Collin Dodge

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-82HQA9Opw

      The Stranger was written by Albert Camus 1942. It is based on an Algerian character named Meursault who commits a murder. Camus used existentialist themes throughout the novel. Existentialism is when people believe that they are a stranger in their own life, they begin to realize that life has no meaning and their personal definition is essential to their life. The same philosophy is used in the song “Suicidal Thoughts” by Christopher Wallace. In the song, Christopher describes that his life has no meaning and he would rather be dead than alive, exemplifying true existentialism. The song “Suicidal Thoughts” by Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G) and the book The Stranger by Albert Camus both exemplify existentialism through the principles of Individuality, Anxiety, and Alienation.

Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names “Biggie Smalls” or “The Notorious B.I.G” emerged from the streets of Brooklyn as the newest up and coming “King of New York”. Having a rough childhood life, the son of a preschool teacher was missing a father figure in his life. Biggie was always surrounded by drug dealers, soon becoming one himself. As biggie always put music as his 2^nd choice, he found himself be-friending the famous Sean Combs, otherwise known as P. Diddy. Biggie’s first album “Ready to die” which described his life story from becoming drug dealer to rapper, was released in 1994 and went platinum, giving him the names “Lyricist of the Year” “Best New Artist”. Although Biggie quickly rose to fame and is still one of the most famous and lyrically recognized rappers, he got caught up in the “East Side/ West Side” dilemma, turning his friends into enemies, such as Tupac Shakur. Biggie was blamed for shooting and robbing Pac as he entered “Bad Boy Record Label” in which biggie was signed under.  Soon after the East and West coast became enemies resulting in Pac releasing the song “Hit ‘Em Up”, one of the most recognized rap disses ever released, this song was directed towards Biggie. Biggie came back at Pac with a song called “Who Shot Ya?”claiming that Pac was out of his mind for thinking Biggie would ever set Pac up to get shot. The East Coast West Coast ordeal resulted in both Pac and Biggie being shot and killed in a 6 month span, Pac went first and soon after Biggie visited California for a Music Industry Party. As he was leaving, on the night of March 9^th 1997, Biggie and his crew were at a red light and a car pulled up next to them, and opened fire on Biggie. Biggie was shot and killed at the scene, the shooters have still not been found. In Biggie’s 24 year life span, Biggie turned his life from a drug dealer into one of the most lyrically recognized rappers ever known.

Albert Camus is a representative of non-metropolitan French Literature born in 1913, Camus used his experiences in Algeria during the 30’s to influence his writing. Camus is actually Algerian, but has won the French Nobel Prize, and is a contributor to the philosophy of “Absurdism”. One of his most famous writings The Stranger (translated from French to English) tells the story of a young man named Meursault who murders an Arab on a beach. The Stranger is actually widely known as one of the most existentialist books ever written.

Individuality defines that your personal definition as an individual is essential to your life. In the song, the best example of individuality Biggie portrays is on lines 1 and 2 when he states “When I die f*** it I wanna go to hell, cause I’m a piece of s*** it ain’t hard to f****** tell”. Biggie’s thoughts about himself show that he lacks the confidence necessary to pursue any of his goals. He believes he is a bum and he simply just doesn’t care about what happens to him, affecting his view on the world and the meaning of life. This is just like Meursault, perceiving himself as a worthless murderer shown on page 123 when Meursault states “I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate”. Meursualts individuality is shown through what he wants to happen at his execution, he wants people to hate him he wants a riot at his execution. Meursault not only thinks he should die and just disappear, but he actually wants a crowd at his execution filled with hatred. Meursault and Biggie both perceive themselves as worthless and better off dead, showing that their personal definitions have a major affect on how they view the world as a whole.

