The Outsider by Albert Camus

  

If the argument that the novel is better at shorter fiction, say novellas, than the perfect example of the form would be ‘The Outsider’ by Albert Camus, a work that has had significant impact on me and has hit me harder than any other book I have read.  The book is the story of a man who, in the space of hundred pages, encapsulates an entire life by a few actions.  The sun is used as a metaphor for the stark nature of life, the clear-cut nature of his life and the burning of existence that occurs. 

  It begins with the immortal lines ‘Mother died today.  Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.’ And continues with the same flatness and indifference that characterises the narrator Meursault.  What is life and its purpose?  Great questions that are examined under Camus’ moral microscope.  Meursault doesn’t cry at his mother’s death and he kills a man but what does that mean against the absurdity of living?  Camus was often called an existentialist and is linked with Jean-Paul Sarte but he would state that this is not entirely the case.  It’s not a bad starting point for discussing the absurd and the meaning of morality and certainly gives plenty food for thought.

  For Meursalt he is happy with life as it is even when his boss offers him a promotion he declines seeking nothing more that what he has.  He is not a loner either as he has friends to call on but one feels that even if he did not have them he would still be the same person, not more or less happier for it.  He has romantic interests too but does not want to get married.  He is not like a usual member of society, the book implies, and he does not believe in the conventional traditions that others are invested in.  In a world of hypocrisy he lives true to himself and is not stirred to feel any emotion that he does not really feel.  The one time emotion comes to the forefront is when the prison Chaplin does his service and gets a volley of rage from Meursalt who does not believe in God and, therefore, has no need of a Chaplin.

  The killing of the Arab on the beach while the sun beats down is an iconic moment in fiction and is an image that hinges on life and death.  When asked why Meursalt killed the man he replies: “Because of the sun”.  The sun in this book, I think, is a metaphor for the piercingly clear view on life Meursalt has and it is the light he is blinded by and the heat that oppresses him.  Where the phrase ‘we are condemned to be free’ comes from I have forgotten but it encapsulates his condition and becomes his motivation and his end.  It is in the court scene that he says to himself that he realises that he is guilty, which is not so much the verdict of the jury but a label he has lived with but never defined. 

  Meursalt, before he is hanged, has the idea of execution by a revolver that only has five bullets loaded, that way you could still hang on to some hope that you might live and go on to live a better life, but his fate is determined and there is no way out.

  Camus’ other novels are not as pessimistic as this one, although you could argue that Meursalt’s attitude is actually optimistic, but I think this is just one variation, one manifestation of the absurd in life and one that will get you to face life in stark colours.