Big Question: The Stranger

Albert Camus writes a seemingly superficial, but nonetheless, poignant novel in The Stranger. Meursault, the novel's simultaneous protagonist and outcast, faces the difficulty of succumbing to society's deceptive facade of concealing authenticity. With this lingering thought, are the character's personal qualities and behaviors ultimately shaped by his actions, or simply by society's malleable hand? From the onset of the plot, Camus portrays Meursault as a blunt, almost flippantly frank, human being. In other words, the novel's protagonist is labeled as an "outcast" because he underscores the power of truth, and according to the societal norm, shares a superfluous amount of true emotion that is often times morally inappropriate in a societal context. By being the character who initially belittles the ingenuous facades of the societal standards, Meursault is the outcast. At the same time, however, he may be more of a person than any individual in the novel because of his inability to obscure his honesty, and willingness to speak the truth. With what has been said so far, it can be easily concluded that Camus is conveying to the reader the simple, resonating message that our character is not socially malleable, and instead, our actions determine our personality and character. This is the easy answer. Camus, in contrast, demonstrates a deeper meaning. While for the majority of the novel, Meursault is indignant of the affected social behavior around him, and impermeable to the membranes of societal influence, his paradigm of thought changes after he haphazardly murders an Arabian man. After this action, Meursault is subsequently locked up and awaiting his trial. As he spends his days in prison, the protagonist incessantly and continually remarks of the inevitably of events. For example, on p.81, he says, "No, there was no way out, and no one can imagine what nights in prison are like," or on p.97 he says, "Something had changed..as if familiar paths traced in summer skies could lead as easily to prison as to the sleep of the innocent." These quotations, even in different contexts, reveal Meursault's insecurities and renunciation of control over societal events. Camus, throughout the novel, seems to use society as an extended metaphor, an allegory, for an Almighty being. This is apparent when, during the end of the novel, Meursault, the "anti-Christ," is pitted against the priest, a symbol for society's beliefs in God. With this in mind, society is God, and thus, Meursault's gradual acceptance of his fate in society symbolizes the idea of societal predestination, and how Meursault's society, by forcing Meursault to accept the consequences of murder and the societal punishments it entails, thereby has a large effect on the protagonist's character. Going back to the original question of nature vs. nurture, the answer is complex. It is a gradual transition from utter invincibility to begrudging acceptance, a transition from celebrated individuality to forced assimilation, and a transition from actions, personal decisions, and self-control, to predestination, self-renunciation, and helplessness.