Sana Tasneem

23021702-014

Pakistani Writings in English

MPhil English (Literature)

University of Gujrat
Societal expectations and personal choice: an existential analysis of “The Stranger” by
Albert Camus

Abstract:

This paper engages in the existentialist critique of Albert Camus’ work The Stranger to
establish an understanding of life as being torn between the society and the self. Analysing
the novel, this research aims to define ways in which the protagonist of the novel, Meursault,
tries to act under the pressures of the society and how he tries to gain back the control over
his life. Through exploring The Stranger, one can reveal that Camus depicts the principal
and everlasting society’s dilemma related to useless absurdity and a fight for personal
freedom against the standards. The implications of the research therefore touch on the basic
humanities tenets, such as the nature and purpose of existence, and morality. The, chosen
novel of Albert Camus’s “The Stranger” related to societal norms and individual freedom
could provide the subdivision of how the protagonist, Meursault, performs the role in the
world that is dictated by a series of conventions, regarding his own experience as existential.
It would explore how Meursault’s lack of consideration for the conventional moral code
strife to social isolation and final physical clash with the futility of life. This study also might
discuss Camus’s existentialism, discussing freedom, the search for self-identity, the conflict
between the individual and the majority. It could also bring to the reader’s attention the
retributive action awaiting Meursault after his noncompliance to social norms and the
existentialism portrayed in the novel. The study will highlight that how much a society has
bounded us with its absurd rules and regulations and going against all those will make us
alienated and indifferent from rest of the world.

Key words:

Freedom, societal pressure, societal expectations, existentialism, detachment, personal choice

Introduction:

This paper has major focus on a renowned French philosopher, writer and playwright of 20th
century, Albert Camus. Camus had become a journalist and engaged in the French Resistance
during the II world war. He later became one of the most well-known writers and novelists of
the postmodern period with works such as the novel “the stranger”, alongside “The Plague”,
which is a postmodern novel than can be in a bid to address issues, about the absurdity,
human existence, existentialism.” The Stranger” is a splendid novel produced by Albert
Camus and published for the first time in 1942. It portrays the life of Meursault a French man
living in Algeria, who is indifferent to emotions in his life. This novel is closely connected
with such topics as existential and absurdism, the consequences of postmodernism and the
absence of a goal in society. The novel’s protagonist, Meursault, becomes entangled in a
murder as well as a trial in which the culture attempts to decide if the man possesses any
ethical compass. By stopping with the woman character, it disrupts the sphere of social
interactions while developing ideas that pose and raise the philosophical topics of existence
and liberty. He was accused for his indifferent behaviour. the main character of the book is
Meursault, who has to face life and other people who embrace certain norms and rules that
the protagonist himself does not want to follow. Thus, using Meursault as the protagonist,
Camus investigates a rather thematic conflict of the Absurd: the struggle between the
submission to society and the desire for freedom. This paper seeks to present the existentialist
interpretation of “The Stranger” with focus on how Meursault’s lack of interest in other
people’s business and his unfathomable behaviours make the others think about normative
ethics and free will rather than deterministic values of the society. In order to explain and
explore existentialism which appears to be the work’s major focus, this paper will analyse
several major scenes and philosophy behind them. In the course of this hunting, this paper
shall shed light on the depth of freedom concerning personal decision in the context of social
pressure, as shown in this Camus work.

Research objectives:

The study will highlight the following major objectives:

To explore the societal values that tries to control and influence the individual’s life.

To examine the indifferent behaviour of the protagonist with the societal norms and how this
affected his life.

To analyse the protagonist struggle for his personal choice and rejection he faced by society.

To explore the existentialist themes portrayed by the character of Meursault.

Research questions:

This research paper will go through the following questions that will highlight the complex
interaction between the societal expectations and personal choice:
Q. What part does the social pressure play as the motivation for the actions and choices made
by Meursault in the novel?

Q. In what way the protagonist’s personal choice created conflict between societal
expectations and detachment from it?

Q. How does Meursault stray from the conventional societal norms of morality in his
existential quest in the “The Stranger”?

