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Essay / An Outsider's Philosophical Perspective
American society is constantly looking toward those who are different, many people with different behavior are labeled undesirable even though America is considered a democracy. In many situations, society uses propaganda to demonize others and tear them down for being different. These outcasts are often labeled and, because they have different views and feelings, they are violated and punished. In society, being indifferent and not changing yourself for society, pleasure can cause society to sentence you to a social death sentence, and in both Albert Camus books the protagonists are often penalized for their different ways to see life and are treated as if they were. less than human. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay In The Stranger Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault is often ostracized by society because he is indifferent, his indifference is condemned by others and makes him suffer later. At first, Meursault is informed of his mother's funeral and shows no emotion, arousing the curiosity of those present. He is unaffected by his mother's death and continues to live his life as if nothing happened, and has shown that her death has no significance for his life. Fast forward to when Meursault is walking on the beach alongside his close friend Raymond, encountering two Arabs who have distressed Raymond in the past. Later, Meursault has a gun in his hand and wonders whether or not he should shoot the Arab. Either way, he wouldn't care because the loss of a life wouldn't mean anything to him, he wouldn't be affected. He killed the Arab out of confusion and self-defense, but he showed no remorse or regret even though it meant he would go to prison and possibly executed. In prison, he replaced the characteristics that categorized him as fatalistic and absurd. Meursault's conviction was overall unfair before legal justice because it was based on his characteristics and not his actions. In court, the prosecutor constantly brings up Meursault's actions at his mother's funeral, as well as Meursault's hesitation and lack of ability to cry and care about his mother and the murder. The guard explained to Meursault that he “did not want to see Mom's body, nor shed a single tear, and that I left as soon as the funeral was over, without lingering at her grave. Another thing surprised him. One of the men at the funeral home told him that I didn't know my mother's age... I refused to see my mother's body, I smoked cigarettes, slept and drank coffee with milk... The prosecutor turned to me again with a jubilant look in his face. eyes” (Albert Camus “The Stranger” 56). The judge used the prosecutor's biased evidence on Meursault and thus rendered a biased verdict, whether or not he was publicly guillotined. The prosecutor continues and dramatically asserts that Meursault is not capable of remorse and claims that he should be prosecuted for his actions. He states: “Not only did the man who preceded you in the dock indulge in the most shameful orgies the day after his mother's death. He killed a man in cold blood, as part of a sordid vendetta in the underworld of prostitutes and pimps. These gentlemen of the jury, that's the kind of man the prisoner is.'... 'Is my client being tried for having buried his mother or for having killed a man?'... 'I accuse the prisoner to behave at his mother's funeral in a manner which showed that he was already a criminal at heart” (Albert Camus.