The Stranger: Blog Response #3

Mankind has free will.

       The concept “mankind has free will” is shown throughout the novel through Meursault’s, the protagonist’s, character development. His revelation on the idea of free will has greatly impacted his attitude towards life as well as the actions he took from Part One to Part Two.

In the first part of the novel, Meursault seemed to be doing what he is doing simply because he did not see any other choice. He just went along with what others suggested, unaware that he had the free will to say “no.” His indifference and unawareness of his free will are shown by his interactions with Marie and Raymond. In the part when Marie told Meursault that she wanted to marry him, Meursault quickly agreed. However, when Marie asks “if [he] would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom [he] was involved in the same way,” Meursault replied “sure” (page 42). This demonstrates how he will do anything that the other proposes without a thought on what he wants. This is also illustrated when Raymond asks Meursault to become a witness for him. Meursault agrees to do so because “it didn’t matter to [him]” (page 37). Meursault takes his actions and makes his decisions only because it is “natural” for him to do so.

Nonetheless, throughout the novel, the readers see Meursault’s steady character development in that eventually he realizes the concept of free will. “It was then that I realized that you could either shoot or not shoot” (page 56). This revelation led him to change his perspective on life itself. He chose to scream at the chaplain (something he would have never done during the first part of the novel), he chose to sleep and wake up when he wanted to, he chose to die right then. These actions that he takes allows the readers to see how Meursault is actually conscious and aware of what he is doing. He is not just doing it because he feels indifferent towards it; he is doing it because that is what he chose to do. He is now aware and conscious about the things he does. His attitude towards the world is no longer described as “indifference” like in the beginning where his tone was detached, objective, and emotionless. He now seems to have the perspective of “acceptance.”

His sudden change of attitude is shown clearly during Meursault’s trial. “Everything was happening without my participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion” (page 98).  Meursault was feeling very upset over the fact that he was not able to intervene and speak. If the former Meursault were in this situation, he would have merely followed the decisions the lawyers made, as it did not matter to him. Yet, he has changed. Now aware of the existence of free will and choice, Meursault believed that he should be the one making the choices to his own life. His belief that he has free will stirred his emotion of annoyance on the fact that others were deciding his life.