Nietzsche's Philosophy in Albert Camus "The Stranger"

In this essay, I will talk about the relationship between Nietzsche’s philosophy, namely nihilism and the analysis of Albert Camus' novel, abroad. Then I will make a brief analysis of the current situation with what has been said in the previous paragraph. To begin with, I will give a brief account of Albert Camus' life and then delve into his novel. Subsequently the theory of nihilism will be a little detailed in order to make a comparison between nihilism and Camus' absurdity. In conclusion, the current situation will be observed from that point of view and I will give a personal opinion.

Albert Camus, born 7 November 1913 in Mondovi (Dréan), Algeria. After his father’s death, he moved with his mother and brother to Algiers, the Algerian capital, where he spent most of his childhood and youth. During the institute he suffered some tuberculosis attacks that kept him separate from his studies for a short period of time. He later studied philosophy and graduated from the University of Algiers. He worked as a journalist in an Algerian newspaper, until 1940 when he moved to Paris, where he found work as an editor in Paris-Soir, a Parisian newspaper. It was not until 1942 with the publications of the novel ‘The Stranger’ and the essay The Myth of Sífosi, that he began to be known. These two works complement each other, and Camus shows us the influence existentialism had on him.

Above all, in the Stranger, Camus shows the idea of the absurd and how the protagonist is not able to identify himself within the society as one and feels alien to others, hence the stranger or the foreigner within the society in which he lives. From the outset we realize that the character does not follow the stereotypes and rules that could be expected to be marked by society, but gives us to understand that Mr Meursault does not share the same principles as others, the same way of being and behaving in everyday situations. We see, for example, that the feelings that should arise in the face of the death of a mother or, despite having sex, feeling desire and affection towards a person, are not able to understand what it is like to love or the feeling of wanting, but still accepts the fact of getting married. He can commit a crime and killing an innocent Arab, but at no time is he able to feel sorry or repent of his actions. During his time in prison, many things happen in his head, he reflects on the freedom of people, but he never understands what people can feel. When condemned to death, the main fact is not the murder of an Arab but the failure to mourn the death of his mother. Here we continue to see nuances in the philosophy of the absurd.

 During the last part of the book in which sentence has already been given and it is known that the protagonist must be executed, the prison priest invites him to sit with him to speak, to repent before God before dying and so, according to religion, earn a place in heaven and go quiet and in peace. Meursault throughout his time in prison has denied his presence because he does not believe in God, does not believe in life, and accepts death as a natural act for which every human being must pass sooner or later. In the end the priest appears in the cell of Meursault to speak with him, he does not succeed in convincing him and the protagonist still does not accept a possible forgiveness of God, does not believe in it, does not believe in an exculpation, has accepted his destiny because he has arrived the hour of death and just as he thought the day after his mother’s death.

Once I introduce the author and the book, I will analyse the philosophy of the absurd in Camus. For that, I will rely on Nietzsche. One of the philosopher’s most celebrated phrases is: ‘God has died’. This refers to nihilism, nihil means nothing in Latin and suffix -ism, which means ‘system’ this means that once God has died there is no more sense, it is all nonsense. Therefore, it denies all principles and beliefs. Nihilism is based especially on the absence of values and truths in it, the two phases of the process can be distinguished, negative nihilism (passive) and positive (active). In the negative sense we can observe a decline in Western culture. This is the result of immersion of values, that is, the imposition of values, customs and beliefs in Western culture. The death of God brings about this mindless thought. Life has no meaning and is unsustainable and empty. Therefore, according to Nietzsche (Nietzsche, 1883), the last man ‘’ appears after the death of God. This is the worst of all since it is burdened by the values of culture, it has to be liberated in order to reach the positive state. Once liberated we find the ‘superman’, this accepts the death of god and lives life without predetermined values. The superman can be compared, as Nietzsche did, to the boy. A child is born without present values, is not enculturalized so is free. That freedom is what the superman acquires, and it is he who changes these values by facing life with a new attitude. Thus, nihilism is the devaluation of the main values imposed by society, a lack of goal in life, a lack of response to why these values. We can observe that, throughout the book of Camus, this is very present in the protagonist. The protagonist does not understand the values imposed by society, seeing himself as well as a stranger within it. Meursault’s morality disregards faith, that is, what is considered truth by religion and its principles are not present in it. It is aware of not following the present values by the culture being seen, as well as a free soul.

We can see how Albert Camus follows Nietzsche’s philosophy by seeing Meursault as a Superman, a child who has not yet acquired the values. Once analysed the protagonist we realize that he sees and understands that the others follow certain values within the society and each one has an established role, but he does not understand why he would have to follow the same guidelines as the rest. Now I would like to focus on the analysis of three aspects where Nietzsche is very present during the course of Albert Camus' book. First the values that the protagonist has in some parts of history. The reaction of the protagonist with the death of the mother is accompanied by the knowledge that death is present in all living beings. He understands death as natural. We can observe that in the asylum they expect him to cry or show feelings of sadness, but he does not cry because he does not understand why he should do it. Here we can observe how Nietzsche is present in his way of seeing the world, Meursault is like a small child. At another time where we can see that these acts are judged by a society with present values, it is during their trial that they focus more on the protagonist’s reactions during his mother’s death than on the fact that he fired at the Arab. On the other hand, there are the customs that are observed in the course of the novel.

