The Stranger #5 Analysis

            The protagonist in Alfred Camus’s The Stranger undergoes a gradual transformation where he, Mersault, eventually realizes that the external world is against him. The whole concept of Absurdism applies concretely with Mersault’s realization once he starts to blame the outside world for his crimes and suffering. Since Mersault is aware of the world’s hostility, he manages to reflect upon this by saying “Throughout the whole absurd life [he’d] lived, a dark wind had been rising toward [him] from somewhere deep in my future […] this wind leveled whatever was offered to [him] at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living” (Camus 121). Mersault claims that nothing in life has a purpose, and his opinionated claim supports the ideals of Absurdism in the way that his indifference is clearly recognizable by other characters within the novel. In support of this claim, he reasons out that what would be marriage with Marie would be insignificant, the passing away of Maman is insignificant, and that any future events would be insignificant to him. Despite the unreasonable opinion, he makes a stretch by stating that “As if that blind rage had washed [him] clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with sign and stars, [he] opened [him]self to the gentle indifference of the world” (122). Mersault purges himself of all the frustration the world has poured on him and takes advantage of the time where he is able to subside in bliss prior to his execution. This moment connects to the protagonist in the motion picture Gattaca¸ where the protagonist finally overcomes his difference and fulfills his dreams by being able to go to space in bliss despite of his terminal illness. In The Stranger, Mersault opens up to his indifference to the world in hopes of relinquishing his continuous frustration with the world.