Homework #7

The Stranger by Albert Camus is a novel about the absurdity of the Universe.  Camus asserts, aligning with another existencialist philosophers (although himself denied this title), that individual lives and human existence in general have no rational meaning or order. The term “absurdity” describes humanity’s futile attempt to find rational order where none exists.

The first chapter of the book follows a complete logic structure. The protagonist, Mersault, follows an ordinary life, until un incident directly involving a machine changes his life:

"As soon as he saw me, he sat up a little and put his hand in his pocket. Naturally, I gripped Raymond’s gun inside my jacket. Then he lay back again, but without taking his hand out of his pocket". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 58). 

After shooting a man dead, the protagonist Mersault goes to the jail. After following an unbelievable trial, that considers all the little details of his life presented before, Mersault is condemned to die in the guillotine (again, a machine):

"For by giving it some hard thought, by considering the whole thing calmly, I could see that the trouble with the guillotine was that you had no chance at all, absolutely none. The fact was that it had been decided once and for all that the patient was to die". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 111).  

Finally,  after being condemned to die in a machine, by using a machine, the author conclude about the absurdity of the life, in a beautiful metaphore with a machinery system, in which it is impossible to scape. 

"What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 109).