On the one hand, we have the mother’s burial, according to the protagonist, she herself did not want to be buried before entering the asylum, but once inside, she changes her will and wants to be buried. This may be because she is persuaded by the society and culture around her and is instilled with values or a way of thinking that she did not have before entering the asylum. The mother is like the camel that Nietzsche transmits, carries the burden of an external morality to her. It is also possible that the mother during her last days sees how religion gives her a hope that she did not have, in believing in the afterlife, in something fictional. Here we can see again how society pushes to believe in God, to cleanse the soul before dying to leave the world with peace and tranquility. During the trial it is implied that the fact of having the mother in the asylum is frowned upon, Meursault is understood to be a bad son for having decided to intern the mother and is one of the points most stressed throughout the trial. At the same time, asylum is subsidized by the government and is a place to take older people. Since she cannot attend to her mother’s needs properly, Meursault decides to take her to the asylum because she thinks it is the best option for her, so she would be entertained and could enjoy her days. So, here we look at the fact that it is supposedly wrong to wear it, but on the other hand it is the government that is behind it. He does not understand the reason for these values, he lacks an answer just like Nietzsche.

Another tradition we can observe is the fact of condolences. The condolences are a tradition of the society in which you live, to give condolences when a person dies is preset. He doesn’t understand why people give it to him if he’s okay and his mother ‘was older’. Nihilism is present in all those things that Meursault understands as absurd. Finally, we come across beliefs. The society in which Meursault lives believes in God and in hope, we see this reflected both in judgment and in the end, when the priest goes to the cell of Meursault to talk to him. The protagonist of the novel does not believe in God, lives without him and above all believes that one can live without believing in something like God or hope because for him it is not necessary to be a believer to be happy even if what society does is the opposite. He does not understand how for others happiness is based on being a good believer, repenting of his evil acts before God to cleanse their souls so that on the day of his death they go to heaven and not to hell. The priest despairs at not being able to understand how a person who is days away from his death has not the slightest hope. Throughout this analysis we have been able to see how we focused on certain aspects that have occurred during the course of the novel. I would also like to make a brief analysis of the protagonist. He is a critical boy with society and unable to understand it.

Throughout the book we can see the intention of Albert Camus to show Meursault as misunderstood, but at the same time as a superman like Nietzsche said. That is why it is a strange ‘’within society and is marginalized at certain times and misunderstood by others. Situating ourselves today, we can see how the vast majority of people live under that sociocultural morality. Moreover, those who do not follow that morality see themselves as strangers, as foreigners to their culture. Much of society is unaware that it lives by emotional rules and regulations. Still, they think they’re free, which they can’t be when you’re under that influence. Another great factor today is atheism. Atheism is the belief in no higher being and its negation. In the same place where the novel is located, France, today one fifth of the population is atheist. This means that, for them, as Nietzsche said, ‘God has died’, and with God, the metaphysics imposed by religion died. So society lives under a different kind of culture.In any case, although atheists do not believe in God, they themselves have imposed principles, ways of acting. This is not given by religion yet society imposes it on the little ones and in this way we also have a way of being, a way of acting and thinking that it is common.

In this part of the wording I would like to give my opinion on the enculturalisation of children. Children will acquire culture during the period of schooling, understand how to interact with the outside world and understand their emotions and transmit them. As a future teacher I would like to raise awareness of this. Children need to be aware that they live under a society and culture where those in charge like to have everything under control. The way of thinking and feeling is organized so that no one stands out and there is a homogeneization of the acts of thoughts. I would like to do activities where children can see that, at a certain point in time such as someone’s death, it can also be celebrated and seen in various ways from one place or another, and that they see that there is no good way to act and no bad way to deal with this situation. There are countries where they celebrate the death of someone with a party where they laugh and in others they cry, that they have to be aware of what is imposed by society and that if they do not see it right to change it so that it is to their liking. Children are a weapon of the future, we would have to make them see the current reality, so that they come to change certain patterns considered unalterable.

In conclusion, I found this book interesting when it comes to relating it to Nietzsche’s philosophy and going beyond the novel. I think it can become a great example during the explanation of what was considered absurd by Camus and Nietzsche’s nihilism. Today, we continue to be guided by sociocultural stoppages.

References

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Albert Camus. (1942). L'Étranger. Francia: Éditions Gallimard - Lluna Pineda. (2013). Filosofia de Nietzsche. 2019, de Youtube Sitio web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrqC2yN-_YQ&t=524s –

Brugger, W, & Schöndorf, H. (2014). Diccionario de filosofía. Alemania: Herder Editorial. El Nihilismo. - xtec. (-). Nietzsche: sólo valores vinculados a la vida. 2019, de xtec.cat Sitio web: http://www.xtec.cat/~lvallmaj/barrinou/niet/niezara2.htm -

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Nietzsche, F. (1883). Así habló Zaratustra. Chemnitz: Ernest Schmeitzner. - Biografias y Vidas. (2004). Albert Camus. 2019, de biografiasyvidas.com Sitio web: https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/c/camus.htm -

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