Psychological Interpretation of the Novel the Stranger by Camus
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Vol. 2(6), pp. 73-86, June 2014 DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2014.024 International Journal of English Copy©right 2014 Literature and Culture Author(s) retain the copyright of this article ISSN: 2360-7831©2014 Academic Research Journals http://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJELC/Index.htm Review Psychological Interpretation of the novel The Stranger by Camus R.Gnanasekaran Department of Linguistics, Puducherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, Lawspet, Puducherry, 605008, India. E-mail: [email protected] Accepted 6 June 2014 Of all the critical approaches to literature, the psychological has been one of the most controversial and for many readers the least appreciated. Yet, for all the difficulties involved in its application to interpretive analysis, the psychological approach can be fascinating and rewarding. This psychological interpretation is an excellent tool for reading between the lines. The proposed work titled “Psychological Interpretation of Camus’s The Stranger” aims to explore the consciousness of the author and his work. It was published in July 1942 and a few month later Le Mythe de sissyphe [The Myth of Sissyphus] an essay that raises the problem of how to live in a world without clear meaning. His early works are based on the assumption that there are no absolute moral values that life is a matter of living from day to day, trying to find happiness. Albert Camus through this novel The Stranger brings out various concepts like existentialism, nothingness, death of god etc. what the dissertation aims to do is to provide an in-depth understanding of Absurdism, Existentialism, Freudian concept of unconscious mind and some psychological problem based on the novel with the help of psychological interpretation and psychoanalytic criticism. KEY WORDS: Absurd, Existentialism, Unconscious, Psychology. INTRODUCTION: Charles Darwin's Origin of species in the nineteenth reflected the ideas that have changed the mankind. A century had a profound impact on mankind, which closer look at the literary works would reveal that man's changed the entire understanding of human existence. existence and his survival has been a constant subject of Man questioned the existence of God. Science was debate and discussion in the second half of the twentieth paramount while Religion and Philosophy took a back century. Absurdism, in The Stranger Camus shows this seat. Moving into the twentieth century the two biggest 'absurd' sensibility by creating a character who makes events to shape the century were without doubt the two none of the normal assumptions about life, a man without World Wars, which plunged Nations into misery and social ambition, without belief in any religious or rational chaos. The Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and meaning in the universe. Meursault, whose only desire is Nagasaki shook an entire generation and faith in mankind to live a simple, sensual life, is led, through a series of was lost forever. Throughout these two centuries literary chance events, to commit murder, and is condemned to works in the form of Poetry, Novels and Drama have death. The novel is thus an image of the 'absurd' 74 Inter. J. Eng. Lit. Cult. opposition between man and the universe. Then we made him wake up. But it was too late – he had taken the would be getting acquainted with Existentialism, The jump. He could not reach the other terrace – although whole philosophical movement called existentialism talks each day he had been going to the other terrace, coming about life as meaningless, accidental, there is no purpose back, going to his room and falling asleep. But because behind it. It's full of anxiety and anguish which are he became conscious and he saw what he was doing.... incurable (King, 1980). But he had already taken the jump. He fell down from fifty Psychoanalytic criticism analyses literature as an stories and his body was shattered in fragments on the imaginative expression of the inner workings of the road. human mind. It is strongly influenced by the ideas of Sigmund Freud. The basic premise of Freudian psychoanalysis is the tremendous power the unconscious THE STRANGER mind has on our conscious life. The conscious mind is only the tip of the iceberg. Our desires are repressed and The famous lines introducing Meursault‘s mother opening pushed into the unconscious. Thus, in the work of Albert the novel. He is not sure whether she had died today or Camus, we would be tracing the ideas and philosophical yesterday since the telegram was not specific. movements of that century to fathom the conscious of the Furthermore he does not really think it matters. He asks author for these must have influenced him in some way for two days off and takes the bus to the home he had put or the other (Chandra, 2007). his mother in when he could no longer afford to take care Since this analysis interprets the text psychologically, of her. He sleeps on the way there. At the home, the prominent psychological terminologies have been Meursault meets the director and the caretaker and is used to comprehend the behavior of the main character taken to see his mother. He chooses not to look at her Meursault who is psychologically sick with phobias, and sits by her side as friends come to mourn during the anxiety disorders and lacks emotional intelligence night. He chats with the caretaker, naps, smokes, and quotient. has some coffee. In the morning, the funeral procession It aims at delivering the psychological insights into our walks the hour into town for the ceremony. The sun is dominant emotions like reconcilement, depression and scorching and Meursault feels more oppressed by the animosity with reference to The Stranger. Hence we heat than sad over his mother's death. Her fiancé could befriend with our feelings, emotions and thoughts. Thomas perez, however is in tears and must struggle to It happened in New York that one somnambulist.... keep up by taking shortcuts. After the, Meursault catches There are so many people, somnambulists, that you the bus home and looks forward to sleeping twelve hours. would not believe it – ten percent of the whole humanity. He wakes up the next day and realizes that it is a They get up in the night, they go to the fridge; they eat weekend and is not surprised his boss was annoyed. He something which the doctor has forbidden them, because gets up late and then decides to go to the beach where they are getting fatter and fatter and creating their own he loves to swim. Once there he sees a woman he used death, committing a slow suicide. In the day somehow to be attracted to at work Marie Cardona. They are they manage to repress, but in the night the conscious instantly attracted and agree to see a movie later that mind is fast asleep, and the unconscious does not miss night. Marie is surprised to hear that Meursault's mother the opportunity. It knows the way, and they walk with died only yesterday. That night they see a comedy and open eyes; even in the dark they don‘t stumble. They are go back to Meursault's. She is gone the next morning worried; their doctor is worried, their family is worried:‖ before Meursault gets up. He remembers that he hates We have reduced your food, we are not giving you any Sundays because they are boring so he takes a nap. sugar, and still you go on becoming fat!‖ And they are Finally he gets up, makes lunch and settles on the also worried that things go on disappearing from the balcony to watch people pass. Different crowds move by fridge. And you cannot hold that person responsible, throughout the day including families, soccer fans, and because he doesn‘t remember anything at all in the moviegoers. He eats dinner standing up, watches some morning. But this New York case became world-famous. more, and then moves inside when it gets colder and This man used to live in a fifty-story building, on the last darker. story. In the night he would get up, go to the terrace and A work day follows. His boss, trying to be kind, asks jump across to the other house which was close by. The about his mother but is relieved when Meursault says his distance was such that nobody could have dared, with mother was about sixty when she died. Meursault has a consciousness, to take such a jump – and it was an great deal of work to do before lunch. On the break, he everyday routine! Soon people became aware and and Immanuel jump onto a moving fire truck. Meursault started gathering underneath to see, because it was eats lunch, takes a nap, and returns to work. Arriving almost a miracle. The crowd started becoming bigger and home after work, he runs into Salamano and his dog and bigger, and one day, when the man was just about to thinks of the routine the ridiculous pair always follow. jump, the crowd shouted loudly, hailing the man. That Meursault sees Raymond next who invites him over for Gnanasekaran 75 dinner. They talk about Raymond's fight with an Arab and swimming together. Meursault then naps on the beach then, his cheating girlfriend. He asks Meursault to write a before playing in the water more with Marie. He devours letter to her for him to make her feel bad about what she his lunch and then takes a walk with the other men. They did. Then he can punish her when she comes back to run into two Arabs on the beach and Raymond and him. Meursault agrees to write the letter because he is Masson fight them.