Albert Camus

 1913-1960 (died in a car accident); born in Mondovi (now Dréan), Algeria under French rule (1830-
1962); difficult life; soccer player; tuberculosis; wrote and acted in several plays; Nobel prize in 1957;
labeled as existentialist but he rejected it
 Works: The Plague; The Fall; the essay The Rebel; The Myth of Sisyphus;
The Stranger
Published in 1942; L'Étranger, the original French title of the novel; translated to The Stranger in the American
edition, but it was translated to The Outsider in the British edition;
Characters:
 Meursault: protagonist, anti-social being (based on one of Camus’ girlfriend's brothers); Mother: Maman;
friend: Marie; neighbors: Raymond and Salamano
Plot:
 PART I: Narrated by Meursault; tells: ‘’Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure”; Meursault is
thoughtful, not emotional; used to live with his mother but discovering nothing in common, he moved her
to an Old Home; takes leave for two days to attend funeral at Marengo; In bus he sleeps; reaches Old Home
where director and caretaker meet; ask him to see his mother to which he refuses; sitting by mother Virgil,
he gets bore; drinks coffee; enjoys cigarette and wine; chats friendly with the caretaker and finally sleeps as
lighting in room and arrival of mother’s friends disturb him. Next day’s intense heat is unbearable; remains
quite indifferent at funeral; after burial, he takes bus; reaches at his flat and sleeps next 12 hours; next day,
he goes to swim; finds ex-coworker Marie and enjoys her company; In evening, they watch a comic movie;
sleeps together; On Sunday, he remains in bed till noon; thence takes his lunch; settles down in balcony and
observes people down in street; On Monday, he responds his boss coldly about mother’s age and death; on
return, he watches his neighbor Salamano with his dog; another neighbor, Raymond, a pimp, invites him;
tells about quarrel with girlfriend; on his request Meursault writes a letter to trap the girl to come back; on
Saturday, he again accompanies Marie and enjoys. She asks if he loves her; he responds “no”. Raymond beats
his girlfriend and thanks Meursault for help; Salamano losses his dog; Meursault directs him to visit dog
pounds; Next day, Raymond invites Meursault and Marie on picnic at beach; boss bids a post in Paris but he
declines saying that he is happy here; Marie again asks if he loves her; ‘I don’t love you but for your sake I
will marry you’, he states; Next day, they reach Masson’s home who was Raymond’s friend; tracked out by
a pack of Arabs: relatives to Raymond’s girlfriend; enjoys a lot; at beach, Arabs attach them; Raymond gets
injured so they retrieve; Later on, Meursault alone, with Raymond revolver in pocket, arrives at beach;
Blazing heat tortures him badly; on confrontation, he kills an Arab; shots the dead body four times more.
 PART II: trial of murder; nobody seems interested in his case but his anti-social behavior attracts all;
Magistrate asks him to repent but he refuses and says that he does believe in God; remains true to his
emotions and relates truly his feeling; prosecutor talks all the time about his emotional barrenness at mother
funeral; Marie’s proposal and boss’s offer, etc. instead of murder; all the witnesses are distorted to get pre-
decided end; after long trail, he is sentenced the death penalty; in prison, he reflects on his life; remembers
his good days at beach with Marie; accepts his punishment but yearns to his life to be fully filled once again
 if permitted; declines to Chaplain three times as he does not believe in afterworld; a man of physical world
and present time; thinks about guillotine and world absurdity; at the end, he feels happy being alone but
wants to see a crowd at his execution full of hatred against his anti-social behavior.
Themes: Absurdity; meaninglessness; miscommunication; individual vs society; internal revolt
Symbols: Courtroom: Society; Crucifix: religion; Sea: Life; Sun: divine forces
Imp. Quotes: “They were staring at us ... as if we were nothing but stones or dead trees”; when I look into a man's
face ... all I see is a monster”; I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world; Lying is not only saying
what isn't true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than is true and, in the case of the human heart, saying
more than one feels. We all do it, every day, to make life simpler’’.