The Absurd
The absurd is a literary term used to describe that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Furthermore, people are all alone, cut off from society, in a chaotic, obscure, and indifferent world with no higher meaning. Life is finite and meaningless because eventually one will die and become what he or she were before death which was nothing. In The Stranger, Meursault characterized as indifferent and cut off from society. Mother portrays life as unreasonable, while Martha exemplifies that the world is obscure in Camus’ The Misunderstanding. Harold Crick, the main character in Stranger Than Fiction, explains the death and the finiteness of life as well as pointing to the chaotic world.. The characters in Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Misunderstanding and in Stranger Than Fiction all illustrate how the human condition is meaningless.
The actions and dialogue of Meursault, and other characters, in Albert Camus’ The Stranger depict the meaninglessness of Meursault’s life: The book opens with Meursault revealing, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home, 'Mother deceased funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (1). Meursault’s mother has died and he couldn’t care less. He is indifferent and unable to prove he is connected with his Mother. From this, one can conclude that he is isolated and unable to connect with others. Later on, Raymond and the Prosecutor highlight this in Meursault’s character. One instance is when Raymond says that Meursault’s “being at the beach was just by chance” (95). Another is when the Prosecutor wants “to know if it was just by chance that [Meursault] hadn’t intervened when Raymond had beaten up his girlfriend, just by chance that [Meursault] had acted as a witness at the police station” (95). This repetition of chance as the justification for Meursault’s actions stresses that his life is without meaning. In his life there is no reason for his actions, instead they are just random and by chance. Prior to this, Céleste speaks about Meursault’s crime, “The way I see it, it’s bad luck. Everybody knows what bad luck is. It leaves you defenseless” (92). The reiteration of bad luck demonstrates the painful and miserable aspect to Meursault’s life that he had to face when he killed the Arab. His existence is meaningless because he is given a situation created by bad luck, out of his control, which he is forced to accept and live with. Meursault exhibits another example of his hostile human condition when he says, “I didn’t feel much remorse for what I’d done…I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything” (100). Most people are born with the instinct to feel remorse for their actions, but those who are not, like Meursault, create a hostile world because they are dangerous. From this, one can imply that Meursault is unable to establish a significant relationship with others in society. The world around Meursault is very chaotic and obscure, especially during the trial. In court, the judge’s decision was based more on the fact that he didn’t feel remorse for his mother’s death than the actually act of the crime. This is so outrageous and bizarre, and it further accentuates the human condition without meaning or value.
Another text that portrays the purposelessness of the human condition is Albert Camus’ play, The Misunderstanding. In this work, Mother is clearly an absurdist and views the world in an abstract way. The reoccurring theme of choice is evident in this play. When deciding whether or not to kill Jan, Mother says to herself, “And if he understood, he might well have left. But he didn’t. And that means he’s going to die. It’s his choice” (21). However, Jan is unable to make any choices regarding his death, because he has no idea that he is about to die. Mother has the mindset and is convinced that Jan chose to die when he has no idea at all. As a result, one can infer that death is inevitable no matter what happens in life, making life and its choices meaningless. Therefore, chance is an important factor in ones life. Later on, Mother further reveals her human condition when she says, “But the world itself isn’t reasonable. And I can say it, if anyone can. Because I’ve tasted all of it, from creation to destruction” (41). Mother views life as purposeless and unreasonable. She has witnessed the ending of many people’s lives and has came to this conclusion. Mother believes that before birth and after death, ones life is nothing. Also all human existence is finite because everyone will die eventually, so what happens during life has no significance.
One of the major points of the play, The Misunderstanding, is an example of how ridiculous Martha is. Martha tells Jan’s wife that she and Mother have killed Jan and says, “If you must know, there was in fact a slight misunderstanding. Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that happens” (47). Martha is so carefree about the fact that she has just murdered a human being. In addition, referring to the murder as a misunderstanding is a huge understatement and incredible of Martha. This displays the disorder and obscureness in the world where people no longer think rationally.
