In The Stranger, prove if Meursault should be found guilty or not guilty.

Meursault should be found guilty because he killed
someone. He did not kill out of hate, premeditation, insanity or involuntarily. That is
all irrelevant. Meursault killed for a very selfish reason; maintaining his philosophic
principles that only he (the individual) matters and that each person’s existence does
not, or should not have to be determined by society or ideology. In certain
applications, this existential (or Absurdist) philosophy is good in avoiding mindless
conformity and attempting a creative and authentic life – which only the true individual
can do. That is, Meursault’s outlook on life, as the uncompromising individual, is
commendable in that respect alone; that he does not bend to humanity’s rules – he is
therefore totally responsible for his own actions because he doesn’t ascribe to any set
of laws. But, while in some respects this is a valid and genuine outlook on life, it is
clearly as fallible as the outlook of society that Meursault ignores. This is where it
gets a little tricky. The point Camus makes is that any fundamentalist system of thought
(whether it is Meursault’s or Algerian society, the French colonialists) is problematic.
Meursault pointlessly kills; but countries go to war over land (dirt) and there are
other countless sanctioned killings committed by so-called
modern or industrialized countries all the time.

Meursault
is guilty because he killed another person. His reasoning is that he was indifferent to
that person and focused more on how the sun was making him uncomfortable. Not a good
reason. He’s guilty. Meursault thinks life is meaningless and that those who uphold
human ethics and values do so only to avoid going to jail or being killed themselves.
So, for Meursault this is a cop out. Meursault stays true to his philosophy of
absurdity. In fact, the court seems to be more appalled that Meursault doesn’t believe
in the same things they do – more appalled than Meursault’s actual act of killing.
So the novel is about mindless conformity to belief systems; where actions
are condemned or sanctioned (not on their ethical merit, but whether or not they adhere
to the belief system).

But, bottom line,
Meursault is guilty. His entire philosophy is based upon freedom and this is what he
took from another human being. He actually doesn’t see this because he is so ensconced
in his selfishly indifferent life. He is guilty for the act regardless. Ironically,
Meursault’s own belief system is just as vulnerable as the court’s because, like them,
he refuses to back down. And that is plain old fundamentalism. Whenever you assume you
have to be right, you become a fundamentalist and close your thinking. It doesn’t matter
if Meursault thinks life is meaningless. That is what he thinks and if he wants the
world to respect his right to think the way he does, he should do the same for the
world.