A Critical Analysis of Albert Camus Existential Predicament
CHAPTER ONE
PREAMBLE OF THE STUDY
Human beings are constantly in search of a harmonious world tapping all the resources available in this computerized world. The present chaotic world with its own scientific and technological achievements poses a threat to human existence. The twentieth century is generally considered as an age of despair, uncertainty and fragmentation, which causes man to feel estranged from the world around him and, also, to lead a lonely existence.
Man faces instability and insecurity and sheds absolute principles like faith, love, responsibility and, therefore, he faces constant threat. He feels lost because of the problems that constitute his condition, and they cannot be eliminated or removed. Decisions cannot be made and absolutized; they must constantly be sifted. In such a scenario, man becomes an outsider, lives an uncommitted life, severs his previous connections, renounces all cultural norms and suffers from nonchalance. Furthermore, the industrial epoch imposes rigid control over human life and forces man to lead a robot-like existence. Prior to industrialization, “the tools man used the pace of work and the distribution of the workload” were within his capacities and needs (Alienation in Modern Society 18). But, the moment man began to work in the factories; he has to adapt himself to the system and thereby becomes obligator of machines. So, man loses his authority over the machine and becomes its slave. In other words, man is denied of voice and choice in his work as the machines become masterful and orders him “when to work, when to stop, what to do and how to do it” (Alienation in Modern Society 21).
CHAPTER TWO
EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE-THE STRANGER
Man first of all exists, surges up in the world and defines himself afterwards. Man is not what he conceives to be, but he is what he wills and makes of himself. (Being and Nothingness 13)
Technicians of human personality, especially sociologists and psychologists define man in their own perceptions and disciplinary studies. To a sociologist, man is defined only in terms of his relationships with others and the social dynamics within which he operates. A psychologist defines man in terms of his personality. The reality of his existence is determined by his total personality. The theologian’s definition of man is more objective, seeing the reality of man’s existence only in relation to his subservience to his creator, God. However, the philosopher’s definition of man is subjective and to a certain extent complex. In other words, man can be anything or nothing. Man’s existence is not determinist in nature. Man, with his freewill, can create non-existence out of existence. This is the definition of man by existentialist philosophers. Jean Paul Sartre, the exponent of the philosophy of existentialism, defines man in the following words:
Existentialism maintains that, in man, and man alone, existence precedes essence. This simply means that man first is, and only subsequently is this or that. In a word, man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there struggling there, that he gradually defines himself. (Nausea 17)
Man, in Sartrean essence, is the creator of his own kismet and in so doing accepts the responsibility of his own actions, rational or otherwise. In Being and Nothingness, Sartre distinguishes between two types of being: being-in-itself (“en-soi”) and being-for-itself (“Poursoi”). Being-in-itself refers to objects in the world such as house, car, TV, knife, or hammer. The meaning or the essence of the object is built into the object itself and can be understood by looking at the object. It means, the object reveals its essence. The being–for-itself stands for human consciousness and is applicable only to human beings. In Sartre’s term, being-for- itself signify man’s understanding of the future; however, unlike an object in the world, man can continually determine the essence or meaning of existence. Sartre says:
The in-itself has nothing secret; it is solid… it can encompass no negations. It is full positivity. It knows no otherness; it never posits itself as other-than-another-being. It can support no connection with the other. It is itself indefinitely and it exhausts itself in being. The objective fact of the being-in-itself of the consciousness of the Other is posited in order to disappear in negativity and in freedom. (Being and Nothingness 28-29)
Being-for- itself asserts, “Man is not what it is not and is not what it is” (29). For Sartre, the concept of freedom forms the core of being-for-it self’s fundamental structure. From this structure, Sartre ebbs out ideas such as bad faith, authenticity, and situations.
CHAPTER THREE
ESSENCE OF EXISTENCE- THE PLAGUE
Don’t you agree that we are responsible for the absence of values? What if we who all come out of Nietzscheanism, nihilism, and historical realism, what if we announced publicly that we were wrong; …we shall do what has to be done to establish and illustrate them. Don’t you think this might be the beginning of hope? (Note books 145-46)
Albert Camus’s conversation, concerning political ethics and moral values in the company of fellow intellectuals Jean- Paul Sartre, Arthur Koestler, and Malraux, reveals that he is deeply troubled by the absence of life affirming values. The laxity on the part of the people makes one to ruffle about the absence of values. The truculent history of twentieth century Europe proves that his concern is genuine and legitimate. Highbrow person is of the view that the subversion of moral values by political or philosophical scriveners tends to deluge the society.