Harold Crick accurately portrays the human condition without meaning in the film, Stranger Than Fiction. Harold is the main character of the movie, played by Will Ferrell. He is an IRS auditor, who finds out his life he being narrated, which begins to affect his entire life from his work, to his love-interest, and to his death. Harold is characterized by others as paranoid and irrational because of his fear of the narrator and his imminent death. The film opens with vast space then it zooms in on Harold indicating that he is a small meaningless part of the world. Throughout the beginning of the film, Harold’s life is depressing and seems to be isolated form the rest of society. One evening, he is sitting on his couch watching TV when a crane comes crashing into his house. Frantically, he runs outside to see construction workers and they tell him to get out because they are demolishing the building. Harold responds, “Are you nuts? I live here!” (60). Eventually the workers realize that they were at the wrong address, say “Oh. Woops” (60), and move along. This is by chance and bad luck that it has happened to Harold and it demonstrates only a minor portion of the chaos he is faced with in his life. It is unreasonable for this to happen and therefore the physical demolition also exemplifies the painful and miserable part of life. The whole notion of his life being narrated before him creates chaos in his life as well as causing more problems, one of them being his anticipated death. Harold explains his perception of death.
“It’s my fate. I can’t escape it. You can’t escape it either. As much as I want to believe that you or I or Professor Hilbert can control when and where I die, or when and where I fall in love, or even when and where my watch goes on the fritz…it’s just not the truth. All I know is that a series of events has been set into motion…that none of us are able to do anything about. And so we all have to learn to accept it. And move on with our lives. For however long they last.” (106)
Death is to be expected and no one can escape it. Everyone will eventually die and must learn to accept it. Fate exists in which people cannot control there life and death, by either prolonging or shortening it. The mentioning of the death and the constant emphasis on the ticking of Harold’s watch helps accentuate the fact that the human condition is finite and anything done during life has no purpose. Harold is being controlled by an external loci of control, which is the narrator. Being controlled means that his life is without value, he is just physically there, living it.
All three works, The Stranger and The Misunderstanding both by Albert Camus, and Stranger Than Fiction consist of characters who portray the sense that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Whether it is Meursault, Mother, Martha, or Harold Crick, all illustrate the absurdity of the human condition. This may include isolated people in an indifferent, obscure, or hostile world. Additionally, life is finite with the ending result being the same as the nothingness that one came form. According to an existentialist, one must move forward and create meaning from the chaos of this meaningless human condition.
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The absurd is a literary term used to describe that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Furthermore, people are all alone, cut off from society, in a chaotic, obscure, and indifferent world with no higher meaning. Life is finite and meaningless because eventually one will die and become what he or she were before death which was nothing. In The Stranger, Meursault characterized as indifferent and cut off from society. Mother portrays life as unreasonable, while Martha exemplifies that the world is obscure in Camus’ The Misunderstanding. Harold Crick, the main character in Stranger Than Fiction, explains the death and the finiteness of life as well as pointing to the chaotic world.. The characters in Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Misunderstanding and in Stranger Than Fiction all illustrate how the human condition is meaningless.
The actions and dialogue of Meursault, and other characters, in Albert Camus’ The Stranger depict the meaninglessness of Meursault’s life: The book opens with Meursault revealing, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home, 'Mother deceased funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (1). Meursault’s mother has died and he couldn’t care less. He is indifferent and unable to prove he is connected with his Mother. From this, one can conclude that he is isolated and unable to connect with others. Later on, Raymond and the Prosecutor highlight this in Meursault’s character. One instance is when Raymond says that Meursault’s “being at the beach was just by chance” (95). Another is when the Prosecutor wants “to know if it was just by chance that [Meursault] hadn’t intervened when Raymond had beaten up his girlfriend, just by chance that [Meursault] had acted as a witness at the police station” (95). This repetition of chance as the justification for Meursault’s actions stresses that his life is without meaning. In his life there is no reason for his actions, instead they are just random and by chance. Prior to this, Céleste speaks about Meursault’s crime, “The way I see it, it’s bad luck. Everybody knows what bad luck is. It leaves you defenseless” (92). The reiteration of bad luck demonstrates the painful and miserable aspect to Meursault’s life that he had to face when he killed the Arab. His existence is meaningless because he is given a situation created by bad luck, out of his control, which he is forced to accept and live with. Meursault exhibits another example of his hostile human condition when he says, “I didn’t feel much remorse for what I’d done…I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything” (100). Most people are born with the instinct to feel remorse for their actions, but those who are not, like Meursault, create a hostile world because they are dangerous. From this, one can imply that Meursault is unable to establish a significant relationship with others in society. The world around Meursault is very chaotic and obscure, especially during the trial. In court, the judge’s decision was based more on the fact that he didn’t feel remorse for his mother’s death than the actually act of the crime. This is so outrageous and bizarre, and it further accentuates the human condition without meaning or value.
