The Outsider - a ridiculous celebration of the existential plight of modern man

Am I an outsider? An outsider in the fast pace of modern life?

This question is particularly confusing. Thinking about what to do and how to do it all the time is always exhausting. Maybe the answer should be the same as Camus, don't label me that he x. What really matters is what you do at what time, not just trying to find a way to get yourself labeled as a "good person", "honest person", or "righteous person".

Even most of the world seems to be struggling to label themselves.

It is this philosophical question that the outsider is discussing. Is the focus on the process or the appearance? The book begins with a telegram from the nursing home to the protagonist Meursault: "Ling Ci Xian passed away. The funeral will be held tomorrow. Sincerely, condolences." The telegram The expression was a bit vague, and Meursault didn't know whether her mother died today or yesterday, perhaps yesterday.

Meursault's reaction at the moment was to think calmly instead of crying.

Deliberately calm atmosphere permeates the entire novel, Meursault thinks of his mother several times, but, during the "legal" mourning time, he is unwilling to face his mother's body and refuse to explain the reason. Meursault was uncomfortable at the funeral. He felt that the people present did not care about the dead lying among them, and this "meaningless" silence was uncomfortable. The people around also noticed Meursault's indifference, and these people seemed to be here to judge.

Meursault did not cry, but only keenly and calmly felt the world, and then received the gaze of being judged.

Judgment is the key word of this book. It judges who is unwilling to abide by the mechanized worldly values. Even if Meursault has the ability to perceive the beauty of the world, he can perceive the beautiful body of his girlfriend with the smell of the sea, and it is unreasonable to perceive vulgar and funny movies. the absurdity.

But real people are a threat to the real world, laughing at the beeswax-encrusted illusion.

His girlfriend asked Meursault if he loved her. He said it should not be love because he didn't understand what love was. The boss asked Meursault if he would like to be promoted to Paris to be in charge of an office. He was satisfied with the status quo and couldn't figure out why go, so I don't want to go.

The more he didn't think about it, the more he would refuse.

On the contrary, the more things that should be rejected, the more they do it without thinking. Meursault even helped the neighbor write to his mistress who humiliated him, lured the neighbor's mistress into a trap and humiliated himself, but attracted the mistress's brother to seek revenge on the beach. Regardless of the moral value of right or wrong, when you feel that "everything is going to happen", you can't stop it. So Morsault shot and killed the Arab brother of the neighbor's mistress.

Outsiders seem to have an inescapable fate.

And fate itself is like a joke. The judge and the jury are not interested in the details of the case. They only care about Meursault's "sincerity". It can only be a scheming, deliberate murderer for a long time.

Compared with the details of the case, the judge, the jury and even the lawyer only care about the soul of Meursault.

Do you love your mother? Why did you send her to a nursing home? Why didn't you cry at her funeral? Why didn't you know the exact age of your mother? Swimming to see a funny movie?

Why don't you believe in God?

Prosecutors also stood up and charged that Meursault had no humanity, no soul, and did not believe at all in the moral beliefs that the human soul espouses. This is a huge black hole of the soul, this black hole is slowly turning into an abyss, and the whole society may fall.

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So you will be beheaded in the square, in the name of the French people.

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Even if your soul and mind are free, your body must die. Truth and truth can be distorted by anyone who wants to distort the concept bit by bit, and let lies and malice take their place. Thinking about the meaning of life, living and dying, may be the only destiny you can control.