Semester 2, Seminar 2

Albert Camus - The Outsider

These are the notes I made whilst hearing the two seminar papers;

• Camus was about the absurd and seemed to have strong Existential themes although he rejected this idea
• Absurd means that as humans we have no meaning to our lives
• The character of Meursault is not romantic at all (Camus did not like Romanticism) he sees not feels
• He makes no real effort to connect with the people around him. Even his 'lover' Marie is just there - there are no feelings of love
• He is free of guilt - has no focus on the past, only the immediate future

These are the things that we discussed as a class;

Existentialism means that the mind and body are connected.
When someone dies that is it, the end. Whereas Christians for example believe that there is an afterlife with Jesus and even though the body will die on Earth, the sole will be with Jesus.
Existentialists believe that there is no point in having a relationship with God because of their belief that their minds will die along with their body.

The Outsider was written just after WW1 and before WW2, during a war in Spain and Algeria - there were a lot of Existential ideas floating around, it was common.

Live, eat, do. Live in the present.

We discussed that if you live totally in the present then surly you cannot relate to anyone because you cannot delve into past experiences and feelings.
Perhaps this is why Meursault did not communicate with others, not because he was a miserable isolated man but because his way of life would not allow for it.

We were not sure whether it is even possible to live in the present. The people we are today is because of the people we were yesterday and the experiences we had.

In the end it seems that Meursault accepts his death, we thought that this could be because as an Existentialist he just takes each day in his stride. Today is the day he dies...it's okay because this is what happens, life!

We also discussed whether he was in a way sacrificing himself for society, he may have realised what he had done to society and finally felt guilt for it so he was okay with his death. He could have also thought him self as Jesus. Jesus was killed because he was different, like Meursault?

I do not think that today we could live like Existentialists. So much of our lives are focused on the past - good and bad. As human beings we are always striving for the best quality of life and living, to better ourselves we must look to the past in comparison. We also like to remember the past for good and bad memories, I think that as beings we like to feel - it's part of being alive. To feel sad or happy confirm that I'm here, I'm living and experiencing life.