Another text that portrays the purposelessness of the human condition is Albert Camus’ play, The Misunderstanding. In this work, Mother is clearly an absurdist and views the world in an abstract way. The reoccurring theme of choice is evident in this play. When deciding whether or not to kill Jan, Mother says to herself, “And if he understood, he might well have left. But he didn’t. And that means he’s going to die. It’s his choice” (21). However, Jan is unable to make any choices regarding his death, because he has no idea that he is about to die. Mother has the mindset and is convinced that Jan chose to die when he has no idea at all. As a result, one can infer that death is inevitable no matter what happens in life, making life and its choices meaningless. Therefore, chance is an important factor in ones life. Later on, Mother further reveals her human condition when she says, “But the world itself isn’t reasonable. And I can say it, if anyone can. Because I’ve tasted all of it, from creation to destruction” (41). Mother views life as purposeless and unreasonable. She has witnessed the ending of many people’s lives and has came to this conclusion. Mother believes that before birth and after death, ones life is nothing. Also all human existence is finite because everyone will die eventually, so what happens during life has no significance.
One of the major points of the play, The Misunderstanding, is an example of how ridiculous Martha is. Martha tells Jan’s wife that she and Mother have killed Jan and says, “If you must know, there was in fact a slight misunderstanding. Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that happens” (47). Martha is so carefree about the fact that she has just murdered a human being. In addition, referring to the murder as a misunderstanding is a huge understatement and incredible of Martha. This displays the disorder and obscureness in the world where people no longer think rationally.
Harold Crick accurately portrays the human condition without meaning in the film, Stranger Than Fiction. Harold is the main character of the movie, played by Will Ferrell. He is an IRS auditor, who finds out his life he being narrated, which begins to affect his entire life from his work, to his love-interest, and to his death. Harold is characterized by others as paranoid and irrational because of his fear of the narrator and his imminent death. The film opens with vast space then it zooms in on Harold indicating that he is a small meaningless part of the world. Throughout the beginning of the film, Harold’s life is depressing and seems to be isolated form the rest of society. One evening, he is sitting on his couch watching TV when a crane comes crashing into his house. Frantically, he runs outside to see construction workers and they tell him to get out because they are demolishing the building. Harold responds, “Are you nuts? I live here!” (60). Eventually the workers realize that they were at the wrong address, say “Oh. Woops” (60), and move along. This is by chance and bad luck that it has happened to Harold and it demonstrates only a minor portion of the chaos he is faced with in his life. It is unreasonable for this to happen and therefore the physical demolition also exemplifies the painful and miserable part of life. The whole notion of his life being narrated before him creates chaos in his life as well as causing more problems, one of them being his anticipated death. Harold explains his perception of death.
“It’s my fate. I can’t escape it. You can’t escape it either. As much as I want to believe that you or I or Professor Hilbert can control when and where I die, or when and where I fall in love, or even when and where my watch goes on the fritz…it’s just not the truth. All I know is that a series of events has been set into motion…that none of us are able to do anything about. And so we all have to learn to accept it. And move on with our lives. For however long they last.” (106)
Death is to be expected and no one can escape it. Everyone will eventually die and must learn to accept it. Fate exists in which people cannot control there life and death, by either prolonging or shortening it. The mentioning of the death and the constant emphasis on the ticking of Harold’s watch helps accentuate the fact that the human condition is finite and anything done during life has no purpose. Harold is being controlled by an external loci of control, which is the narrator. Being controlled means that his life is without value, he is just physically there, living it.
