P1+From+the+absurdist’s+viewpoint,+is+Meursault+more+free+in+prison+or+outside+it?

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I think that Meursault is more free when he is outside of prison. Mersault says in the beginning of chapter 2, " From the day I got her letter (she told me she would no longer be allowed to come because she wasn't my wife), from that day on I felt that I was at home in my cell and that my life was at a standstill" (Camus 72). This quote shows that Meursault feels like he is trapped at prison and cant do the things he once could. He can’t see Marie or Raymond anymore or do the things he once could. He is stuck in his cell for most of the time, where when he was out in the real world he could actually interact. Even though he liked to stay on his “routine” for everyday he still was able to hangout with his friends and Marie whenever he wanted to. He was used to the same old routine that he did everyday and when he got put into jail it was a wake up call.===== -Nicole Mazzola

RR #7 I believe that is more free outside of prison. Even though he thinks, learns, and rethinks more about his life in prison, he is more free outside of prison. In prison, Meursault has no freedom to do whatever he pleases to do or go wherever he pleases to go. His life outside of prison is more free because he could do whatever he wanted to and see Marie or whoever he wanted to see. One quote from __The Stranger__ says "A few days after I entered the prison, I realized that I wouldn't like talking about this part of my life"(Camus 69). This shows that he wouldn't enjoy this part of his life. He wouldn't like this part of his life because he can't do any of the things he used to do. He becomes upset because he can't see Marie anymore. This proves that Meursault is more free outside of prison than inside prison.

7. From the absurdist’s viewpoint Meursault felt freer in prison then outside of it. In Part 2 Meursault says in the beginning of chapter 2, " From the day I got her letter (she told me she would no longer be allowed to come because she wasn't my wife), from that day on I felt that I was at home in my cell and that my life was at a standstill" (Camus 72). When he said ‘I was at home in my cell’ it seems that he is okay with being in prison. He doesn’t even want to get out. Home is supposed to be a happy place, a place where someone always wants to come back to. So, apparently he didn’t feel very comfortable in his own home, because since he considers this as his home now he feel freer. And in the eyes of an absurdist he is freer in prison. - Michele Hopson

7. When discussing the absurd in modern literature it is easy to see that although physically restrained in prison, Meursault is freer while imprisoned than while “free” outside of those prison walls. While seeing through an absurdist point of view it is important to remember that life, though meaningless, is still about the freedom of one’s self and a persons emotions; rather than that of the whole of society. While outside of prison Meursault can easily be described as boring, uncaring, and an emotional void. The walls of Meursault’s prison are like the walls of his absurdist emotional uprising cocoon. A clear transition is seen from the once boring and uncaring Meursault to the Meursault that says things like, “I don’t know why, but something inside me snapped. I started yelling at the top of my lings and insulted him and told him not to waste his prayers on me” (Camus 120). From the absurdist viewpoint it took imprisonment to break Meursault free of his bonds and to be free.

RR 7 Meursault would have been more free out of jail but he did not see his freedom in till after he was in prison. “Liberty,” he said, “means that. You’re being deprived of your liberty" (Camus 49). The people in the prison were deprived of making most decisions just like most people outside were deprived of decisions by thinking their life's mattered or by trying find ways to impress others. Outside the prison walls people were shackled when they tried to give meaning their life's just like Meursault was. Inside the prison however Meursault had a revelation. A revelation that life was meaningless and if life was meaning less there was no need to be comfortable around other people. He only needed to be comfortable with himself because nothing else mattered. Cody Davidson

7. Taking it from the absurdist’s point of view Meursault feels freer within prison than when he was outside in the world. In the beginning of part two Mersault says “ From the day I got her letter (she told me she would no longer be allowed to come because she wasn’t my wife), from that day on I felt that I was at home in my cell and that my life was at a standstill” (Camus 72) This quote seems to me that he accepting that prison is his new home and that he might as well get used to it. Within prison with no people to really influence his own decision and the way that he thinks he seemed to become more and more free. He thought about life in a completely different way and no longer seemed to think that he had to follow habits. Really it seemed that his mind itself felt freer within prison than it did outside of it. He thought differently he started thinking about all the things that he would miss the world that he really would not get to enjoy every again. He did in his own way discover how absurd life itself is and thus that their was no meaning to life. This took him into a whole another phase o phase -Schuyler Sloop

