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Argument: The author explains that though Camus was labeled as an existentialist, he rejected the title and called himself an absurdist. Claims: Camus believed that life was devoid of meaning and purpose and rejected any idea that attempted to apply meaning to life beyond physical existence and human connection. What was most important was living in consciousness of the absurdity; he criticized existentialists for merely recognizing the absurdity of life and often taking a pathetic leap of faith to apply meaning. Camus disagrees with the idea that life is not worth living simply because it has no meaning. Sysiphus is Camus's depiction of a man of full consciousness, aware of his reality. Such a life may seem torturous and worthless to many, but Camus was a staunch believer in the value of life. Evidence: "Absurdism is an off-shoot of Existentialism and shares many of its characteristics. Camus himself was labeled as an 'Existentialist' in his own life, but he rejected this title. He was not the first to present the concept of Absurd but it was owing to him that this idea gained popularity and influence, and it transformed into a proper philosophical movement of Absurdism" (Aftab). "Kierkegaard describes the Absurd as a situation in life which all thee rational and thinking abilities of a person are unable to tell him which course of action to adopt in life, but in this very uncertainty he is forced to act or make a decision. He has to do something but his reason offers him no help. He writes in one of his journals: "What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act"" (Kierkegaard qtd. in Aftab) "Even in the latter case, the question arises: what is the purpose of God? And it is this question which a

In the literary critique Heroes of Our Time: The Stranger, written by Germaine Bree, the author discusses the characterization of Meursault as the "absurd" hero. She claims that he is content to live and ask no questions, refusing to make any concession to the norms of society. Meursault's development throughout the course of the novel is also tracked. Bree claims that Meursault's error lies in his disassociation from society. She describes him as an individual whose story is used by Camus to ridicule modern man's strive to put meaning to their lives, emphasizes Camus' absurdist philosophy. Furthermore, she tracks the development of Meursault's characterization in order to emphasize Meursault's innocence in the fact of society. "In L'Etranger Camus thus suggests that in the face of the absurd no man can afford passively just to exist. To fail to question the meaning of the spectacle of life is to condemn both ourselves, as individuals, and the whole world to nothingness"(Bree). "Meursault's attitude at first merely reveals how arbitrary and superficial are the codes with which we cover up the stark incomprehensibility of life" (Bree). "He is a stranger to society, because he refuses to make any concession whatsoever to its codes and rituals. He sees no relation at all between his mother's death and the fact that he goes to see a comic film two days later, and he establishes none" (Bree).