All three works, The Stranger and The Misunderstanding both by Albert Camus, and Stranger Than Fiction consist of characters who portray the sense that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Whether it is Meursault, Mother, Martha, or Harold Crick, all illustrate the absurdity of the human condition. This may include isolated people in an indifferent, obscure, or hostile world. Additionally, life is finite with the ending result being the same as the nothingness that one came form. According to an existentialist, one must move forward and create meaning from the chaos of this meaningless human condition.
The actions and dialogue of Meursault, and other characters, in Albert Camus’ The Stranger depict the meaninglessness of Meursault’s life: The book opens with Meursault revealing, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home, 'Mother deceased funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (1). Meursault’s mother has died and he couldn’t care less. He is indifferent and unable to prove he is connected with his Mother. From this, one can conclude that he is isolated and unable to connect with others. Later on, Raymond and the Prosecutor highlight this in Meursault’s character. One instance is when Raymond says that Meursault’s “being at the beach was just by chance” (95). Another is when the Prosecutor wants “to know if it was just by chance that [Meursault] hadn’t intervened when Raymond had beaten up his girlfriend, just by chance that [Meursault] had acted as a witness at the police station” (95). This repetition of chance as the justification for Meursault’s actions stresses that his life is without meaning. In his life there is no reason for his actions, instead they are just random and by chance. Prior to this, Céleste speaks about Meursault’s crime, “The way I see it, it’s bad luck. Everybody knows what bad luck is. It leaves you defenseless” (92). The reiteration of bad luck demonstrates the painful and miserable aspect to Meursault’s life that he had to face when he killed the Arab. His existence is meaningless because he is given a situation created by bad luck, out of his control, which he is forced to accept and live with. Meursault exhibits another example of his hostile human condition when he says, “I didn’t feel much remorse for what I’d done…I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything” (100). Most people are born with the instinct to feel remorse for their actions, but those who are not, like Meursault, create a hostile world because they are dangerous. From this, one can imply that Meursault is unable to establish a significant relationship with others in society. The world around Meursault is very chaotic and obscure, especially during the trial. In court, the judge’s decision was based more on the fact that he didn’t feel remorse for his mother’s death than the actually act of the crime. This is so outrageous and bizarre, and it further accentuates the human condition without meaning or value.
Another text that portrays the purposelessness of the human condition is Albert Camus’ play, The Misunderstanding. In this work, Mother is clearly an absurdist and views the world in an abstract way. The reoccurring theme of choice is evident in this play. When deciding whether or not to kill Jan, Mother says to herself, “And if he understood, he might well have left. But he didn’t. And that means he’s going to die. It’s his choice” (21). However, Jan is unable to make any choices regarding his death, because he has no idea that he is about to die. Mother has the mindset and is convinced that Jan chose to die when he has no idea at all. As a result, one can infer that death is inevitable no matter what happens in life, making life and its choices meaningless. Therefore, chance is an important factor in ones life. Later on, Mother further reveals her human condition when she says, “But the world itself isn’t reasonable. And I can say it, if anyone can. Because I’ve tasted all of it, from creation to destruction” (41). Mother views life as purposeless and unreasonable. She has witnessed the ending of many people’s lives and has came to this conclusion. Mother believes that before birth and after death, ones life is nothing. Also all human existence is finite because everyone will die eventually, so what happens during life has no significance.
One of the major points of the play, The Misunderstanding, is an example of how ridiculous Martha is. Martha tells Jan’s wife that she and Mother have killed Jan and says, “If you must know, there was in fact a slight misunderstanding. Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that happens” (47). Martha is so carefree about the fact that she has just murdered a human being. In addition, referring to the murder as a misunderstanding is a huge understatement and incredible of Martha. This displays the disorder and obscureness in the world where people no longer think rationally.
