Talk Back

[Everett]

“The plot is simple. A young Algerian, Meursault, afflicted with a sort of aimless inertia, becomes embroiled in the petty intrigues of a local pimp and, somewhat inexplicably, ends up killing a man. Once he's imprisoned and eventually brought to trial, his crime, it becomes apparent, is not so much the arguably defensible murder he has committed as it is his deficient character. The trial's proceedings are absurd, a parsing of incidental trivialities--that Meursault, for instance, seemed unmoved by his own mother's death and then attended a comic movie the evening after her funeral are two ostensibly damning facts--so that the eventual sentence the jury issues is both ridiculous and inevitable” (Amazon.com)

This book is an emotionally draining read, but it presents a meaningful message in a meaningless universe (existentialism is a philosophical movement that views human existence as having a set of underlying themes and characteristics, such as anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and consciousness of existing.) Anyone who feels alienated, bewildered, and detached in an indifferent universe will recognize parallels with the experiences of the main character, Meursault and their own. If you sing in the Choir, this book is an apostasy, anathema – a blight on an orderly, theistic world.

The fortunate many, whose belief in transcendence nestles their hearts in warmth and certainty will be impatient with a heathen who floats unanchored by conventional values and social mores. If you are religious, mans' every action is birthed within the context of rationality, if you are non-theistic and believe in the tenets of existentialism – there is no appeal to rationalism.

Meursault does not have the guidance that organized religion provides. He has not internalized the rules, the guidelines that create conscience, guilt about what he does or does not do. He is freefloating in the universe.

Yes, he does inexplicable things; things that are inexplicable if you expect an orderly reality. Things happen in the context of the moment - he puts 4 shots into an Arab on a beach that he is visiting with his friends. The first shot probably would have killed him, and Meursault has no reason for the other three. Then why did he fire 4 shots? We don't know. Causality is not pursued by Camus within the context of the existential perspective. As humans, we are uncomfortable with that answer; we must have an answer and where there a void we will fill it in with...something. He did it because...

If you are irreligious, you can relate, at an emotional level with Meursault's experiences. But it goes beyond religion; Meursault did not grieve over the death of his mother. In our society everyone loves their mother (see Philip Wylie's Generation of Vipers). What if your mother never showed you any love, physical affection, or caring? What if your relationship with her was indifferent? The guilt for not loving one’s parents is ever-present for those whose childhood was not like “Ozzie and Harriett.”

This book is about the "benign indifference of the universe." As such, it is not “enjoyable,” but for many, the experience of knowing that the isolation, detachment and alienation they feel is shared by others, the book is a glimmer of sanity. It may be cathartic, perhaps cleansing for some. For many who don't know who they are, where they come from, or where they are going this book offers a small reprieve against the premise that your uncertainty is indicative of some personal insufficiency.
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It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.