The Stranger
by Albert Camus
by Albert Camus
This novel was a shocking look at the simplicity of the human mind, but I was not initially sure as to how it pertained to my big question. How, I mulled over, does a story about only being concerned with the present events in one's life while paying no attention to surroundings or the past or future fit in with the idea of original thoughts? Just as I was beginning to think that only original thoughts we have came from the inherent characteristics of our personalities, Muersault enters the picture with a philosophy on life that seems utterly unconcerned with any thoughts whatsoever.
But maybe that is actually an important image in this question. What can the thoughts of a man who doesn't have any concern for the rest of the world or the thoughts of others say about the natural, organic even, tendencies of the mind? Muersault only acts on the ideas flowing through his mind at any time. He refuses to lie, to acknowledge any other lives, but he also refuses to be crudely against anything he doesn't agree with (etc. the religious themes in the novel). Muersault is, effectively, an organic mind.
Maybe all that is needed to achieve this mental cleanliness is indifference to the ways of your surroundings. Maybe it is possible to be mentally innocent, to have the intellectual corruption of a fetus, simply by withdrawing yourself from the rest of the world.
But maybe that is actually an important image in this question. What can the thoughts of a man who doesn't have any concern for the rest of the world or the thoughts of others say about the natural, organic even, tendencies of the mind? Muersault only acts on the ideas flowing through his mind at any time. He refuses to lie, to acknowledge any other lives, but he also refuses to be crudely against anything he doesn't agree with (etc. the religious themes in the novel). Muersault is, effectively, an organic mind.
Maybe all that is needed to achieve this mental cleanliness is indifference to the ways of your surroundings. Maybe it is possible to be mentally innocent, to have the intellectual corruption of a fetus, simply by withdrawing yourself from the rest of the world.
Perhaps it's not so much of an indifference towards the lives of others but the recognition of the fact that each person, him/herself, is the only one to know the truth of his/her own "rock"--our mortal existence, in truth, cannot be known by another.
ReplyDeleteNice conclusion: Meursault is, effectively, an organic mind. I would agree completely.