Harold Crick accurately portrays the human condition without meaning in the film, Stranger Than Fiction. Harold is the main character of the movie, played by Will Ferrell. He is an IRS auditor, who finds out his life he being narrated, which begins to affect his entire life from his work, to his love-interest, and to his death. Harold is characterized by others as paranoid and irrational because of his fear of the narrator and his imminent death. The film opens with vast space then it zooms in on Harold indicating that he is a small meaningless part of the world. Throughout the beginning of the film, Harold’s life is depressing and seems to be isolated form the rest of society. One evening, he is sitting on his couch watching TV when a crane comes crashing into his house. Frantically, he runs outside to see construction workers and they tell him to get out because they are demolishing the building. Harold responds, “Are you nuts? I live here!” (60). Eventually the workers realize that they were at the wrong address, say “Oh. Woops” (60), and move along. This is by chance and bad luck that it has happened to Harold and it demonstrates only a minor portion of the chaos he is faced with in his life. It is unreasonable for this to happen and therefore the physical demolition also exemplifies the painful and miserable part of life. The whole notion of his life being narrated before him creates chaos in his life as well as causing more problems, one of them being his anticipated death. Harold explains his perception of death.
“It’s my fate. I can’t escape it. You can’t escape it either. As much as I want to believe that you or I or Professor Hilbert can control when and where I die, or when and where I fall in love, or even when and where my watch goes on the fritz…it’s just not the truth. All I know is that a series of events has been set into motion…that none of us are able to do anything about. And so we all have to learn to accept it. And move on with our lives. For however long they last.” (106)
Death is to be expected and no one can escape it. Everyone will eventually die and must learn to accept it. Fate exists in which people cannot control there life and death, by either prolonging or shortening it. The mentioning of the death and the constant emphasis on the ticking of Harold’s watch helps accentuate the fact that the human condition is finite and anything done during life has no purpose. Harold is being controlled by an external loci of control, which is the narrator. Being controlled means that his life is without value, he is just physically there, living it.
All three works, The Stranger and The Misunderstanding both by Albert Camus, and Stranger Than Fiction consist of characters who portray the sense that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Whether it is Meursault, Mother, Martha, or Harold Crick, all illustrate the absurdity of the human condition. This may include isolated people in an indifferent, obscure, or hostile world. Additionally, life is finite with the ending result being the same as the nothingness that one came form. According to an existentialist, one must move forward and create meaning from the chaos of this meaningless human condition.
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The absurd is a literary term used to describe that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Furthermore, people are all alone, cut off from society, in a chaotic, obscure, and indifferent world with no higher meaning. Life is finite and meaningless because eventually one will die and become what he or she were before death which was nothing. In The Stranger, Meursault characterized as indifferent and cut off from society. Mother portrays life as unreasonable, while Martha exemplifies that the world is obscure in Camus’ The Misunderstanding. Harold Crick, the main character in Stranger Than Fiction, explains the death and the finiteness of life as well as pointing to the chaotic world.. The characters in Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Misunderstanding and in Stranger Than Fiction all illustrate how the human condition is meaningless.
The actions and dialogue of Meursault, and other characters, in Albert Camus’ The Stranger depict the meaninglessness of Meursault’s life: The book opens with Meursault revealing, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home, 'Mother deceased funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (1). Meursault’s mother has died and he couldn’t care less. He is indifferent and unable to prove he is connected with his Mother. From this, one can conclude that he is isolated and unable to connect with others. Later on, Raymond and the Prosecutor highlight this in Meursault’s character. One instance is when Raymond says that Meursault’s “being at the beach was just by chance” (95). Another is when the Prosecutor wants “to know if it was just by chance that [Meursault] hadn’t intervened when Raymond had beaten up his girlfriend, just by chance that [Meursault] had acted as a witness at the police station” (95). This repetition of chance as the justification for Meursault’s actions stresses that his life is without meaning. In his life there is no reason for his actions, instead they are just random and by chance. Prior to this, Céleste speaks about Meursault’s crime, “The way I see it, it’s bad luck. Everybody knows what bad luck is. It leaves you defenseless” (92). The reiteration of bad luck demonstrates the painful and miserable aspect to Meursault’s life that he had to face when he killed the Arab. His existence is meaningless because he is given a situation created by bad luck, out of his control, which he is forced to accept and live with. Meursault exhibits another example of his hostile human condition when he says, “I didn’t feel much remorse for what I’d done…I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything” (100). Most people are born with the instinct to feel remorse for their actions, but those who are not, like Meursault, create a hostile world because they are dangerous. From this, one can imply that Meursault is unable to establish a significant relationship with others in society. The world around Meursault is very chaotic and obscure, especially during the trial. In court, the judge’s decision was based more on the fact that he didn’t feel remorse for his mother’s death than the actually act of the crime. This is so outrageous and bizarre, and it further accentuates the human condition without meaning or value.