Significance:

This paper will look at the analysis of the society and personal freedom in Albert Camus’
novel the Stranger with special focus to the existential perspective of the main character
Meursault. Thus, the novel looks at the situation of the anti-hero whose inability to conform
to set societal standards causes his isolation and brings him to trial. Existentialism focuses on
the freedom of the person to choose meaning as well as his/her identity. Thus, departing from
social norms, including the lack of tears at the funeral of his mother in The Stranger, proves
Meursault is in a true life. However, in the process of seeking for this authenticity the main
character misunderstands the society and is convicted. The novel also explores issues on the
conflict between the rights of the individual and the obligations towards the community.
Meursault’s actions and decisions are mutual and sexual in nature, which are considered
immoral by the society that expects people to respect and follow general norms of behaviour.
This conflict sums up a basic question that human beings face the question of individuality in
relation to social roles. The novel is focused on committing the Meursault’s narrative where
the author Camus explain and underline the absurdity of existence and humanity. The novel
is admittedly one of the profound existentialist dramas that gather all the most important
questions concerning freedom, responsibility and the search for meaning in an apparently
meaningless world. Thus, in depicting Meursault’s experiences Camus forces the reader to
ponder about existentialism's obvious and evolution’s questions as well as the impact of the
modern society’s norms on individual lives.

Literature review:

Since existentialism is the major theme of the novel, conveying the idea of individual
freedom and the absence of divine intervention in human life, it might be useful to analyse
the process of Meursault’s becoming a murderer in the framework of this philosophical
movement (AA Khan, IA Khan, M Ramzan,2024). Existentialism is evidenced by Meursault
emotionlessness and disregards for society’s rules together with their passion on hedonistic
pleasure rather than mental issues which are principles explored by Camus through the
character of Meursault. It should be noted that the lack of adherence to the norms of society,
disbelief the meaning of existence is also another trait that has formulated Meursault as a
stranger to society. Camus’ major belief is built around the notion of the Absurd, which stems
from the exploration of the human longing for reason and order in the face of a world that is
hostile and meaningless (A Karpouzos,2024). According to Camus there is no correct manner
in which to accept the Absurd, there is no reason to die in nobility, instead the only correct
way to act is an individual and constant rebelliousness. This revolt consists in refusal of all
lies, of the affirmation of one’s own life, and of the constant search for meaning. Camus’
philosophical notion is further explained in his novels The Stranger, The Plague, and The
Fall, which draws poignant stories in portraying the essence of life and searching for one’s
self. In a similar manner, Camus’ philosophical work cannot be broadly defined as
existentialist because his work investigates the problems that people have always faced and
the desire for understanding the place a person occupies in the world.
Symbolically, Meursault is an isolated outcast not only socially but also emotionally, a man
who cannot find any significance in life, a man who is almighty in his pessimistic pessimism
and who is sure only about one thing that is his death. It is looking at existentialistic belief
system that has him convinced that his or any other person's life has no purpose and that
everyone is doomed to die anyway. Murder of Arab and no sorrow at his mother’s funeral are
absurd in the eyes of society to which Meursault belongs (R Gnanasekaran, 2014). The
existence of the primary material explores Meursault’s passions and feelings, together with
anguish and alienation, which are some of the principal motifs present in modern literature
(MT Asadov,2022). It evaluates the themes of alienation and attitudes of Meursault and
compares his personality to the eastern philosophy. He suggests that because of Meursault’s
lack of feeling and not being able to cry at his mother’s funeral he is deemed as irreparably
evil by the society, the society then being justified to kill him. He is a stranger for that reason,
and he behaves indifferent towards her and the events in her life (HMSMR, AL-Hasani). The
article explores how existential themes such as struggle for individuality and meaning of life
are portrayed in The Stranger. The main aspects of the novels imply reflection and lead
readers to think about their own death and the meaning of life. The paper critically analyses
the existentialist drama of Meursault while being an unsentimental man who fails to
emotionally respond to incidents in his life as well as other people’s ones. It implies that
strategic life decisions require and individual to engage in a cognitive process that involves
his/her knowledge, abilities, skills, and any other personal attribute in order to arrive at the
decision (L Pomytkina, A Gudmanian, O Kovton, 2020). The main psychological processes
implied concern rotation of the thoughts, mental and personal reflection, conscience which
can cause such feelings as guilty, doubts, fear or inadequate sense of responsibility within the
decision-making process. According to the authors, these psychological mechanisms enable
people to control their experiences while making important life choices despite the abstract
nature of the strategies not being linked to factors such as age or social standing. People’s
actions are due to their decision-making processes and they as are rational entities. Rather, it
shows how strong social influences influence our existence in more ways than one can
possibly imagine (PL Callero, 2023).

