During the Qing Dynasty, I read a book at home, The Outsider by the French philosopher Abel Camus. The novel was officially published in 1942 and made him famous when it was released. In October 1957, Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for The Plague. The award comment at the time was: "As an artist and moralist, he vividly embodied the moral conscience of modern man through an existentialist perspective on the absurdity of the world, dramatically representing the fundamental questions of human existence such as freedom, justice and death." ”
Before introducing the work "The Outsider", it is necessary to mention the philosophical idea of "existentialism".
"Existentialism" is a way of life that studies philosophy by studying the state of life that is being experienced at the moment, and connecting philosophy with the experience of daily life. As the thinker Edmund Hurset put it, "go back to things themselves," and Martin Heidegger adds on this basis: "Just let things reveal themselves to you." ”
Existentialist philosophy is human-centered and emphasizes respect for human freedom and individuality.
The book "The Outsider" reminds us of respect for human freedom and individuality through the experience of the "alien" Morceau being crushed by the world.
The text of the novel "The Outsider" is not very long, with a total of 66,000 words. It mainly tells the story of the young clerk Meursault, who is inadvertently involved in a shooting case after attending his mother's funeral. In the process of being arrested and sentenced to death by a court, the author reveals a grotesque scene of the world to us through the way he writes, which triggers our thinking about the "conflict between individual freedom and collective will".
In The Outsider, Mersall is a typical representative of the philosophy of life that goes with the flow.
Philosophy of life refers to philosophical thinking that takes life as the object of study. It mainly includes the purpose and meaning of life, life ideals, life paths, life behaviors and standards, and so on. Its fundamental purpose is to reveal the true meaning of life, from life practice to philosophical reflection, and then to guide life from philosophy and theory.
There is this fragment in the text:
Today, Mom is dead. Maybe it was yesterday, and I couldn't figure it out. I received a telegram from the nursing home: "The Spirit Hall has passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Special condolences. "It's not clear what it says. Maybe it died yesterday. After a while, he asked me, "Is it your mother inside?" I replied, "Yes," he asked again, "Is she old?" I returned: "She's just so old. "Because I can't really figure out how old she really is." In the evening, Mary came to me and asked if I would marry her. I said it was okay to get married or not, and if she wanted it, we would get married.
From the description in the text, we can see that Meursault is a person who is very indifferent to his life and feelings. He is always content with the present, and the way of life that is at ease with the situation. He doesn't worry too much about the future, and he doesn't have much intention for the world. His lifestyle is a bit like king Creon in Antigone. Creon originally only wanted to be a famous artist, but fate made him a king and lived a life of suffering that he could not bear.
Meursault, whether he treats family affection or love, he is weaker than ordinary people. But it is precisely because of his indifference that he has become a target of public criticism. The shooting, which he was inadvertently involved in, was supposed to focus on the occurrence of the case in court, but it was said that he was "because he did not care about his mother's death" and the court ruled that he was a "premeditated murderer" and a person who "has no humanity at all". Thus, he became an unforgivable sinner in this shooting case.
Why is it that the trial, which is supposed to revolve around the case, becomes an accusation and trial of Meursault's philosophy of life? This is where the author Camus's intentions lie. Through the public and the court trial of Meursault's philosophy of life, he secretly satirizes the obliteration of the individuality of others by those who are "collectivist".
There is a saying in "The Ragtag Crowd" that individuals in the group will feel a strong "righteous" force, for whom the group is justice, and quantity is the truth; or otherwise, the people in the group will also have a "law does not blame the public" idea, so they behave justly in their actions.
It is worth noting that the philosophy of "existentialism" arose after the First World War. The First World War was the beginning of the end of European modernity civilization (the beginning of civilization prosperity, the First World War was a war of territorial robbery caused by the expansion of modern European countries after the growth of modern European countries, and after the two wars, modernity achieved a high degree of global development and brought global prosperity). With the advent of the modern period, man entered the non-religious phase of history. When people move from religion to non-religion, from a high degree of imprisonment to freedom, from emphasizing human obedience to pursuing their own individuality, the old and new forces are constantly colliding and rubbing. This is why the novel appears in the novel about his performance after the death of Meursault's mother, rather than the case itself, and at the end of the novel, the priest persuades him to convert to Christ and repent.
In The Outsider, Meursault repeatedly refused to be visited by the priest. He felt that he did not need the priest's redemption or God's forgiveness. He is the one who is content with the moment, goes with the flow, and likes to live a relaxed and happy life. At this time, the priest insisted on visiting him many times, longing for his salvation.
The priest said to him, "Don't you have any hope?" Do you live so long every day thinking that you are about to be destroyed? I replied, "Yes." ”
The priest said excitedly, "Then God will help you, and I have seen many people in similar situations with you who have finally converted to God." "I said, I acknowledge that these are their rights, which just shows that they still have so much time to do it." As for me, I don't need to be helped anymore, and I have no interest in anything I'm not interested in anymore.
From the above dialogue, we can know that the priest condemned the world as original sin according to the Bible, and in his eyes all people can receive forgiveness from the Lord if they repent. He exhorted others to put himself on a moral high ground to pardon others. That is, when the world is in a group, it is often used to despise those who do not follow the rules or do not belong to the group.
The Ragtag Group says that they will not accept a reality that is inconsistent with their wishes. If something goes against their will, then they will take drastic measures to challenge the order of reality. Like meursault, the little character in "The Outsider", it is precisely because of his unique personality and philosophy of life that he is different from the traditional popular, mainstream, that he will get such an absurd ending.
In the novel "The Outsider", it is ostensibly written that a person with a weak heart is "falsely accused" by the court for a shooting incident, but in fact it highlights that when individuals are not accepted by the group, they often cause tragedy. Camus used this to call on society to value the value of the individual and respect the freedom of others.