Another text that portrays the purposelessness of the human condition is Albert Camus’ play, The Misunderstanding. In this work, Mother is clearly an absurdist and views the world in an abstract way. The reoccurring theme of choice is evident in this play. When deciding whether or not to kill Jan, Mother says to herself, “And if he understood, he might well have left. But he didn’t. And that means he’s going to die. It’s his choice” (21). However, Jan is unable to make any choices regarding his death, because he has no idea that he is about to die. Mother has the mindset and is convinced that Jan chose to die when he has no idea at all. As a result, one can infer that death is inevitable no matter what happens in life, making life and its choices meaningless. Therefore, chance is an important factor in ones life. Later on, Mother further reveals her human condition when she says, “But the world itself isn’t reasonable. And I can say it, if anyone can. Because I’ve tasted all of it, from creation to destruction” (41). Mother views life as purposeless and unreasonable. She has witnessed the ending of many people’s lives and has came to this conclusion. Mother believes that before birth and after death, ones life is nothing. Also all human existence is finite because everyone will die eventually, so what happens during life has no significance.
One of the major points of the play, The Misunderstanding, is an example of how ridiculous Martha is. Martha tells Jan’s wife that she and Mother have killed Jan and says, “If you must know, there was in fact a slight misunderstanding. Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that happens” (47). Martha is so carefree about the fact that she has just murdered a human being. In addition, referring to the murder as a misunderstanding is a huge understatement and incredible of Martha. This displays the disorder and obscureness in the world where people no longer think rationally.
Harold Crick accurately portrays the human condition without meaning in the film, Stranger Than Fiction. Harold is the main character of the movie, played by Will Ferrell. He is an IRS auditor, who finds out his life he being narrated, which begins to affect his entire life from his work, to his love-interest, and to his death. Harold is characterized by others as paranoid and irrational because of his fear of the narrator and his imminent death. The film opens with vast space then it zooms in on Harold indicating that he is a small meaningless part of the world. Throughout the beginning of the film, Harold’s life is depressing and seems to be isolated form the rest of society. One evening, he is sitting on his couch watching TV when a crane comes crashing into his house. Frantically, he runs outside to see construction workers and they tell him to get out because they are demolishing the building. Harold responds, “Are you nuts? I live here!” (60). Eventually the workers realize that they were at the wrong address, say “Oh. Woops” (60), and move along. This is by chance and bad luck that it has happened to Harold and it demonstrates only a minor portion of the chaos he is faced with in his life. It is unreasonable for this to happen and therefore the physical demolition also exemplifies the painful and miserable part of life. The whole notion of his life being narrated before him creates chaos in his life as well as causing more problems, one of them being his anticipated death. Harold explains his perception of death.
“It’s my fate. I can’t escape it. You can’t escape it either. As much as I want to believe that you or I or Professor Hilbert can control when and where I die, or when and where I fall in love, or even when and where my watch goes on the fritz…it’s just not the truth. All I know is that a series of events has been set into motion…that none of us are able to do anything about. And so we all have to learn to accept it. And move on with our lives. For however long they last.” (106)
Death is to be expected and no one can escape it. Everyone will eventually die and must learn to accept it. Fate exists in which people cannot control there life and death, by either prolonging or shortening it. The mentioning of the death and the constant emphasis on the ticking of Harold’s watch helps accentuate the fact that the human condition is finite and anything done during life has no purpose. Harold is being controlled by an external loci of control, which is the narrator. Being controlled means that his life is without value, he is just physically there, living it.
All three works, The Stranger and The Misunderstanding both by Albert Camus, and Stranger Than Fiction consist of characters who portray the sense that the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. Whether it is Meursault, Mother, Martha, or Harold Crick, all illustrate the absurdity of the human condition. This may include isolated people in an indifferent, obscure, or hostile world. Additionally, life is finite with the ending result being the same as the nothingness that one came form. According to an existentialist, one must move forward and create meaning from the chaos of this meaningless human condition.