Being social beings, we became conditioned or even influenced in the most personal episodes
of our lives, such as identification or emotions. This social psychology book explores the
impact of cultural pictures, norms, family, social class, international market, and community
action on people’s lives. Therefore, by recognizing the impossibility of individual action and
the scope of oversight, the public can broaden its vision of both the individual’s and society’s
issues. This, in my opinion, assists in the construction of a sociological way of thinking. The
book gives a brief description of what sociology entails and sociological imagination and
challenges the myth of individualism through personal incidents, historical narratives, and
research findings.

Research methodology:

The research methods used in this study to highlight the societal expectations and
individual’s personal choice includes textual analysis, critical discourse analysis (CDA), and
comparative analysis. Analysing The Stranger of Albert Camus, through Critical Discourse
Analysis shows how the work gets to the root of the conflict of freedom against conformity,
answering an existentialist’s notion of the absurd. The second major conflict depicted in the
play is the tension between the pressure one receives from society and the freedom one has to
come to one’s own decisions. One more component of the analysis is the focus on the
protagonist’s disobedience of the social norms, namely Meursault. Meursault is portrayed not
to show any kind of ethic boundaries or norms, little emotional response to his mother’s
funeral expressed him anti-conformity. This contrast between Meursault’s existential freedom
and the society’s expectation to follow conventions is the reason why existential themes are
present in this novel. The analysis can also contain the comparison of Meursault with other
characters in the novel, for instance, Marie or Raymond. Thus, the identified aspects of
conformity and nonconformity provide a comparative context that also enlarges upon the
deviation and the punishment for it. In essence, this critical discourse analysis of The
Stranger suggests that Camus’ work is a philosophical reflection of the conflict of the
individualist, who subjects himself to the absurdity of a society that constantly asserts its
authority over the bourgeoisie and the free spirit of one Camus’ anti-hero.

Theoretical framework:

The philosophical movement that is usually connected to existentialism is not a physical, but
an individualistic movement which grasps freedom and the responsibility for the construction
of one’s own existential meaning (M Warnock, 1970). The basic principle of the existential
anthropology as the absolute priority of one’s existence meaning that man does not have any
inbuilt initial purpose, and he gives meaning to his life by himself as well as making choices
and actions in the course of his life. Thus, this paper aims to view Albert Camus’ novel The
Stranger in terms of existentialist themes of conformity or the lack of it. Existentialism is the
worldview which pays a special attention to the individual freedom and their role in creating
the values, and constructing their own life meaning. The main one of the is that existence
precedes essence, people are not preordained with the purpose, it is up to them to define it by
acting. From random acts of killings to intentional manslaughter, Meursault shows disrespect
and discomfort toward social norms: He fails to cry after his mother’s funeral which was a
basic requirement of the society of the time. In this how Meursault’s choices, despite being in
line with his personal desire, are considered as immoral by a society that is structured around
obeying certain rules. This conflict can be explained in the terms of existentialist tension: the
individual’s persona and social roles.

Discussion and analysis:

