Tuesday, July 30, 2019

What are choices and freedoms Meursault has in The Stranger?

Throughout Camus's The Stranger the themes of choices and freedom remain pervasive. The protagonist Meursault maintains an absurdist point of view on life, feeling very minimally affected by the events of his life. His indifference allows him to exercise his free will in strange ways; when offered a potential promotion opportunity at work, Meursault simply, and indifferently, reflects,

I didn't care much one way or the other . . . I answered that one never changed his way of life; one life was as good as another, and my present one suited me quite well.

Meursault has the choice of accepting or denying the promotion, yet he neither specifically accepts nor denies it. He offers a careless response that either choice would suit him as equally well as the other.
Later, Meursault gets involved with his temperamental neighbor Raymond, whom Meursault continuously hangs around simply because Raymond demands his company and assistance. Meursault is a sort of yes-man who often goes along with what people say simply because he doesn't have a strong reason not to. He gets involved with the lovely Marie because she is interested in him, and because he feels as though he might as well go with the flow. Meursault is a free man who simply moves along somewhat lifelessly with the currents of life.

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