The "Robot Woman" and Her Influence: Women’s Various Levels of Enlightenment Compared with Meursault's Own Elias Curran-Moore 12th Grade

In Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger, different women can be seen as having achieved various levels of enlightenment when compared to the final, ‘complete’ enlightenment Meursault achieves at the end of the novel. In the end, Meursault embraces life's inherent meaningless and discovers a personal form of humanism through finally feeling he is a connected part of the world with those around him all being in the same boat as he is, embracing their hatred of him and his indifference realizing he hates it as well, and shedding his loneliness as ‘the stranger’. Maman appears to be enlightened as well, she likely went through the same process at some point. Maman had the wisdom to live a full life, making lifelong friends, as demonstrated by Thomas Perez’s resolve to pay his respects at her funeral, and taking another finance to start anew, even nearing end of her life, feeling “free then and ready to live again” (123). as Meursault understands. Marie, on the other hand, is assumed to not achieve enlightenment, since she still holds out hope and looks for meaning where there is none, with her “pained smile” (67). visiting him in prison and sadness at Meursault's indifference towards marriage. Marie never recognizes and accepts or...