The Stranger

"Throughout the whole absurd life I'd lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living" (Camus 121).

In this quote, Albert Camus exemplifies the school of absurdist thought through Meursault's views and emotions prior to his impending execution. Though The Stranger is riddled with existentialist notions and philosophy, this quote in particular demonstrates absurdism and Meursault's loss of hope and meaning. While existentialism champions the idea that one's decisions determine one's essense, absurdism asserts that the universe is indifferent to human life and that one's decisions are essentially useless. Meursault believes that the Arab's death was just another incident thrust upon him and that his decisions were pointless and that his destiny was predetermined. In the quote above, he explains that his fate cannot be altered because the "dark wind" has already "leveled whatever was offered to [him]" in that future state of being. In other words, any event in the future that Meursault could possibly experience was already destroyed and altered before he had a chance to witness its execution in present time.

This quote is absolutely fascinating as it delineates the uselessness of finding meaning in the universe and in one's future, both of which being essential to absurdism. For the most part, these assertions are valid because one's future occurs only once as it passes the threshold into present time. All the events leading up to present time cannot change the outcome of one's future because one's past, present, and future are inevitably determined on their own accord. It reminds me of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and when Harry goes back in time only to discover that he himself actually conjured the spell that would save his own life in the past. In other words, Harry had to save himself in the past because his present existence depended on itself.