Existentialism in The Stranger

A while ago we finished The Stranger by the Nobel-prize-winning Albert Camus in my AP English class; I loved it. I enjoyed this book so much so that I bought A Happy Death, an obvious original draft of The Stranger, and though I'm only a third of the way into the novel, I love it. I have reveled in these books because of their themes regarding the existentialist. I adore the philosophy of existentialism. Camus seems to write about existentialism in his works, particularly in The Stranger, but he says this is false. He had said, "I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless." This quote shows his belief in absurdism, and so if he supports absurdism, why would he choose to write about existentialism instead of absurdism?
I'm not sure why he wrote of existentialism, I just know that he did. The proof is in the plot of The Stranger and its protagonist's thoughts. The novel does exemplify absurdism up until the protagonist, Meursault, is sentenced to death. Before, Meursault justified monumental events with the notion of absurdism; he tells himself that his mother died because everyone dies and that she was old, he accepts a marriage proposal indifferently because all he is doing is simply saying, "yes." There is the shift of absurdism to existentialism because Meursault had always perceived that the world is random and chaotic, and for once, Meusault's life is not random: he follows a regular routine in prison, and his death sentence is inevitable. Meusault, for the first time in his life, has one "sure-thing": he will be executed. As Meursault is awaiting the wretched guillotine, he reflects, "As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really—I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." Meursault is finally at peace with himself, and as existentialism requires, he has found his fate, his purpose. Meursault realizes, as illustrated in the above quote, that his purpose is to go to prison so he could finally be happy. 

The Awakening Analysis and Aftermath

The Awakening by Kate Chopin follows Edna Pontellier in the mid/late 19th century. (I am assuming the novel takes place the between 1870 and 1890, because Edna's father was a general in the Civil War.) Edna, like many women in this era, is apathetic and uninterested in life--she is lonely and bored, and cannot seem to find happiness. She is comforted through her art, spending hours painting, only to hear her husband complain and worry that she will not complete her "household duties." As a married woman, her independence is extremely limited. (In the US in 1872, Illinois granted the freedom of occupational choice to both men and women. But when Myra Colby Bradwell, who studied as her husband’s law apprentice to pass the Illinois bar, tried to practice as a lawyer, the US supreme court ruled that the state doesn’t have to grant a law license to a married woman. Their ruling was in 1873.) Edna is pushed into the arms of another man, two actually, and realizing she cannot do anything she wants, she kills herself.

Fortunately, women have come very far in society, obtaining rights that were once just a fantasy, causing women to now have opportunities to succeed and do what they want with their lives. It all really started in Pennsylvania in 1718, where women wer able to own and manage property – if their husbands were incapacitated. Women kept gaining rights; New York, in 1771, was the first state to make it illegal for a husband to sell his wife's property; in 1839, in Mississippi, women could own property. The first women's rights convention was held in 1848. No other advancements were made, other than women's rights groups forming, until 1869, when Wyoming passed a women's suffrage law and allowed women to serve in juries in 1870.  By 1918, New York, South Dakota, Michigan, Oaklahoma, Nevada, Montana,  Alaska, Illinois, Arizona, Oregon, Kansas, California, Washington,  Idaho, Utah and Colorada have given women the right to vote. The ninteenth amendment was passed on August 26, 1920, granting women the right to vote, and it was only up from here. It was soon normal for women to work, because men were fighting wars. Women started going to college. More women than ever are completing their education and doing what they want.

The Challenge of Cultural Relativism

After reading James Rachels's article "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism," some things really stuck out to me.

I feel like some of it really applies to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and life itself. One of the things Rachels recognizes is the fact that "different societies have different moral codes," (Rachels 53). Rachels names several examples, like the Eskimos killing their babies and having multiple partners and the general public learning of these deeds, finding them as "disturbing revelations," (Rachels 53). Things Fall Apart contains two perfect example of this: Okonkwo and his friend, Obierika, are talking about the title "ozo" and how other clans, like Abame and Aninta, have "soiled" "ozo" because "every beggar takes it" (Achebe 70); Okonkwo tells Machi rumors of tribes where "a man's children belong to his wife and her family," but Machi cannot believe it (Achebe 74). In each conversation, the people are upset to hear this. It is obvious they would find a woman "owning" the family startling, and the idea of any regular-guy having the title of "ozo" is upsetting. In the US people marry adults--adults get married-- and when people, such as Doug Anthony, marry someone under eighteen many people call him a "child molester" and "pedophile" (Wilson), but children marriages are very popular in other countries around the world.

Rachels argues that if "we took ["the essence of Cultural Relativism"] seriously" then "we could no longer say that the customs of other societies are morally inferior to our own" (Rachels 54). I would like everyone to follow "Cultural Relativism," because I think telling people their way of life is "immoral" is ignorant and often causes cultures to be destroyed (like the countless instances of missionaries altering Afrrican tribes), but I do not completely agree with this. I believe that some things truly are "morally inferior" because certain deeds  lack morality. I think a grown man marrying someone under the age of eighteen is gross and immoral because someone under the age of eighteen is a child and is in no way prepared for marriage. Marrying a child is pedophilia, which I believe is immoral--I cannot think of a situation where that would ever be morally correct. I do not think it matters where you are from, it is wrong. More and more people are speaking out against child marriages, as prove by the fact that the "prevalence [of child marriages] has decreased slightly over the past three decades," (Unicef). They are speaking out against it because they know it's wrong.

I enjoyed reading James Rachels's article; it was fascinating and thought-provoking.

Sources:

Chinua, Achebe. Things Fall Apart. New York: A Division of Random House, 1994. Print.

Rachels, James. "The Challenge of Curtual Relativism." McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1993. Web.

Durham, Sarah Wilson. "Doug Anthony Hutchinson Marries 16-Year-Old Country Singer." People.com, 2011. Web.

"Child marriage." UNICEF, 2014. Web.

Monsters

As we have just finished reading Beowulf and excerpts from Grendel, I thought it would be the perfect excuse to talk about my love for monsters and learn the facts. I have always been fascinated with monsters from a young age; touring Lake Champlain in search of Champ with my mom and her long-time best friend, roaming the woods with friends as children in hopes of spotting Big Foot or some other woodland monster and watching old Sci-Fi flicks with my dad, featuring creatures such as mummies and slime-y things from lagoons. I think this is common for kids--to be intrigued with the spooky and scary. So why do we like to be scared? Where does this love stem from?

According to WebMD, people have long been fascinated with the "dark side." We like the idea of monsters because we don't understand it, and it's unique compared to our regular, everyday lives.  Glen Sparks has been studying how people react to frightening images for over twenty years, and he has found that people like to watch horror movies and be scared because they feel good that it's a different experience and they feel happy that the film is over and that they could watch the whole thing. The former president of the American Psychological Association, Farley, says that there are people that have "type T" personalities, which means they are thrill-seekers. Farley states, "Skydivers will tell you it's the thrill, the rush, and a little element of fear that motivates them to push themselves to the extreme." The body goes through unique physical sensations, such as sweaty palms, a racing heartbeat and an adrenaline rush, when scared and many will purposely put themselves in specific situations just so they can feel that.  A professor of psychology at Kansas State University states children like monsters because they are not real, and therefore can be used as an outlet for their emotions. He continues and mentions how teens enjoy horror movies because they often contain taboo subjects, and their attraction to it is like that of driving a car fast or smoking a cigarette.

We know now why people like to be scared, but why and how did they create myths and legends like Champ and the Loch  Ness Monster? If you're really that curious, head over to http://www.americanmonsters.com/site/# which gives thorough backgrounds for all infamous monsters!