existentialism in the stranger
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
By definition, existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile or indifferent universe. Some 20th century authors that believed in philosophy of existentialism have taken their ideas and infused them into their writing. One of these authors is Albert Camus. In Camus's book The Stranger, he focuses on his philosophical view of existentialism which is that individual lives and human existence in general have no rational meaning or order. This is an idea present in most books that are considered to be existential works. Though it can be argued that there are many things that make an novel an existential work, a list of five characteristics have been compiled that designate if a novel is an existential work or not. These characteristics are, Mankind has free will, few decisions are without negative consequences, some things in life are irrational or absurd without explanation, life is series of choices leading to stress, and when one makes a decision he or she must stick to it. When applying these characteristics to The Stranger, it is clear that it is an existential work.
The first characteristic of an existential work is that mankind has free will. In The Stranger, there are some examples that support this fact...