7.In The Stranger, Meursault is more free outside of prison obviously and realizes that he is free either way. He doesn’t want to live his life or he thinks that his life was just fine and he doesn’t care all that much. “Well I am going to die. Sooner than other people obviously. But everyone knows life isn’t worth living” (Camus114). He says that life isn’t worth living so in a way its as if he thinks no body is worth anything. It almost seems as if he doesn’t care that he is going to die, but he really does. He thinks that he will never touch Marie again. He wont get to do a lot of things. As he is going through time changes and it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Nothing is anything anymore when you are going to die. He wants people to hate him and not feel sorry. -Rhia Hookland

7. Meursault is freer in prison then he was out side of prison. As he thinks to himself in prison, "I moved closer to the window, and in the last light of day I gazed at my reflection one more time. It was still serious- and what was surprising about that, since at that moment I was too? But at the same time, and for the first time in month, I distinctly heard the sound of my own voice" (camus 81). While in prison Meursault reminisces about his life. He notices that he looks so serious all the time. He has realized that his life was meaningless and that he spent it being serious. Also at this point while on death row Meursault realizes that he has not been himself "i distinctly heard the sound of my own voice" he coming to peace with himself. And the words like in the "last light of the day" is like a comparison to the last days he has to live. This quote shows that Meursault is becoming free while in prison. The freedoms that Meursault had outside of prison did not seem to occur to Meursault he was never happy and afraid to do anything out of routine. Now that he is in prison there is no routine so he has accepted the freedoms and he is finally happy. - Sarah McClelland

7. Meursault is free in free in prison because it causes him to think more about how he has lived his life and other aspects of his routine, relationships, and everything. Camus says ''There are some things I've never liked talking about. A few days after I entered prison I realized that I wouldn't like talking about this part of my life'' [Camus 72]. From that quote it explains how he is thinking about more of his life then when he was in his normal routine and just in his lifestyle. It says ever since Marie too when she wrote him a letter it got him thinking more about his life and how he wishes he could spend more time with Marie. He was seeing other faults that he realized during his life and how he wishes that he could have changed the way he changed his life. So life in prison did help him out because it got him thinking more about who he is and how his life has been. Prison actually benefitted him and it got him thinking about how when he got out that he would be able to change the way he lived. Now from that even though facing execution he was thinking more about his life from just being in prison. Katelyn Stephens

7. Based on the absurdist’s viewpoint Meursault was freer in prison. Although he wasn’t physically free, he felt freer in prison. When he wasn’t in prison he had no emotions, didn’t care about anything and was living a meaningless life. While he was in prison he said “I felt that I was at home in my cell and that my life was at a standstill" (Camus 72). This quote shows that he was actually somewhat happier in prison than he was out side of prison. He says that he feels like he’s at home it shows that he is more comfortable in prison. Home is where you are supposed to feel free, safe and comfortable. Prison is where Meursault feels this way the most. -Joseph Vanicek

7. Mentally, Meursault had more freedom in prison. It was in prison that he waited and thought about life. These thoughts led him to think like an Absurdist. He says, "Still, there was one thing in those early days that was really irksome: my habit of thinking like a free man" (Camus 48). The early days refer to his stay in prison. The quote shows how he discovered freedom in prison, and how he fears it. Fear of freedom is one of the beginning stages of Camus' path to existentialism. Through these new thoughts and perspectives of life, Meursault's mind was opened to the Absurd world through prison. -Jordan Schlueter

