Albert Camus himself stated that “Nihilism is not only despair and negation but above all the desire to despair and negate.” Camus is the author of the 1942 novel called The Stranger which consisted of a French man named Meursault living in Algeria and is very detached and apathetic towards the people he encounters in his life. Later he ends up murdering a man with no remorse and accepts death from his death penalty. There are three important things to interpret from this story which is Meursault’s nihilism, in other words, belief in life has no meaning, he lets his physical world dictate his actions, and others misinterpret his morals. Because of these external and internal factors, Meursault becomes a stranger to society of how his detachment shows a lack of empathy which is indifferent to most people 

     To begin with, Meursault has a mixture between apathy and being nihilistic. Existential Nihilism is the philosophical belief that life has no value and is meaningless. During the last trial in Meursault's case, he agrees with the prosecutor who claims that he felt no remorse after shooting the Arab. Furthermore, he came to the conclusion that no matter how old you are, everyone is inevitably going to face the same fate, which is death. He also isn’t religious and doesn’t believe in an afterlife when you die, not to mention nothing matters when talking to Chaplin. This means that Meursault isn’t just detached from his life but he ends up coming to the conclusion that nothing seems to matter because of fact that death is inevitable. He is also very apathetic due to a lack of remorse for taking another man’s life. In other words, he shows no interest, enthusiasm, or concern for all these aspects of his life and the things he does.

     Additionally, he basically finds more pleasure within his physical world rather than his emotional and social world. He lets his physical world control his actions. He was on a date with Marie and they were watching a film. Near the “end of the show”(36) he gave her a kiss but it wasn’t “a good one”(36). Later when he was in prison he started thinking about Marie but thought that “Marie meant nothing”(155) to him and he wouldn’t be all too empathetic if she were “dead”(155) that seemed “perfectly normal”(155) to him. Meursault arrived at the cool spring and saw an Arab near him. The sun was bothering him for it was the “same as it had been” (85) when he “buried Maman” (85). His “eyes were blinded” by “tears and salt”(85). His body was tensing up and he “squeezed”(85) his hand “around the revolver”(85). This explains how the physical world affects him so much to the point it dictates his actions. He likes women such as Marie just because they’re pleasing which explains why he kissed her just to feel good. But later at the end, Marie meant nothing to him which shows he never really cared or had any feelings towards her. Also, he had no reason to murder the Arab but he ended up doing it all because the hotness and brightness of the sun made it physically unpleasant for him.  He made the irrational decision to grab the revolver and shoot the Arab. It all goes back to how emotionally detached he is from the world he wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing at that moment.

     In essence, the way in which Meursault acts and his morals are questioned by everyone around him because it didn’t seem to fit their own worldview of how one should act. In the story, the prosecutor gives his speech. “I accuse this man of burying his mother with a crime in his heart!”(131). He said the truth was that I didn’t have a soul and that nothing human, not one of the moral principles that govern men’s (136) hearts was within my reach. (137). He stated that I have no place in society. fundamental rules I ignored and that I could not appeal to the same human heart whose elementary response I knew nothing of. (138). ..and by the horror, I feel when I look into a man’s face and all I see is a monster.”(139).  This proves that there was a huge misinterpretation between Meursault and the prosecutor since he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral, the prosecutor was led to believe that he is a heartless monster that doesn’t belong in society. This is all due to the way that he has lack morals and no rational reason for what he did. His lack of showing empathy even makes him seem very callous and not human.

     To conclude, Albert Camus was trying to convey the absurdity of life. This means that in life we tend to find the meaning of what life is but, in the end, the world seems to respond in a harsh way that makes us realize that life has no meaning. This of course is very grim but he was trying to spread awareness about this idea. Life may not have any meaning unless you give meaning to it. It is different for everybody but unfortunately, death is inevitable and we should just make the most of life. This took place in the early 1940s it was after the great depression and the start of WWII which could make sense as a factor as to why Camus wrote such a dark novel. It was already a dark time. Meursault himself as a character sends the message that you should be able to create your own fate and believe in what you wanna believe in. He never let anyone else change his mind in spite of so many people being upset with him.