The Outsider by Albert Camus
This is an analysis on The Outsider by Albert Camus, an existentialist novel that details the life of Meursault, an anti-hero who refuses to play the game and conform to social norms, through a series of life changing events. The Outsider presents a strong relationship between the style of the text and it’s meaning, and it is exactly these things that will be explained throughout the remaining portion of this essay. The style of the text is spoken in the words of Meursault, simple and at most times, impassionate, yet it uses imagery and the elements of nature often to relay emotions to the reader. Behind the text are the themes of existentialism, human experience and social expectancies, which work together to create meaning. Through various links in the style of text, one can thus connect to its meanings.Analysis of the novel’s style should begin by recognizing the story's basic structure. There are three deaths, which mark the beginning, middle, and end of the story. First, Meursault's mother dies. This death occurs before the narration starts, but marks the start of Meursault's downfall. In the middle of the tale we have the death of an Arab. The defining events in The Outsider are set in motion by Meursault . . .
As well as that, he often picks out all the physical defaults in other people, which make him seem perfect in comparison. This could be considered a way of looking at society and how one is expected to fit in and conform. Throughout the novel his descriptions of the inanimate and the living are negative, not very lyrical and lacking in adjectives. When he comments on things he says them without emotion or passion. Another link would be Meursault’s dispassionate outlook on many things, such as religion and lying to satisfy society, these things that break the social expectancies in half. ” Demonstrated in that sentence is both the blandness and negativity in Meursault’s vision. He pushed himself to the margins of society. But if you go too fast, you perspire and then in the church you catch a chill”, and upon hearing this he comments that she was right, that there was no way out. Emotionally though, Meursault was lacking. As well as that, Meursault comments “I knew that as soon as it began to get hot something new was going to happen to me. “There wasn’t a shadow to be seen and every object, every angle and curve stood out so sharply that it was painful to the eyes. Not only does this foreshadow future events, but it parallels with page 79 when Meursault realizes he has been talking to himself, and after remembering the Nurses words, knew that there was no way out. ’ Meursault is a man who does not conform, who lives true to himself.
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