Bonnie Small Quarter 4

College English
No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life
The human condition is a curiously ambiguous entity !t is an inherent and encom"assing
as"ect of our existence Being human is not a learned s#ill$ it has been "resent in nature since the
energy that %as ca"ti&ated in matter billions of years ago could not contain itself any longer 'e
are taught to see# meaning and (uestion our being) but some say it is a futile (uest *o% are %e to
determine our reason for existence %hen the only thing in this uni&erse that has rational &alue is
our humanity itself+ ,"timists may cry -!t.s all "art of the "lan. %hen things go off beam) but %hat if
there is no "lan+ *o% are %e to li&e+
The Stranger is a challenging %or# %hose surface sim"licity leads the reader through a
series of largely mundane e&ents to%ards an irresol&able ambiguity /s Camus "ut it) -Mersault is
condemned because he does not "lay the game.$ far from being the a""arently indifferent)
unemotional indi&idual that his first account suggests) his actions and statements are direct
conse(uence of a "hiloso"hical stance %hich re0ects %ides"read social and moral norms Mersault
li&es his life based on the "rinci"le of /bsurdity) and is considered by society an outcast or) as the
title suggests) a -stranger. !n theory) ho%e&er) Mersault is merely en0oying his life to the fullest in
the "resent) in li&ing an ethic of (uantity instead of (uality) conscious that one day soon it %ill be
too late) that the /bsurd man reasserts his freedom and his innocence This is the "hiloso"hical
"osition that under"ins The Stranger, %here 1art ! sho%s us Mersault li&ing out s"ontaneously)
instincti&ely) an /bsurdist attitude to life
2!f you go slo%ly) you ris# getting sunstro#e But if you go too fast) you %or# u" a s%eat
and then catch a chill inside the church3 She %as right There %as no %ay out3 S"o#en by the
nurse at Maman.s funeral) Mersault comes to reali4e that these %ords describe the human
condition$ man is born into a life that %ill ine&itably and exclusi&ely end in death 5eath) li#e the sun
%hich is so "re&alent in the no&el) is an una&oidable reality
*umans are not born %ith any inherent identity or &alue 'e are not born %ith a destiny) or
a reason for being) or for any intrinsic &alue 'e are sim"ly brought into this life because
thousands of years ago) a star ex"loded and billions of fragments of dust and roc# and organic
material %ere blasted into s"ace and created the first organism 6rom there) things 0ust #ind of
%or#ed out the %ay they ha&e