Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): The Gentle Meursault :: Camus Stranger Essays

The Gentle Meursault of Camus’s The Stranger (The Outsider) In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault, the protagonist, could be seen as immoral if he were judged on the basis of his actions alone. However, through Camus’s use of a first person narrative, we begin to understand Meursault as not an immoral man, but simply an indifferent one. Meursault is a symbol of the universe, and so in understanding him we understand that the universe is also not evil, but instead a place of gentle indifference. At first glance, Meursault could be seen as an evil man. He shows no grief at his mother’s funeral, worrying more about the heat. His first reaction to his mother’s death is not sadness, it is a matter-of-fact, unemotional acceptance of the situation. â€Å"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.† Later on in the story, Meursault kills an Arab on the beach, and his only concern is that he has ruined the calm, pleasant day he was having. When he is in jail, the magistrate comes in an attempt to save Meursault’s soul, but instead of cooperating, Meursault simply confounds the magistrate by refusing to believe in God. Even at his trial, Meursault doesn’t show any remorse for having killed the Arab. Based on this evidence alone, how can we not see Meursault as evil? In the novel, we are given a more complete view of Meursault. The story is told from his point-of-view, which allows us to understand the situation as Meursault perceives it. Looking at the situation in this light, we can see Meursault as not evil, but simply indifferent and detached from life. He doesn’t attempt to get wrapped up in emotion or relationships, he just takes things as they come, doing whatever is easiest for him. He becomes friends with Raymond and agrees to marry Marie simply because he doesn’t have a very good reason not to. Seeing the story from Meursault’s viewpoint, we understand that even killing the Arab wasn’t an act of malice or evil intent. As Meursault puts it, â€Å"My nature is such that my physical needs often get in the way of my feelings.† With this in context, things begin to make more sense. Meursault’s seemingly cryptic statement that he murdered the Arab â€Å"because of the sun† can be taken as truth . Meursault does things that society judges as wrong not because he is evil or wants to appear immoral, but because the sun and heat, symbols for Meursault’s emotional state, cause him to become uncomfortable and act â€Å"inappropriately.

Is It Important to Question the Ideas and Decisions of People in Positions of Authority? Essay

Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority? I believe it is. While rules are meant to be followed, there should always be a reason behind that rule. There are instances where the rule is deemed by society as â€Å"unfair† or â€Å"bias.† There are other instances where the rules can be detrimental to the people following them. Let’s take a trip back to the 60’s. Remember Rosa Parks? She was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. Remember Ruby Bridges? She, a black child, was tormented because she attened an Elementary school for white students only. Now these may seem like trivial things, but if these two, along with many other Civil Rights Activists never challenged authority, segregation in the United States may have continued up to this day. When thinking about rules that can be detrimental to society, I can’t help but remember two books that represent this idea perfectly: Battle Royale, and The Hunger Games. In both books, The government forces civilians to fight to the death in an arena, and only one contestant may live. In both books, more than one contestant broke the rules and survived the game. Had they followed the rules and â€Å"played the game†, one can only imagine the physical and mental injuries they would have endured. Disobeying authority and rebelling actually saved their lives, along with many other potentially endangered lives as well. I do believe that rules are meant to be followed, but I also believe that there should always be a reason behind them. I always question authority if I think that its decisions and intentions aren’t beneficial to me – whether those decisions or intentions are trivial or extreme.

A Personality Of Calvin Coolidge - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 510 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/08/12 Category Politics Essay Level High school Tags: Government Essay Did you like this example?   Throughout American History there have been presidents who have made promises in order to secure peoples vote. Many presidents break their promises or do not accomplish what they promised. Calvin Coolidge was not one of those Presidents. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Personality Of Calvin Coolidge" essay for you Create order Even though he obtained ?presidency by stepping up and doing the job of a Vice President and leading the Nation when the President itself was no longer living. Coolidge served a six year term (1923-1929) of presidency due to the fact that he had to finish the last two years remaining in Harding term, and was then re-elected for an additional four years after that, but decided not run again on the elections on 1929. Although Coolidge was a man of small talk he always made his point come across very clearly by establishing Economic, Domestic,   Foreign Policies as well as using the power to veto.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   President Coolidge was a Republican who believed in free enterprise and was in favor of a small government or minimal government intervention. During his Presidency on of his goals was to reduce taxes on people because he believed that   Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. In 1924 he signed the Revenue act of 1924 which stated exactly what Coolidge wanted, the reduction of tax rates on the citizens as well as the deflecting federal debt. Americans highly benefited from his Economic Policies. During the roaring twenties because now many americans had more time and more money to spend on themself, and they started to have a more lavish styles and costumes something that could have not been possible without Calvins   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In attempt to change the way African Americans were treated during this time, Coolidges effort to enforce the study of civil rights and proposed multiple anti-lynching laws that of course were not adapted by the people and that congress turned down . These laws were ahead of their time and had a very slight chance of getting approved. Mainly because during this time not many were comfortable believing that African Americans, or other minorities shared the same equal rights as the whites. One of his successful Domestic policies was the   Indian Citizen Act which granted American Indians the right to citizenship if born in the U.S or if they marry a natural American citizen rather than trying to make Americanized and destroyed American Indians culture. Calvin Coolidge gave the Americans Indians the privilege to be free while being able to practice and passed down their culture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During his presidency Calvin Coolidge did not state that The United States was an isolationist country. As matter of fact he wanted open borders with many foreign countries, especially China.   In efforts to expand trade between countries and to financially benefit from open trade. Calvin approved The white Act of 1928 which increased ship productions to potentially inflate the amount of import and exports in The United States. Having this open trade policy created some problems with neighboring countries. Coolidge was concern with the secureness of American businesses and war against Mexico was rumored. His concern was that