Essays on The Outsiders

To live authentically, in existentialism, means basically to live without deluding ourselves about the meaning of our lives or our place in the world, or about death. According to the existentialists, much of what we do is in what Sartre would call ‘bad faith’. Religion is a prime example of Bad Faith. God is, allegedly,…

Meursault is punished, not for his crime of killing another human being but for refusing to play the game. This statement is of great relevance to the novel The Outsider, by Albert Camus. Society as a whole enforces its ideas and values, upon all individuals, but particularly on those who differ from the norm. Through…

Claude McKay was an important figure during the 1920’s in the Harlem Rennaisance. Primarily a poet, McKay used the point of view of the outsider as a prevalent theme in his works. This is best observed in such poems as “Outcast,” “America,” and “The White House.” In these poems, McKay portrays the African-American as the…

How can an individual be defined as a person? According to an article from Vladimir Lossky, personhood should be based on “personal relationship” (Lossky). Should a total outsider that acts differently from the rest society be considered a person? Meursault from The Outsider by Albert Camus is a total outsider. Meursault is an atheist, living…

Stranger. Outsider. Foreigner. All three words are synonyms, yet each has a distinct connotation. A foreigner is a traveler from another land, ignorant of local customs because they are away from their homeland. A stranger is a fellow neighbor, but an unknown face, perhaps a friend that one hasn’t met yet. An outsider is someone…

Many people believe that the 2016 election is to be called the “outsider” election. What makes 2016 a year of the “outsider”? Some may say that it is because the presidential candidates are appealing more to the publics anger than to the usual political policies. Others may say it is due to the fact that…

Both Albert Camus’ novel The Outsider and Zack Braff’s movie Garden State share a few similarities. The most obvious aspect that they share is the personality of the main character. Meursault from The Outsider and Andrew from Garden State are both young men, who seemingly live life without any emotions. While both men follow a…

From a young age everyone is taught to not judge a book by it’s cover. As one gets older, one learns to judge and label others more and more. People judge others by many things including social status, style, and looks. They are rarely judged by their personality. In the modern world you are told…

Last week, James Lull’s “Hegemony” and Stuart Hall’s “Deconstructing the Popular” discussed how dominance is asserted over other cultures. Both actively and passively. As I mentioned in my response last week, Lull tends to favor a more passive model of hegemony. While Hall describes the process as “active marginalization.” This combination of active and passive…

Prompt: Do you think this book will still be relevant to American teenagers in fifty years? Do you think that it is relevant to young people in other cultures? Explain. Response. I believe that this book will be relevant to American teenagers in fifty years, but not as relevant as it is today. It is…