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7. I believe that is freer outside of prison. Even though he thinks, learns, and rethinks more about his life in prison, he is freer outside of prison. In prison, Meursault has no freedom to do whatever he pleases to do or go wherever he pleases to go. His life outside of prison is freer because he could do whatever he wanted to and see Marie or whomever he wanted to see. One quote from __ The Stranger __ says "A few days after I entered the prison, I realized that I wouldn't like talking about this part of my life"(Camus 69). This shows that he wouldn't enjoy this part of his life. He wouldn't like this part of his life because he can't do any of the things he used to do. He becomes upset because he can't see Marie anymore. This proves that Meursault is freer outside of prison than inside prison.======

7. In the book “The Stranger” the absurdist’s viewpoint shows that the character Meursault was more free when he was inside prison rather then when he was outside. The book “The Stranger demonstrates this by when Meursault says, “Finding it so much life myself - so like a brother, really - I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. 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 122-3). He is definitely more free while he is in prison because that is when he finishes going through the steps of becoming an existentialist. By Meursault becoming an existentialist, he retrieves the ultimate freedom. He states that he has become happier as well as talking about his execution. He is clearly happy about his death because it is setting him free. The absurdity of life is finally gone and death is the escape. He is welcoming it and wants people to acknowledge it. His ending decision to welcome death in order to reach true freedom is how the book “The Stranger” demonstrates the absurdist’s viewpoints. - Brandon Ballesteros

RR #7

I feel that Meursault was freer outside of prison. Not only more physically free, but his mind wasn’t free. He slowly began to develop a routine in prison, where his mind set was only looking forward to a certain daily routine. A few days after I entered the prison, I realized that I wouldn't like talking about this part of my life"(Camus 69). This quote shows that this part of his life he couldn’t talk about. In my opinion I feel it wasn’t just a pride issue but because there wasn’t anything to discuss. In prison time, is not like time out side of prison. I say this because time out side is hours, weeks, months, time in prison is then now and later. It goes by so fast when your body and mind aren’t free. In an absurdity point of view life is pointless so it technically doesn’t matter where you are, but Meursault could obviously do much more things outside of prison then in.

-Nathan Nash

7. Meursault is freer inside prison than outside of prison. According to Meursault “From the day I got her letter (she told me she would no longer be allowed to come, because she wasn’t my wife), from that day on I felt that I was home in my cell and that my life was coming to a standstill there”(Camus 69). Meursault is freer in prison because he has his eyes opened to the world around him. Prison made him realize what he was missing in his life and he got to look it over. He became an Existentialist while in prison so therefore was freer there than he was in the outside world. Out there he would have gone on with his routine until the day he died. In prison he had nothing to do but to examine life and with the people he met in prison he got a different view of the world and that set him free. The contemplating and the sitting for all hours was what set him free from hid little shell he was hiding in. - Erica Harris

7. From an absurdist’s point of view, Meursault is more free in the prison. While he may not be able to go where he wants, he is free mentally. “Once he’d gone, I felt calm again. But all this excitement had exhausted me and I dropped heavily on to my sleeping plank. I must have had a longish sleep, for, when I woke, the stars were shining down on my face. Sounds of the countryside came faintly in, and the cool night air, veined with smells’ of earth and salt, fanned my cheeks. The marvelous peace of the sleepbound summer night flooded through me like a tide. Then, just on the edge of daybreak, I heard a steamer’s siren. People were starting on a voyage to a world which had ceased to concern me forever.” (Camus 118). As this quote shows, Camus is fine with being in prison. He has no want for the outside world. He has accepted his fate. He is free in his mind. He is free from the absurdity of others and their judgement. He has come to enjoy the small things like a cool night air. He is much more free in this prison than he was before in his meaningless life.

-Michael McDonough

RR#7 In the book “The Stranger” it showed that in prison Meursault felt more free than when he was outside. " From the day I got her letter (she told me she would no longer be allowed to come because she wasn't my wife), from that day on I felt that I was at home in my cell and that my life was at a standstill" (Camus 72). In the quote he says he feels at home meaning he accepts it. He makes his own routine in jail as if he were outside of it. He does not seem disappointed that he is in jail. He just accepts it and adapts to it in a sense. In an absurdist’s view you are home where you are happy. For Meursalt it was in jail where he felt free. -Shanice Allen