed by a narrator who seems to be wholly unaffected by their brutality. The novel begins with death - "Mamman died today" (3) - and ends with the...
The Stranger Part One: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis
A summary of Part One: Chapter 1 in Albert Camus's The Stranger. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Stranger and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
The Stranger Themes
The novel opens with Meursault 's indifference at his mother's funeral and the consternation it provokes among the people around him. This dynamic recurs much more starkly at the trial, where the account of Meursault's "insensitivity" towards his mother 's death proves to be what ultimately turns the jury against him. People's surprise and dismay at novel's start implied they were judging ...
Themes in The Stranger with Examples and Analysis
Theme #2. Meaninglessness. The meaninglessness of human life, human relations and life on earth is another major theme of The Stranger. Meursault, the mouthpiece of Camus, shows this meaninglessness when his mother dies and, rather than being sorrowful, he leaves for the office the next day as usual and enjoys life with Marie.
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus
The Stranger is dedicated to the story of Meursault, a Frenchman and a story protagonist, who is characterized as an innately passive and emotionally detached person. His killing of an Arab man is perceived as a burst of irrational action. The investigation carried out by the police, led to Meursault's execution for his disability to express ...
The Stranger, Albert Camus
The Stranger, Albert Camus | Themes of Existentialism. Existentialism is often defined as a philosophical movement or tendency, emphasizing individual existence, freedom and choice. As a result of the diversity of positions associated with this term it is impossible to define precisely. As is evident through the root of the word, exist, there ...
The Stranger Themes
The Stranger is famous for its themes of existentialism and absurdism. Existentialism is a school of philosophy that attempts to deal with the dread or anxiety brought about by a seemingly uncaring and meaningless world. The search for purpose or meaning in an uncaring universe is a key element of existentialism, and it emerges as a key theme ...
In The Stranger, what could be a potential thesis focusing on the
The Stranger, the first novel of French writer Albert Camus, is an example of the existentialism philosophy of the 20th century.It will help you formulate a thesis if you know something about ...
Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger
Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger. Existentialism is a philosophy centered upon the reasoning of existence and the way people find themselves living in the world. The comprehension of existentialism is that each person spends a lifetime changing their aspect and nature. Existence is mainly the problem, therefore, people are searching ...
PDF Ding, 1 Chunyang Ding Ms. Morales AP/IB English HL I
Camus creates a uniquely absurdist view through much of his book, The Stranger translated by Matthew Ward, and in doing so, creates a focus on how societal customs function. Through the book, many examples can be found of how Meursault's understanding of enjoyment comes in direct conflict with society's understanding of enjoyment, and ...
(PDF) THE SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF THE STRANGER AND ITS ...
Since Stranger may be an acquired condition and its status is not rigid, for it is a given characteristic rather than a natural one, I followed a methodological cross-cultural comparison of the ...
The Stranger (essay)
The Stranger" is an essay by Georg Simmel, originally written as an excursus to a chapter dealing with the sociology of space in his book Soziologie. In this essay, Simmel introduced the notion of "the stranger" as a unique sociological category. He differentiates the stranger both from the "outsider" who has no specific relation to a group and ...
Cosmic Profits: 3 Space Stocks With Sky-High Potential
Let's see the latest on these top space stocks. Virgin Galactic ( SPCE ): SPCE's successful has spaceflights and a roadmap to free cash flow. Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ): A NASA contract and ...
The best new science fiction books of April 2024
This is a collection of short works from Liu, the sci-fi author of the moment thanks to Netflix's new adaptation of The Three-Body Problem, ranging from essays and interviews to short fiction. I ...
Iran's Axis of Resistance
April 4, 2024. Its members refer to it as the Axis of Resistance. It is the network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East dedicated to reducing U.S. influence in the region and ultimately ...
The 24 Best Beach Reads of 2024
Below, find 24 vastly different stories that will keep you entertained, moved, and engrossed all the way to Labor Day. 1. Good Material, by Dolly Alderton. Now 17% Off. $23 at Amazon. Dolly ...

Albert Camus's The stranger : critical essays

More options

Description

Bibliographic information

Albert Camus’s The Stranger: Critical Essays

Sign up for our newsletter

Literary Theory and Criticism

Analysis of Albert Camus’s Novels

The Stranger Albert Camus

The Stranger Material

Join Now to View Premium Content

The Stranger Essays

Irony Of The Stranger Sugato De

The Stranger: Existential Martyrdom Anonymous

The Effectiveness of Violence in The Stranger Christina Harrison

Truth Dawning: The Sun as a Symbol for Meursault's Awareness in Albert Camus' The Stranger Catherine Morrison

Sympathy for Protagonists of The Stranger and Metamorphosis Daniel Kell

Super Women Anonymous

Symbolism and Characterization in The Stranger and First Confession Ben Dong

Absurdity in The Stranger Anonymous

Rejection of the Abnormal in The Metamorphosis and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

The Strangest Stranger Caitlin Tran 11th Grade

A Comparison of How Alienation Affects the Protagonists of The Thief and the Dogs and The Stranger Mark Wheeler 12th Grade

Clothing and Social Constructs in The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

Meursault as an Outsider to Society, to Himself and to his Environment Eleni Achnioti 12th Grade

The Absurd and the Concept of Hope in Camus's Novels James Min 12th Grade

Philosophical Morality in A Clockwork Orange and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entertainment Anonymous 11th Grade

Individualism and Escape: Hunger, The Metamorphosis, and The Stranger Anonymous 12th Grade

The Stranger: Meursault’s Virtues? Sam Bennett 10th Grade

Twentieth Century Turmoil Reflections in Literature Crystal Wu 12th Grade

Meursault: A Static or Dynamic Character? Sophie Lis 12th Grade

Humankind’s Drive to Find Meaning: Dostoevsky, Camus, and Woody Allen Anonymous 12th Grade

A Sickness Called Death: The Significance of Salamano's Dog Anonymous College

The "Robot Woman" and Her Influence: Women’s Various Levels of Enlightenment Compared with Meursault's Own Elias Curran-Moore 12th Grade

Reset Password

Something went wrong

The Stranger

Albert Camus

Part One: Chapter 1

The Stranger (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series)

Popular pages: The Stranger

QUIZ: Is This a Taylor Swift Lyric or a Quote by Edgar Allan Poe?

The 7 Most Embarrassing Proposals in Literature

The 6 Best and Worst TV Show Adaptations of Books

QUIZ: Which Greek God Are You?

The Stranger

Meaninglessness of Life and the Absurd

Chance and Interchangeability

Indifference and Passivity

Importance of Physical Experience

Relationships

The Stranger Themes

Themes in The Stranger

Related posts:

Post navigation

“The Stranger” by Albert Camus Essay

The Stranger

Existentialism, Absurdism, and the Meaning of Life

Related Titles

Featured Collections

Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger

Cite this Essay

Related Essays

Still can’t find what you need?

Related Essays on The Stranger

Related Topics

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

Cosmic Profits: 3 Space Stocks With Sky-High Potential

Virgin Galactic (SPCE)

Intuitive Machines (LUNR)

Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Subscriber Sign in

The best new science fiction books of April 2024

A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Extinction by Douglas Preston

Mania by Lionel Shriver