Literature of the Western World

1. Thesis:  It should state the theme of Camus and how the theme affects the specific example you will analyze.
2. Begin with a close interpretation of The Stranger.  That is, spend some good amount of time showing what Camus' idea of happiness is and how we know it.  This could be done by showing:
1. How Merseault fails to find happiness (what he has misunderstood)
2. Why happiness is not important or it cannot exist in the novel
3. Quote the text!  Make sure all of your interpretations of the novel actually use the text to make your points.
4. Perhaps save the second part of your paper for the application to your example. If you need to research it, be sure to include a Works Cited list.
5. Apply the novel and the example as closely as possible.  Use additional novel quotes, details about your case, and above all,
6. Suggest whether Camus or existentialism is still relevant today, as a result of your discussion.  This might be a good concluding paragraph.

Existence Before Essence.  We live, we experience, rather than just be.  Every existence is unique; we have no universal humanity, but must create ourselves individually through experiencing the world.  We are not human except through what we do.   We are not human (essence) until we act (existence).  Sartre distinguishes between “being for-itself” (pour soi—people with consciousness, action, and purpose) and “being in-itself” (en soi—the lumpy existence dependent upon others). 

Absurdity.   1) Our ability to reason as humans is flawed, and 2) There are elements of the world which reason and logic cannot explain.  We are often governed by emotion and desire, anxiety, guilt, and a will for power, for instance.  D. H. Lawrence writes, “The soul of man is dark, vast forest, with wild life in it.”

Alienation.   The elevation of reason (as in science) artificially separates us from the real world.  We are alienated from 1) God (spiritual abandonment), 2) nature (technology builds walls), 3) other men (helplessness before an absurd society), and 4) our own selves (powerlessness to see a complete picture of our selves). 

Angst / Fear and Trembling.  We have a general dread of the future (“When will I blow up?) but also an anxiety in accepting responsibility for making moral choices (“the anguish of Abraham”).  Sometimes we must make decisions which are exceptions to the general, universal, moral law, for we are unique individuals which cannot be held beneath them.  Can we accept our separation from the world?

The Encounter with Nothingness.  Separated from everything, we stand on a catastrophic precipice of emptiness, the Void.  Kierkegaard calls this the “Sickness Unto Death.”  There is nothing upon which we may ever rely, even accept.

Freedom / Human Will.  For the atheist existentialists, we are condemned to freedom—we are nothing more than what we do, and we individually are the only ones who can demonstrate our existence.  We are creatures of will.  For those of faith, the commitment of choice is to surpass the alienation from God—faith is a commitment to sacrifice one’s own will and being to God’s will.