Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Finding a Rational God th

Finding a Rational God through Nature in Camus The crazy (The Outsider) go towards nature for fulfillment, The Strangers Meursault rejects the ideology of God as a savior and is consequently juxtaposed against Jesus Christs martyrdom, Christianity and the infamous crucifixion. To the naive reader, Meursault appears to be an extreme atheist. Later in Albert Camus novel, he is revealed as a humanistic soul thats in touch with the universality of the earth and taint he treads upon. Through the use of blunt and undefined nature images, Meursaults revelations and newfound trust within an environment outside of society are thinly whispered by Camus. In essence, Meursault imposes his need for meaning upon nature as well as upon a God who rejects him. Through this imposition, he hopes to acquire an immortality which is convertible to a Christian afterlife. The arguments of nature as a religion and as an entity separate from God are jointly focused upon in the modern criticisms and in terpretations of The Stranger I will discuss. Pantheism, a quasi-religious worship of nature, comes into mind when looking at Meursaults final communion with the world. Is pantheism a mere excuse for Meursaults actions or rather a secret reality of his which the public is not ready to confront or understand? Icons and stereotypes accompany this enigmatic, suggestive natural imaginativeness and are employed by Camus to show the irrationality in both societys and Meursaults assumptions of religion and of Christianity. One is left with the question of Meursaults acceptance of death is Meursaults embracing of his fate representative of his fall into the abyss of traditional Christian faith or indeed a minute towards a happy medium in nature?... ...thood Without God. In Mansions of the Spirit. Ed. George A. Panichas. New York Hawthorn Books, Inc. Publishers, 1967. 313-324. Hanna, Thomas L. Albert Camus and the Christian Faith. In Camus A Collection of Critical Essays. edit by Germain e Bree. New Jersey Prentice-Hall, 1962. 48-64. Harrison, Paul. Scientific Pantheism Basic Principles. Elements of Pantheism. cited from April 20 1999. Availible from http//members.aol.com/heraklit1/basicpri.htm Peyre, Henri. Camus the Pagan. In Camus A Collection of Critical Essays. edited by Germaine Bree. New Jersey Prentice-Hall, 1962. 65-70. Piper, H.W. The participating Universe. London The Athlone Press 1962. Sprintzen, David. Camus A Critical Examination. Philadelphia Temple University Press, 1988. Woelfel, James W. Camus A Theological Perspective. New York Abingdon Press, 1975.