Sartre's influence of Camus' writing

Jean Paul Sartre, a philosopher who made himself known world-wide through his ideas on existentialism, had a strong influence on the writing of Albert Camus. In Camus’ novel, The Stranger, we can see this. Camus wrote using the same ideas that Sartre stated when speaking of existentialism.

The Stranger, is a novel about the life of Meursalt, a middle-class working man in the 1940’s living in Algiers, who shoots a lower-class Arab and then gets put on trial, and sentenced to death over it. The novel is much deeper than that though. Meursalt is a strange man, on the outside, he appears normal, he has normal, everyday actions, but internally, how he thinks is different from how most of the society thinks, and ultimately, this is what sentences him to death. Meursalt shows us how Camus viewed life, and this is where we see how Sartre’s existentialism influenced this novel.

Sartre believed that man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself. Man creates his own fate, through his choices, and Meursalt, in Camus book, showed us this through his actions at his mothers funeral, and als

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

If he would have been more intact with his emotions then maybe the death of his mother would have struck him more, and he wouldn’t have come off so cross, and then therefore, at his own trial, he could have been questioned more on why he shot the Arab, and if it was out of defense, rather than on his callousness. Meursalt viewed life as a day to day cycle, no matter where you were, or what your actions were that day, you lived a day of your life. He never put too much thought into anything, he lived life for the moment, and he didn’t believe in any reason to live otherwise. He didn’t care if he was moved to another town, or if he made friends with what society labeled the wrong kind of people, he was content with his actions, he was living how he chose to live his life. Meursalt shot the Arab because he felt threatened, but if he hadn’t chose to walk towards the man sitting on the beach, who he knew was a tough man, of which didn’t like him because of Raymond, Meursalt’s friends actions, he wouldn’t of been in that situation.

We are able to see through the reading of The Stranger, just how much of an influence Sartre had on Camus. There are always alternatives to anything that counts as human action. This example of choices, along with many other examples of existentialism can be found throughout the entire novel. Life keeps going, day to day, and how each person lives the day prior effects how one can live each day from there on out. There are no instincts that cause specific actions. Meursalt’s actions made him who he was, and he was forced, through the on going path of life, do deal with it. His choices however, doomed him, and this is where the existentialism played a major role. The same situation with the murder of the Arab.

Approximate Word count = 799
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.