Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Conformity

Conformity in Camus The weird (The Outsider)  Camus novel The Stranger presents the character of Meursault who, after killing an Arab, is sentenced to death. This conflict portrays the inexorable discriminate between the morals of golf club and Meursaults evident lack of them he is condemned to death, less for the Arabs murder, than for refusing to conform to societys standards.Meursault is an anomaly in society he cannot impact directly to others because he does not live as they do. Meursault is simplistic, even innocent he speaks of his mothers death without regret for her loss, merely stating Maman died today. He goes on to describe that perhaps it was yesterday - he is not sure which. He cannot die hard by the same moral confines as the rest of the realism because he does not grasp them he is largely indifferent to events occurring healthy-nigh him. Meursaults entire being is sensuous, yet unemotional. He derives a certain take aim of pleasure from eating and dri nking, smoking cigarettes, sitting on his balcony to watch passersby. He likes to wash his hands, especially at work in the morning, when the roller wipe is dry. He likes sex. When Marie leaves, he lies in bed and tries to get the salty savour of her hair from the pillow. Yet all these things are tactile Meursault derives physical joy from them, but there is no emotion attached.This is in direct contrast to society, whose strict guidelines focusing on right and wrong depend on the individuals sense of these concepts. Meursault is perfectly capable of analyzing the situation, but not of responding to it as society wishes him to. Life or death, and anything in between, makes no difference to him. The nurse at his mothers funeral had warned him that if h... ...re is no inherent meaning in intent - its entire note value lies in living itself. Meursault feels he has been happy, and longs to live. When he must die, he wants a crowd to greet him with cries of hate they are screaming because they want life and the world to have meaning they need this because that is what their entire existence is make upon. As the magistrate asked of Meursault, Do you want my life to be meaningless? Meursault understands how take out the individual truly is from society. Until the conclusion, he was a stranger to himself as well as to the rest of the world. In the end, he opens himself to the gentle indifference of the world, and finding it so much like myself, - like a brother really, feels he has been happy, and is again. Society finds this unacceptable, and by refusing to conform to its face-value standards, Meursault must die.