“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.”

What an opening line.

The Stranger written by French writer Albert Camus is a novel that is centered around the philosophical idea of existentialism.

It would be absurd to define existentialism in a paragraph, but here is the oversimplified summary of existentialism: the world is full of meaninglessness. There is no innate purpose or rules in our lives, and all of us are running towards the same ending: death. Existentialism says that in a meaningless world, we must make our own choices, bear responsibility for those choices, and find meaning and purpose on our own.

The main character of The Stranger, Meursault, personifies existentialism. The opening line spoken by Meursault clearly shows that he does not meet societal expectations and that he is cynical about societal values because we commonly expect that one should react with sorrow to the death of the parent. Meursault is an anomaly, a stranger to society. He does not drop a tear at his own mother’s funeral and sleeps with a woman the day after the funeral. Moreover, he goes to a court and shoots an Arabian man just because the sunlight was too strong. Is he a psychopath? I thought so, but my view on Meursault changed quite a bit after finishing the book.

Meursault is an individual who is genuine, truthful, and free from social values. Putting aside the fact that Meursault has very little sense of ethics, I wanted to ask you: How free are you from societal expectations? How free are we in a society where we’re expected to talk and behave in a certain way?

When I finished the book, I realized that I’ve been just trying to imitate other people’s lifestyles and trying to meet the expectations of others. I was merely walking on the pathways that were given because I was afraid to be considered a stranger. I learned that I am responsible to make decisions based on my own beliefs and values. This book inspired me to become less bound by societal expectations and to start inquiring about what kind of person I truly am.

If you’re interested in reading the book, it will hopefully be as thought-provoking and compelling as it was for me.