The Stranger's Final Irony

My initial response to the final sentence of the novel was complete confusion. The novel ends, "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." (Camus 123.) How could Meursault consider being an object of hatred preferable to and less lonely than the state of indifference to that world that he had been in previously? Then I realized that this deeply ironic statement represents Meursault's great moral breakthrough, his acceptance of responsibility for his actions and his realization that, by understanding that he deserved to become an object of moral revulsion, he had found meaning in human actions. The last sentence signifies that Meursault had overcome his alienation and joined a moral community. I think the ironic language of that last sentence conveys something of the absurdity of human existence, but it does so without suggesting there is no value or meaning in human life.

Comments

[Josh Levy]

I think the last sentence of the stranger confirms the absurdity of Meursalt's life, and how he knows that his loneliness is a product of his unwillingness to "play the game." During the last chapter, Meursalt states that for the first time he misses Maman and Marie, and does not understand how to deal with his feelings. He accepts that after being completely indifferent and acting upon impulse he has ruined his chance at happiness. The last sentence shows that Meursalt is very conflicted, and even though he knows he has been wrong, he wants the hatred of the crowd to vindicate his disdain for social construction.

[Nathan L.]

I disagree with both the previous views on Camus' ending of the story. I feel that Meursalt is very egocentric, and by this I mean that when Meursalt dies, he takes the rest of the world with him. Almost as if he is the central power that keeps the world alive. If he dies, then everyone else dies with him; thats why he comments saying that everyone will hate him when he dies because they all die with him