~WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, SIMPLY MAKES YOU, STRANGER~ thE JOKER
THE HUMAN SPIRIT
The fault of humanity frequently circumferences the ideal that man can manipulate their fellow man to believe they are inferior, to hinder their human spirit. It has presented itself time and time again that the human spirit can never be seized by another man because it is not something man can hold between his fingers, something he can grasp in his hands of greed or deceit . The human spirit is not something we can control and it is not something we can fathom. It is star dust, an indestructible mist. It is an aura that is only visible in the face of oblivion. In The Stranger by Albert Camus and the film The Truman Show, it is clear that the human ethos cannot be controlled or destroyed.
Through his novel, Albert Camus’ philosophical theory of absurdity resonates in even the far corners of his strange story of Meursault. He uses absurdity to convey the notion that even the universe and it’s inhabitants have no effect on the individual human soul. Throughout the novel Meursault lacks the ability to interpret the meaning of his own existence in this world. He is unable to put his life in sequential order and because of this he cannot identify the past, present, or future. Meursault was only truly made conscious though the inevitability of his death. Meursault finally begins to accept and even embrace that his views make him a stranger to society. This is why he is being sentenced to death, not because of anything that went on in the trial. Meursault discovers that him and the world are alike because neither of them pass judgments. The world does not rationally order and control the events of human existence and this is somewhat comforting. The universe cannot control Meursault’s human spirit. When we die, the world doesn’t care that our bodies will leave themselves in it’s dirt, but it doesn’t matter because it happens anyways. “I open myself to the gentle indifference of the world” (Camus 112) Meursault finally finds peace in the end through his death because he finds freedom in his unimportance. His human spirit is unaffected because the universe is as indifferent as he is.
Throughout the novel, other characters constantly try to assign emotions to Meursault’s physical actions. They try to rationalize his way of life and thus they try to control his choices. An example of this is when Marie asks if Meursault loves her just because he had sexual relations with her. For Meursault the relationship was purely physical, but for Marie it was love and she had assumed that Meursault felt the same way. During Meursault’s trial, both lawyers assume that there is a reason why Meursault murdered the Arab man and they both attempt to rationalize why.The most telling example of this is when Meursault’s lawyer actually speaks his closing statement of Meursault’s perspective in first person as he quite literally puts words in Meursault's mouth. Before Meursault committed the murder he said "It struck me that all I had to do was to turn, walk away, and think no more about it. But the whole beach, pulsing with heat, was pressing on my back" (Camus 75) The heat is the real reason he killed the Arab man, but the lawyers force the jury to choose between two lies. They steal the identity of Meursault in order to try to accurately portray his emotions even though by doing this they try to destroy his indifferent human spirit. His indifference cannot be explained because he is a thread of society that chooses not to be entwined and does not even know why. There is something respectable about the way he chooses to stay true to himself even though it leads him to a stark fate. The prosecutor reminds the jury that the next trial on the court’s schedule involves the murder of the prosecutor’s relative. The prosecutor says that Meursault’s lack of grief over his mother’s death illuminates how he is a threat to the morality of society. This is ironic because the lawyer’s own actions of trying to destroy Meursault’s human spirit are a threat to society as well. He argues that because Meursault stands for immortality, he himself is responsible for the both deaths. Camus satirizes the absurd idea that a group of random people can decide someone’s fate by showing the absurdity of this lawyer’s logic. Through these character's actions, Camus argues that it is impossible for anyone to manipulate or control Meursault’s human spirit because the human spirit is indestructible. Not even death can cease Meursault’s soul.
In the film The Truman Show, the main character’s life has been manipulated from every aspect. From the time he was a fetus, Truman was unconsciously part of television show that transmitted every second of his life. As Christof says “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented”. We begin to see how much of his freedoms were really taken from him and how many choices were made for him when the film flashes back to his time in college. There he falls in love with an extra named Sylvia, but he is supposed to fall in love with Meryl who immediately throws herself at him. Because the show had planned for Truman to fall for Meryl they whisk Sylvia away and Truman never sees her again. Truman does end up marrying Meryl, but only because the show manipulated Truman into doing so. Later in the film it also becomes apparent to the viewer that Truman’s fear of water has also been manipulated by the creator Christof whose name is most likely allusion to Christ because he is the Christ figure of the film. Christof had to create a way to instill in Truman’s mind that he couldn’t leave the island so he would never try to leave the set of The Truman Show. He did this by having Truman’s father die while Truman was a witness in a sailing accident. Truman’s father supposedly drowned when he was only ten years old. This traumatic incident commences Truman's fear of water which perpetuates Truman’s stagnation on the island. Eventually even Truman’s fear of water could not keep him on the island as it becomes apparent that the human spirit always overcomes manipulation. Truman overcomes his fear of water and sails his way out of his fake world. The sheer fact that Truman was able to overcome an entire world of lies supports that the human spirit is virtually indestructible.
Ronald Reagan once said “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” The only ones who truly can control the human spirit are those in which the spirit belongs to. Meursault created his own fate with his indifference so it was up to him to discover the indifference of the universe. Truman did not erect his own walls, but he accepted them ignorantly and therefore he had to break them down himself. Ultimately it is our own responsibility to understand that the human spirit is indestructible for if we don’t reach this conclusion, we will be the one’s responsible for the destruction.
Work Cited
Camus, A., & Ward, M. (1989). The stranger. New York, New York: Vintage International.
The Truman Show [Motion picture]. (2006). Paramount Home Entertainment.