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
The most important aspect of the twentieth century literature is the analysis, and criticism, of the degrading influence of large-scale mechanization on the individual. In the wake of rapid metropolitan development and stupendous technological progress, writers and creative artists come to detect a dreadful enemy of the human spirit-materialism. The dehumanizing effects of mechanized civilization on the individual find a poignant expression in the works of the post- war writers. The new social system sees the emergence of a new type of hero whom the sociologists labeled as ‘economic man.’ He is reduced to a functional role and is totally conditioned by the norms and requirements of his work and the society. The exclusive demands of the society cause a feeling of complete estrangement from the fundamentals of life, such as the need for experiencing the vitality of existence and for meaningful human contact. They struggle to discover their own identity in this complex universe. The search is not smooth as the individual may experience negative existential crisis that may undermine the personal integrity. In order to be different in ideological orientation, man leads himself into existential crisis, which will ultimately destroy him. Adrian Van Kaam and Lathleen Healy in their study, The Demon and the Dove: Personality Growth Through Literature discusses the factors that are responsible for the state of negative existential crisis as follows:
Existential crisis when it leads to personal fulfillment is a sequence of psychological death, decision and rebirth. But man may remain fixated in the negative stage of existentialist crisis. In this case, he fails to experience the positive phase of crisis of the negative stage reveals itself in a total revulsion against the past. If a victim is weak in existential will, his revulsion leads to utter despair, suicide or destruction through alcohol or drugs. (18)
Existential problem is more threatening today than any other emotional problem. The moral confusion of modern man who lives on an ‘ad-hoc basis’ shows a duel code of behavior. The rise of opportunism, treachery, cowardice, hypocrisy is due to their moral inertia and flabbiness, which creates in them the emptiness of a hypnotized people. A few writers have made significant efforts to delineate the existential dimension of the modern man and woman. The existentialists determined struggle to be free at any cost, usually, leads to their downfall. The novels of Albert Camus concern the personal tragedy of individuals in social conditions, political events and mundane habitant of the characters. He brushes aside unimportant things of the individual and gives fleeting thoughts with razor-like sharp awareness of the futility of individual’s existence.
The character in The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall propose different responses to the existential problem. Meursault of The Stranger and Clamence of The Fall, are two characters that exemplify the choices of lived experience, in which the ‘quality’ of life falls by the way side. Camus portrays this as an abdication of personal responsibility, a way of dealing with the problem without ultimately resolving it. When man becomes conscious of his state that he is free to make his choices but his freedom is restricted in many ways, he is filled with anguish. The consciousness of absurdity stirs in the characters mind a deep sense of anxiety. Any viable response to the existential problem poses by the absurd depends not only on a dialectical relation between lived experience and reflection but, also, on a large social context. Indeed, this is what one sees in certain characters of The Plague. The analysis of the novels, also, shows that the protagonists are postmodern individual, who almost had an anonymous existence. According to Rosenau the, “Postmodern individuals are concerned with their own lives, their particular satisfaction, and self promotion. Less concerned with old loyalties and modern affiliations as marriage, family, church, and nation, they are more oriented toward their own needs” (Post-modernism and the Social Sciences 53). This is apparent in the character of Meursault, Rambert, Clamence and other characters.
Dr.Venkatraman, the former president of India in his keynote address delivered in the Fourth International Conference on peace and Non-Violent Action conducted in New Delhi in the year 1999 says:
What is the fate of humanity today? What will be the fate of humanity in the next millennium? Will humanity march towards peace and joy in the succeeding millennia or be wiped out the next millennia itself? – Questions like these are staring at the face of this generation. (Gandhi (ed) 2000; 10)
Dr.Venkatraman’s fears are not unfounded. The world has witnessed the destruction and the extent to which human beings can stoop down from their moral and ethical stature in the two World Wars. Apart from the World Wars, one has, also, witnessed the spread of communism, the rise and fall of Fascism and dissensions that have led to colossal damage of people, property and environment. In the modern era, where man is oriented only towards science, the scene becomes rather distorted. So much of emphasis on science leads to unidirectional development. There is an imbalance and this unidirectional adds fuel to the fire.
References
- Aristotle. The Works of Plato and Aristotle. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. Print.
- Aronson, Ronald. Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel that Ended it. Chicago,IL:University of Chicago Press, 2004.Print.
- Auden,W.H. “The Age of Anxiety.” Modern Poetry. Eds.L.Grossberg Nelson and P.A.Treichler. New York: Routledge, 1992, 96-101. Print.
- Barnes, Hazel Estelle. Humanistic Existentialism: The Literature of Possibility.
- Cather, Willa. A Study of Style and Technique. Hanover: University Press of New England, 2001. Print.
- Chaiting, Gregor. Narrative Desire in The Stranger. New York: Harper, 1962. Print.
- Charlton, D.G. France: A Companion to French Studies. Great Britain: The Camelot Press, 1971. Print.
- Coleridge, Samuel T. Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner And Select Poems. London: Kessinger Publishing LLC, 2010. Print
- Collin, Wilson. A Case Book on Existentialism. Ed. William V.Spanos. New York: Thomas Y.Cromwell Company, 1966. Print.
- Cooper, E. David. Existentialism: A Reconstruction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990. Print.
