P4+From+an+absurdist’s+viewpoint,+is+Meursault+more+free+in+prison+or+outside+it?

In the Book The Stranger Meursault is imprisoned and has a revelation on life and more importantly what is after or not after. Meursault begins that he is free when he is in an iron cage. Albert Camus wrote in the book "In fact i wasn't really in prison those first first days..." (Camus 72). Meursault said that after he became aware where he was and how he got their. In the early parts of the book he expressed that he was stuck in a rut even if it was completely intensional. While he was in prison he is able to do as he wishes and not worry about ramifications since he was already in prison. He was free to say what he wanted and do what he felt. He began to feel thins he would rather not feel if he was not in prison. While in prison he was able to speck his mind about any thing he wanted and no one could tell him to shut up.

7.) From an absurdist point of view, Meursault feels more freely outside of prison. According to Camus, "When i was imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man" (76). He feels that he is not the same in prison as he once was while not in jail. When he says that this was the hardest thing, he means that he is still getting use to the fact that he is not free. While in there he is feeling sort of "dead." Meursault wants to feel that his life does have meaning, which may only happen outside of jail. The part where he says that his thoughts were still those of a free man, means that he realizes that he does not feel freedom anymore. Ever since he has been in prison, he wants to feel something more to his life than just feeling meaningless. In the beginning when he wasn't in prison, he didn't care about anything and was truly happy. Its right here when Meursault realizes his absurdity. - Megan McKenzie

7. When debating, from an absurdist’s view, if Meursault was happier in or outside of prison, it seems there is no definite answer. Although Meursault shows fear and hatred for prison in the beginning, it becomes evident throughout the end of the novel that he has accepted the punishment for his crime. This becomes apparent when the guard and Meursault are talking, in which he states, “Otherwise what would be the punishment?” (Camus 78). With this statement Meursault is talking about his realization of his prison sentence, and that if it weren’t set up in such a limited way, there would be no divine punishment. After recognizing this, Meursault’s attitude towards his sentence becomes more mellowed, his character starting to open up more this way, his overall self completely loosing recognition of the time of day. He has accepted the absurdity behind this entire ordeal and the world this way, causing his entire self to become more distant. So in an absurdist way, it’s almost if he is content with his ordeal, but at the same time any bit of emotion shows his extreme discomfort regarding his time in prison before the sentence of his death. Overall, Meursault shows both happiness and anguish regarding his time in jail, all the while knowing that he will never once more be a free man. -Alexandra Pietrangeli

7. Meursalt is more free in prison from an absurdist’s point of view. In the beginning of the book, //The Stranger,// Meursalt did not care about anything in his life. It seemed as if he was just going through the motions of life. He did not show any emotions at all except towards the end of part one. As a result of this he was not free outside of prison because he was trapped in a meaningless world. In the second part of the book Meursalt goes to prison for shooting the Arab and in prison is when he finally becomes free. Meursalt in prison starts to show more emotions as, “I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn’t mine anymore, but one in which I’d found the simplest and most lasting joys: the smells of summer, the part of town I loved, a certain evening sky, Marie’s dresses and the way she laughed” (Camus 104). This quote shows that he is more free in prison because he shows emotion and he realizes what he had in his life before prison. He had many great thing in his life but thought it was meaningless but now he sees that it was not meaningless and he liked it very much. -Bobby Williams

7. Meursalt is free either in prison or out. When he was in jail he said "In fact i wasn't really in prison those first days..." (Camus 72). From an absurdist's point of view it does not matter where he is to make him truly free. To be an absurdist is believing nothing has value and life has no meaning. If he cares about where he was then he would give his life some sort of value. Meursalts does not care about what happens in his life. He will accept anything that happens cause he can not prevent it. To an absurdist he is just waiting to die anyways. - Ariah Luevano

7. I think that it does not matter where Meursault is. The only way that he will be free is when he is dead. He said in the book, “In fact I wasn’t really in prison those first days…” (Camus 72). He is going to live his life in prison the same way that he was doing it when he was not in prison. He does not think that he can be free in life because he has no point in being there. Being in prison did not affect him because he does not think that it will affect how he lives because he is just going to die anyway. He thinks that everyone is going to die and when they do they are just a body. He does not think that anything happens to anyone when they die. -Zach Romano

7. Meursault seemed to more of an absurdist when he is in prison because he looks at the absurdity of life in prison but he think as if he was out of prison also. Mentioned by Camus "When I was imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man" (76). He can be looked at absurdly because he think as a free man as in being out side of prison and that is the way most people think while in prison and it is how they get through prison. But to people it is absurd that they still have the thoughts of being out side of prison instead of being inside of it and what they are going to do to get out of prison or what they are going to do the next day while they are in prison. But instead to get by his days of prison he thinks of his old life when he was with Marie and when he worked and where he lived. So it could be more that maybe he was more of an absurdist outside of prison. Maybe it was different because he did those things while he thought about them but now that he is in prison he cannot do those things he can only think about them. Which again can show that he is more of an absurbist while being in prision because he can only think and not do. -Scott Goff

7. Meursault is more free in a phsical sence out side of prison rather then in prison. In an absurdist’s point of view Meursault is more free in prison then out of it. This is because if he was out in the real world working he would betold what to do and think, and if he was in prison Meursault could have a free and clear consious state. This is demonstrated while Meursault was in prison when he said, "When I was imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man" (Camus 76). When Meursault stated that he still had thoughts of a free man, he was well on his way to become a existentialist and a absurdist. Meursault was more free in prison then out side of prision becasue he was not tied down to a titius rutine that he was stuck in. Yes when Meursault was in prison he had a warden telling him what to do but when he was in the real world he had a boss telling him how to dress and how to act. When Meursault was in prison he could act how ever he wanted. If he wanted to be an ass hole, or a douche bag he could in prison but not in the real world because he needed to get his disired out come, in this case his pay check. -Scott Bentley

7. Meursault has more freedom outside of jail instead of being in it. The hardest part for Meursault was when he first started staying in jail. It was such a durastic change that he had to undergo. He was forced to change Everything that he used to do. I even changed his way of thinking. this comes from when Meursault said "When I was imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man" (Camus 76). He was still thinking about things he did outside of jail and the amount of freedom he had. It took him to loose it all in order to see what he had taken for granted in the past. He now wishes that he could be out of jail. Now that he is in prison his mind is more free to think about every little thing that he could imagine. He had enough time to think about anything in more in-depth perspectives which allows him to understand what freedom truly is. -Matthew kempin