How the absurdist view is conveyed through stylistic features in “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett and The Outsider by Albert Camus?
...se “the sun was in my eye.” And this is the catalyst which helps him to realize the absurd life he was living earlier, which caused him to be apathetic towards human emotions. The absurdist in the character is revealed through the first person narrative used, and the dialogues exchanged. In The Outsider, Camus writes in first person narrative. Therefore, it is Merseault’s individual and subjective thoughts and ideas. In this way, he is able to inform the reader of his uncaring attitude, and his lack of understanding. This can be seen with the opening sentence of the novel, “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.”# Hence, his psychological detachment to the world, and those around him is seen, through his own perceptions, and through this the reader is able to experience the absurd. Similarly, in “Waiting for Godot“, Beckett’s characters’ dialogues are simple and straightforward. The characters are no more complex than what they appear to be. For example, “Estragon: I am happy. Vladimir: So am I. Estragon: So am I. Vladimir: We are happy. Estragon: We are happy. [Silence] What do we do now, now that we are happy?”# Such a simple question doesn’t pose a more in-depth significance, it is meant, the way it is. Such clarity and straightforwardness in their language, disconcerts the audience as it is expecting something to happen. However nothing more is meant, than what is said. The verbal, and non-verbal routine is created to pass the time, as nothing else happens. Communication between the two characters drifts from reality, and never settles on anything definitive, and the truth. Therefore, through the use of first person narrative in The Outsider and unadorned dialogues between the characters of “Waiting for Godot” the absurdist, irrational and unjustifiable attitude is illustrated. The setting and stage directions, in “Waiting for Godot” which conveys the setting, in each of the texts also accentuate the absurdist approach brought forward in both texts. In The Outsider, Merseault is isolated from his own feelings, and the emotions of others, even thought he lives in a flourishing, and lively town where he confronts situations unresponsively. Contrastingly, when he is kept in isolation in the second part of the novel, is when he discovers the absurdist life he was living, with no feelings, or justifications towards actions and thoughts, and he “felt ready to live (his) life again.”# He has not been able to give his existence a meaning until then. Hence, the setting of the novel helps Merseault see the illogicality of his life earlier. However, in “Waiting for Godot” Beckett‘s stage directions are elaborate and detailed, and describes the setting, and character movement with vivid, and rich images. However, it is an irony to the setting itself which is barren, and lacks nature, and where the movements are very small, and insignificant. But, are given much importance. For example, “He halts and looks long at the tree, then suddenly begins to move feverishly about the stage…Halts extreme right and gazes into distance off…”#The word “feverishly” adds significant detail, which illustrates the importance given to minute, and unimportant details. Also, the use of minimal lighting by Beckett, is disorientating for the audience as they do not know the time of the day this would be happening in. Hence, this disorientation and lack of time also shows the absurd. Therefore, the setting and stage directions accentuate the absurd, and illogical life of the characters. The absurdist is also exposed through the sentence structure, structure of the speeches and lines, and rhetoric scheme of each of the texts. Both texts are similar in their sentence structure as the sentences, and dialogues are fragmented and abrupt. For example, in The Outsider when Merseault recalls the episode of the killing he says, “Raymond had been wounded. I’d asked him for his gun. I’d gone back with the intention of using it. I’d shot the Arab as I planned. I waited.”# (Pg 96) A cluster of short sentences, gives the feeling that Merseault is reciting facts, apathetic towards the situation. Such insufficiency of emotion, to such a dramatic situation emphasizes the absurdism, as there is no justification towards his actions. Similarly, Beckett’s use of fragments in the structure of the lines, shows the discontinuity of thought and emotion. For example, E...