Camus Defended the Dignity and Goodness of the Individual

The Outsider is a novel that has had controversy surrounding it since its publication. Critics and casual readers have had opinions ranging from it being a book of immense importance for the current society which they live in to it being a somber book with a nihilist as the protagonist. These are the types of comments that Meursault would take into consideration, not judging them but accepting them, for he respected their beliefs. Even though it was an unconscious action in the first part of the novel, after reflecting about his life he understands that he saw everyone as privileged and capable of living their lives full of experiences that would make them acquire certain traits (thinking that others acted with honesty as their basis). He did not see the absurdity that life was so full of until the end; he naively lived his life believing that others shared this respect for others. …