In connection with the exposition of a research paper about the subject of ‘Existential
Analysis of “The Stranger” by Albert Camus’ particularly focusing on themes like societal
expectations, personal choice, and choice and freedom within absurdity, different topics such
as conformity as to the defiance, concepts of the absurdity of life, and influences of societal
expectations on choice and one’s individuality may be discussed. It is portrayed how
protagonist, Meursault, acts opposite to conventional ethical and moral principles in the
society and how it shows the conflict between the process of assimilation and the process of
enculturation. Further, the theme of existentialism in the novel of Camus is analysed and how
he deals with the issue of oppression of individual freedom and expression by the society and
the doubtfulness of existence in a meaningless world is discussed. This paper aims to discuss
with references to “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, various cases of societal pressures that
affect the behaviour of the characters. Out of all of the societal roles, the biggest pressure that
is common among most people is that of mourning, or rather acting as though one is
mourning. For example, while people are expected to mourn their mother’s death, Meursault
does not display such emotions although the culture of the society expects him to do so. Due
to this the young man deviates from what is expected of him in society and this results in his
isolation, trial and transformation. Another example is the case where the society expects that
an individual should embrace certain moral standards and the etiquette of the society. This is
true in the sense that Meursault’s behaviour such as sleeping with a woman who is a stranger
to him, refraining from mourning his mother’s death, or not seeking the mainstream
institutionalized values such as marriage or religion goes against the social norms. He is a
non-conformist to these expectations and as such, he is a societal outcast hence depicting the
struggle between societal norms and the freedom of an individual. The novel explores other
areas of defiance of the norms of the society by Meursault apart from failure to show
emotions and not being a moral man. Another category of norms that are questioned by him
is the norms related to the role and expectation in society, family and interpersonal
relationships. Marie, Meursault’s girlfriend and his lack of concern for her, as well as his lack
of concern for the traditionally valued nuclear family, shows his existentialist approach to
relationships devoid of social bonds in particular. This nonconformity leads to his view of the
world and himself as isolated, therefore, creating a form of social alienation for him and
making him different from what society expects of individuals. The protagonist of the novel
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus is described by existential behaviour concerning his actions
and his attitude to life. The following quote that Meursault has, represents the existential
attitudes of the man ‘The world was never a friendly place. There was nothing against one’s
nature to expect from it.’ For instance, in the initial chapter when Meursault primary
introduces himself, the narration of the effects of the sun and sea makes no much sense other
than the pure physical impact it was capable of making on him. The existentialism is further
compounded by Meursault’s attitude to the possibility of commitment suicide and his
continuous disobedience of the norms of society which are also indicative of his
existentialism on the option of individual freedom.
Thus, the emphasis on other people’s opinions as a driving force becomes one of the major
thematic motives in “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. Meursault, the main character, never
conforms to conventional social behaviours because he has no respect for the social system,
he showed little emotion even when his loved one was murdered, all these angered the
society that consequently condemned him. The social norms which range from the need to
express the right emotions to the need to be moral and decent influences Meursault’s actions,
and this, in the end, leads to his total rejection by society. Therefore, the opposition between
Meursault’s personal freedom of choice and the pressure of the social norms is the main
theme of the novel that was already discussed in terms of the conflict of the existential choice
and the deterministic destiny. The society gives expectations that are defied by Meursault’s
personal decisions and coolness towards them. due to his inability to feel and hence relate to
people he is a misfit in society particularly with reference to emotional aspects and moral
issues. This detachment results in an opposition between Meursault’s agency and the stuff
that wants the man to conform to certain norms, which makes the novel a critique of the
tension within society between culturally individualistic freedom and legal conformity.
Meursault’s decisions and actions specified in the novel to liberate oneself from prejudice
and want to live in accordance with his or her principles lead to an existential confrontation
with the unyielding social norms governing the society. This paper focuses on the measures
in which Meursault fail to conform to most society’s standards of morality in “The Stranger”
by Albert Camus through the exploration of existentialism. Some of the behaviours that
illustrate Meursault persona include failure to mourn his mother’s death, or failure to fake to
mourn yet he is completely honest about it, all of which disrespect the culture of mourning
period in society. Such violations of the norms of morality can be considered a logical
continuation of Meursault’s approach to a world that is perhaps indifferent to the existence of
this or that individual, where everyone decides for themselves such values and meanings. His
existentialism puts him on a search for the meaning of life, and this makes him challenge
conventional order as he concentrates on the freedom of choice.

Conclusion:

Thus, to conclude, the main essence of The Stranger of Camus can be identified with a focus
on such value-judgments as conformity to society versus the right of an individual to make
his choice or, in other words, the sense of the meaning of life. On a society level, the main
character, Meursault refuses to conform to the norms of society and does as he wills. This
effectively results in his isolation from the society, and finally his arrest, prosecution and
execution because of his inability to socially conform in terms of feeling and behaviour. The
existentialist approach focuses on individual’s need to create purposes in life instead of
conforming such set purposes from the society. Meursault’s failure to conform to the social
expectations to be more sympathized with and to pretend he did not murder if he were asked
illustrative of another existentialists’ dogma of authenticity. But at the same time the novel
also depicts the impossibility of complete alienation from the society since even Meursault
continues to experience loneliness and the feeling that he is an outcast. This shows an
inherent conflict between personal liberty and the pressure of society’s regard. In conclusion,
The Stranger can be viewed as an example of an author’s attempt to reveal the bitter truth of
the conflict in between an individual consciousness and social constructs. The path of
Meursault shows the bravery and the repercussions that stem from the desire to determine the
nature of one’s existence on one’s own, not on others’ terms.

References:

Warnock, M. (1970). Existentialism.

Gnanasekaran, R. (2014). Psychological interpretation of the novel the stranger by Camus.

International Journal of English Literature and Culture, 2(6), 85.

Khan, A. A., Khan, I. A., & Ramzan, M. (2024). The Discursive Construction of Identity in
Camus’ The Stranger: An Analytical Study. Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review,
8(2), 286-292.

Karpouzos, A. (2024). THE PHILOSOPHY OF ALBERT CAMUS.

Asadov, M. T. (2022). Existential interpretation of the motive of “loneliness” in the work

“the stranger” by Albert Camus. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and
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