The Absurd Morality of Death in The Outsider Essay -- The Outsider Dea

The Absurd Morality of Death in The OutsiderIn The Outsider by Albert Camus, finish can clearly be seen as asignificant image - there being six expirations mentioned in total. In PartOne we argon shown the natural demise of Meursaults mother andMeursaults murder of the Arab, and in Part Two we are presented withthe parricide of a brother/son and the subsequent suicide of theperpetrators, another parricide that is to be tried after Meursaultscase and the death penalty pronounced on Meursault. Through thesedepictions of various deaths, Camus shows clearly the conflicting andoften arbitrary treatment of death within society, a treatment thatreveals a confusion between the motives behind acts and the subsequentresponse to the completed acts, which ultimately reflects the natureof the absurd prevalent in the novel.Section One deaths directly linked to MeursaultMrs Meursaults FuneralDeath, as an important image, is established in the very firstsentence of the book, Mother died today.1 The simplicity anddirectness of this argument is shocking for the reader, and leads usto try to understand what sort of man Meursault is - a task that wediscover later has been laid as a trap for us. However, so far thoughthis first sentence is simple and direct, it is confused in the verynext sentence, Or maybe yesterday, I dont know.2 This confusionover the time of the death can be generalised to the circumstances ofthe death, which are in this case unclear, and indeed we are nevertold what the cause of Mrs Meursaults death was. All we have are theallusions to her age, About sixty,3 and her friend, who was anold man4 that could not prevent himself from fainting (like adisloca... ...t, The Outsider (Penguin Classics), p60.13 ibid. P69.14 ib. P63.15 Ibid. P64.16 Ibid. P85.17 Ibid. P85.18 Ibid. P57.19 Ibid. P58.20 Ibid. P58.21 Ibid. P6022 Camus, Albert, The Outsider (Penguin Classics, 2000), p6423 Ibid. P68.24 Ibid. P98.25 Ibid. P99.26 Ibid. P11627 Ibid. P103.28 Camus, Albert, Th e Outsider (Penguin Classics, 2000), p104.29 Ibid. P109.30 Ibid. P109.31 Ibid. P114.32 Ibid. P112.33 Ibid. P115.34 Ibid. P117.35 Ibid. P117.36 Camus, Albert, The Outsider (Penguin Classics, 2000), p77.37 Ibid. P78.38 Camus, Albert, The Outsider (Penguin Classics, 2000), p 78.39 Ibid. P7840 Ibid. P82.41 Ibid. P82.42 Ibid. P102.43 Camus, Albert, The Outsider (Penguin Classics, 2000), p116.