The Stranger

“Every man alive was privileged; there was only one class of men, the privileged class.” -Camus

The Stranger is the short story portrayal of a man recognizing his absurdity. Meursault is the character Camus pours his effort into to make his reader realize the point he’s trying to convey. One must recognize their absurdity to make meaning of their life, if not, they are just exist, not live. Though the book ends with execution instead of a new shot at life, Meusault finds peace in this and is ready to die. His acceptance of the end without any remorse shows that he has found the meaning in his living and he will die without regret. Meursault reaches the conclusion that his life was something well spent and he did not have to seek or gain the approval of anyone else. Furthermore, Meursault does not look for solace in the concept of an afterlife. Not to say anyone who does that is not living, it’s just one of the things specific to his character that makes him alive. This nonconformist attitude towards a heaven or hell or whatever afterlife one might believe shows Meursault’s independence and how he is not willing to sacrifice his thoughts to appease another person. As his life comes to a close, Meursault realizes that we are all privileged to have the opportunity to live, what we do with that opportunity is up to us.