Why did Mersault shoot the Arab?

That's pretty ableist man

he was a xenophobic white cis male expressing his privilege murdering an innocent muslim arab genderqueer nonconforming man

2014 called, it wants it's humour back

The whole book is a mess. I never liked it.

Because apathy and detachment from society leads to Mersault being only concerned with the physicality of his existence.

It's the physicality of the scene on the beach that causes him to shoot the Arab more than anything. He is bothered by the heat, and the dazzling sun off of the knife, rather than any moral anxiety about murdering someone. But his act of murder marks the awakening of his consciousness.

>"Knocking on the door of unhappiness."
He feels something now where previously he felt nothing, which further progresses during his imprisonment and trial. During the trial, the prosecutor gets him sentenced to death from not specifically murdering the Arab, but a lack of empathy and self-awareness of complete indifference to life with his existence within society, which you can notice through his interactions with the many characters.

The universe is cold and silent, and cares not for anyone. Mersault accepts his fate at the end of the novel because of the realization that no matter what choices he may have made, no matter if he lived another 30 years, death would still call him soon enough. It's all of humanities eternal fate, and he defiantly embraces the absurdity of existence.

Mersault was just cold ass motherfucking gangster with complete apathy. Dude could just be a stoic.

why wouldn't he? he did it, that is all

is that kanye west?

cause he realised he could

At first I thought you were just being racist but shit it actually is

kek. That would totally fit into his collection

talk shit post fit

The arab insulted him. Frenchmen throughout history have killed men for less. No one would bat an eyelash at D'artagnan doing the same.

For you

bc Camoo is a fucking moron

only good answers ITT

WAS GETTING SHOT PART OF YOUR PLAN?

an epileptic episode brought on by the sunlight off the arab's blade.

WHY DOES HE WEAR THE MASK??

Because the sun was particularily shiny

Your smile is particularly shiny user.

>Mersault would support #Sexit i.e. Self Exit (from existence, so to speak)

Hath thou read the ending oh philistine you poltroon?

It was actually le racisme!
#JeSuisL'Arabe

>life is meaningless so racism is totally okay

Please read this if you haven't already.

I haven't read the book in a while but doesn't Meursault find some solace in the ending pages of the book where he looks outside in his cell and just sits there appreciating nature which in a sense nullifies his apathy? In the end he rages at the priest, doesn't this convey some sense of emotion, some sense of meaning towards whatever, it is certainly not apathy nor is it absurdism

Hast* and yeah though it was a long time ago and the details are shady. The reason I asked the OP is because my gf read it and asked me and it got me thinking

>doesn't Meursault find some solace in the ending pages of the book where he looks outside in his cell and just sits there appreciating nature which in a sense nullifies his apathy?
I don't think so. You have to remember that Mersault was never incapable of appreciating things that gave him pleasure (cinema, food, sex, smoking, scenery), but he had strange indifference to society and humanity. For instance, his mothers funeral, he never expresses any sadness or guilt, it all made sense to him logically considering his mother was old.

>In the end he rages at the priest, doesn't this convey some sense of emotion, some sense of meaning towards whatever, it is certainly not apathy nor is it absurdism.
I think you're misinterpreting the nature of their conversation. The priest is so solidified in his belief of divine justice and eternal paradise by absolving ones sins, that he constantly presses Mersault to the brink of his annoyance as he wanted to spend his final hours alone rather than engage in a meaningless debate about God. Mersault expresses the indifference of time has to humanity by saying his existence after death has no bearing to anybody or anything anymore. He's essentially an object to the universe and floats through life like this.

The Stranger is an exploration of absurdism. I'd reread it, it's a short novel.

Thanks for the elaborate explanation. It all clicked again. It as I recall it that Meursault was at first hoping for freedom, hoping for the chance that his execution wouldn't go through. But after his conversation with the Chaplain he decides on a 'gentle indifference of the world' enabling him to live his final moments free of burden, nec spe nec metu.

yeah dude he was just being racist

No problem. I think the ending closed things quite nicely with the themes it explored. This book gets misunderstood here sometimes.

killing muslims is fun

Is this real? So the author literally only made this book because a random character who dies to drive the plot forward happens to be an Arab?

lmfao

xD?

I'm sorry but didn't the dude come at him with a knife or am I thinking of some other book?

why not life is absurd neways lol

Because it was hot as fuck

I live in phoenix, there are some days where I'd happily shoot an arab to get out of the heat

>because he's absurd user xDDDDDDDD

y-you too

He was very depressed and it lead to some kind of psychosis or dissociation fueled by heat.
That's how it appeared to me.

if only

Because le absurd. Pretty dumb book and even dumber philosophy tbqh

>In the 1950s, Camus devoted his efforts to human rights. In 1952, he resigned from his work for UNESCO when the UN accepted Spain as a member under the leadership of General Franco. In 1953, he criticized Soviet methods to crush a workers' strike in East Berlin. In 1956, he protested against similar methods in Poland (protests in Poznań) and the Soviet repression of the Hungarian revolution in October.
>Camus maintained his pacifism and resisted capital punishment anywhere in the world. He wrote an essay against capital punishment in collaboration with Arthur Koestler, the writer, intellectual and founder of the League Against Capital Punishment. He was consistent in his call for non-aggression in Algeria.[25]
>Throughout his life, Camus spoke out against and actively opposed totalitarianism in its many forms.[37] Early on, Camus was active within the French Resistance to the German occupation of France during World War II, even directing the famous Resistance journal, Combat.

Why the fuck does Camus care about all this shit? Aren't morals supposed to be meaningless? I hate philosophers who don't life according to their philosophy.

Is this what Kanye west meant by "the sun is in my eyes"?
srs question

I doubt he's read that book but when I first heard that verse it got me curious about it, too

sun being in your eyes is just something very fire, loud and vivid, simply suits the rest of the song

No, he meant "ook ook muh dik"

not the guy, but discrediting kanye on Veeky Forums is just funny. he's no aesop rock but his work is incredibly intriguing from artistic PoV.

>Why did Mersault shoot the Arab?

Because the Jew told him to.

What about Chance the Rapper when he says "with the sun in my eyes and my gun on my hip"?

so fucking cringy when other boards try to banepost

Reading The Stranger has me just as frustrated as the judge was with Mersault.

gonnaneedbiggerbait.jpg

Picking at straws here.

>I don't think so

Not him, but I thought that he "found solace" in the sense that he already recognised the absurdity of reality, which previously lead to his apathy (existential crisis) but now realised that by embracing the absurd, and being absurd (shooting the Arab) he had transcended the absurdity of reality (absurdism). I always figured it was the opposite of Nietzsche's existentialism, where instead of trying to forge your own meaning to be free from the lack of meaning, you accept the meaninglessness and by living so meaninglessly, you transcend the meaninglessness.

Also, watch youtube.com/watch?v=zvDXlDxMnb4

I find it to be the perfect example of absurdism, and very beautiful.

>you could die or kill someone
>so what?

Best of all, in true Camus style, it was all for a woman.

The same reason I shot my load at your mum's pussy: he just doesn't give a heck.

kek