Choices are Life

“Life is a series of choices, creating stress”

Some people say that life is already fixed, the following of a path. Freewill in non-existent, everything and everyone is controlled by some divine plan written in a old leather book. We should all sit back and let destiny take the wheel. But if our path is set out then what is life if not a series of choices? The Stranger poses this question in various instances. Meursault wonders why we take so much trouble in our life making these choices if no one will remember us. Why wouldn’t they Meursault? Will these decisions no have built towards the present and therefore have some significance? Existentialism posed by Camus is only rational in a hypothetical world but when seen in as is, major flaws rise.

“On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man.” (64)

The murder that divides this book shows the importance of choice and how they create stress. Camus highlights how in a short amount of time Meursault life changes. His outlook on life is also felt by the sudden shift towards a more emotional character. Part two feels almost as if a new character had replaced Meursault: open thoughts and caring behavior. The indifference towards the crime poses only a shift in this decision equals stress behavior. Camus develops an interesting idea; there is always a reaction but not just stress, a change. In great choices, paradoxical changes are produced even though they are unrelated to the choice.

The novel’s ending in Meursault’s monologue on how choices don’t matter because death is inevitable, poses a very reasonable point. How can the entire thing done in a period of time have any meaning if the ending is ever-present? The answer is simple: choices will make the difference between a short period of unhappiness and a very happy yet short time.