Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Stranger

In The Stranger, Albert Camus answers this question with only one character; Meursault. he is faced with obstacles that, at the time, he is ruined by, while at the end of the story he ultimately prevails and finds what makes him "happy." After the murder, Meursault is grounded by the fact that he is no longer physically free, but he was never really mentally free to begin with. He was an observer in his own life and never knew much about himself except that he was juts a listener. Along the way, while he doesn't learn what actually interests him, he learns what "doesn't interest him." This shows that Meursualt has partially overcome the adversity that faced him earlier in his life, the fact that he never has the ability to explain what made him him, and can now somewhat understand who he really is. He knows that everyone dies in the end and he learns to accept death as it really is; something which we all must accept as an inescapable fate rather than something o overcome.