The
radical existentialism thatoffers in inheres in the absurdist stance that
life is meaningless, rather than meaningful, precisely because it is all there is. Repeated
questioning of the meaning of life cannot, Meursault finds, alter the fact that we cannot know
what happens after deathnot because there is some greater power than human cannot access, but
because there is no such meaning.
Camus offer Meursault numerous
opportunities for remorse and redemption. While some of his behavior is both illegal and
immoral, especially shooting the Arab, other behavior simply fails to meet social expectations,
such as appropriately mourning his mother. Meursault is alienated not merely from society but
also from himself. After his conviction, his ultimate session with the priest, which could have
brought atonement and a hope of forgiveness, culminates first in anger and then liberation; he
embraces the absence of meaningwhat Camus sums up as the "benign indifference of the
universe." Thus, he will leave life happy if others show happiness in his passing, as
spectators at his hanging.
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