Meursault's Motive for Murder in The Outsider

Abstract

In this Senior Project I will analyze Albert Camus’s novella The Outsider, which tells the story of a French-Algerian man, Meursault, who lives in Algeria during 1942. This story starts out with the death of Meursault’s mother, for whom he does not cry for, and climaxes when Meursault murders an Arab one day on the beach. While on trial for this act of violence, the judge and jury become aware of his detached feelings and lack of remorse, and the emotion that Meursault projects to them challenge what society has deemed morally acceptable. As a result of the murder and his refusal to repent his sins to God, Meursault is punished to death. While the reader’s attention may solely focus on the absurdism Camus presents to us, it is important to know the political history of Algeria during the time this story takes place. The French invaded Algeria in 1830 and Algeria did not officially gain their independence back until 1962. Given the dispute going on between the colonizers and the natives of Algeria during this time, my goal is to make it clear that this book is much more than a man who lives an existential life with absurd views. Rather, this book contains an unreliable narrator who chooses not to disclose the history and the underlying motive for killing the Arab man that day on the beach. With that being said, I think it is fair to question if the trial would have been different if Meursault killed a Frenchman instead of an Arab? Why is Meursault so indifferent to the murder that he commits? Is the absurdism that we deem most apparent, the absurdism that we should be focusing on? Finally, does the facade of existentialism cover the real message of the novel and will the inclusion of history affect how the story is portrayed, therefore perceived? By focusing on these questions I believe I can produce an essay that proves that the inclusion of history makes all the difference in the themes of The Outsider.