Anxiety is defined as a sensation that consumes one when they begin to realize that life is absurd and has no meaning. Meursault shows anxiety on countless occasions throughout the book, but one that really stands out is on page 24 when Meursault comes to the realization that life has no meaning and states “It occurred to me anyway that one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed”. Meursault’s mom just died, he feels no remorse or has any sad feelings regarding the loss of a loved one. Meursault believes that nothing has changed and nothing will ever change which is why he believes life has no meaning. Life doesn’t make any sense to Meursault, which is why he isn’t affected by the death of his mother, just like how it doesn’t make sense to Biggie as to why in life everybody strives to be the same. This is shown on lines 7 and 8 when Biggie writes “Hanging with the goodie-goodies lounging in paradise, f*** that s*** I wanna tote guns and shoot dice”. Biggie doesn’t understand the point in living if everybody wants to be the same, everybody wants to be successful and be a “goodie-goodie”, but to do that you have to work extremely hard, which is where it doesn’t make sense to him. Why be alive if you’re just going to work really hard, get really stressed all the time, and grow up to be like everybody else when in his mind he just wants to do whatever he wants. Biggie believes that unless you aspire to be different, you’re not actually living. Meursault believes that if nothing ever changes what’s the point in being alive. Both of them believe that life is meaningless and isn’t all it’s worked up to be and just don’t care if they’re alive or dead.

Alienation is defined as someone being a stranger in their own life, other people simply don’t understand them because each person’s meaning of life differs.  Biggie’s stellar portrayal of this principle is on lines 3 and 4 when he recites “It don’t make sense going to heaven with the goodie-goodies, dressed in white, I like black Timbs and black hoodies.” Biggie doesn’t want to go to heaven because that’s not who he is, he doesn’t want to be a good kid, he wants to do his own thing. Obviously it’s weird that someone would rather go to hell than heaven, which is why nobody understands him. Nobody understands him and his meaning of life because nobody else wants his life. Nobody else wants to go to hell rather than heaven, and nobody else wants to dress up in all black. Biggie portraying that he has a dark personality shows that his meaning of life is more violent than others. Not necessarily in a violent sense but definitely not fully understood, is Meursault. On page 41 Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her, he avoids the question and then Marie asks him if he loves her and he replies “ I answered the same way I had last time, that it didn’t mean anything but I probably didn’t love her”. Meursault doesn’t love Marie because he has no feelings towards anything, he never has and he never will. Meursault not caring about anything separates him from everybody else and not only does nobody understand Meursault, but he doesn’t understand himself. Meursault is an emotionless body just waiting for the day that he is taken away to arrive. Nobody understanding who Biggie and Meursault really are affect the way they treat others, and are both astounding examples of alienation.

The song “Suicidal Thoughts” by Biggie Smalls and the book The Stranger by Albert Camus both exemplify the principles of individuality, anxiety, and alienation through the notions of emotion, life, the world as they perceive it, and the belief that nothing will ever change. Albert Camus and Biggie Smalls connect all these principles together to form into the theory of existentialism as a whole.

 

Jarod George

Existential Song Lyric Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPXWt2ESxVY

It’s interesting to see that 20^th century literature has similar themes to modern day written works. Albert Camus’ The Stranger almost seems to be a prequel to the modern existential art seen by The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize”. Camus’ work has explicit emphasis on the subject Meursault who seems completely detached from emotional response and everyday meaning. His view on essential components of life such as: death, love, and the pursuit of happiness; makes him indifferent. It is only when his life is drastically changed and he faces the eventuality of death, that he discovers several existential revelations within himself. Camus’ magnifies this process throughout the novel by juxtaposing Meursault against a range of normal people and their reactions to life. One of these people is Marie, a love interest and former co-worker of Meursault. She is defined by her passion of love for Meursault, while he is entirely focused on the physical passions of the relationship. Although Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” are separated by decades, they have the same existential revelations due to their focus of physical passions, absurdity, and the importance of death

Meursault only finds meaning in the physical aspects of passions that interest him just as The Flaming Lips maintain focus on the physical realm. On an emotional level Meursault seems completely unattached to Marie, only because emotions do not interest Meursault and form no personal meaning for him. Instead he focuses on Marie’s physical aspects even in extremely emotional scenes, like when Marie visits him in prison he notices that she was “smiling her best smile for me. I thought she looked very beautiful […] (Camus 74). He is not interested in what she has to say about his imprisonment, just that she brought herself to see him. This is very similar to the line “Do You Realize- That you have the most beautiful face” (The Flaming Lips). In a song about realizations of the eventuality of death and the absurdity of life the importance of physical passions still remains a focus in the song. In both instances Meursault and The Flaming Lips are defined by their inherent interest in physical properties because it supplies personal meaning. This parallel focus on physical passion is one of the many existential connections between the two works.

In both The Stranger and “Do You Realize” the sense of absurdity is relevant in similar forms. In Meursault’s life he has not been able to accrue any meaning to his life and comes to realize that the occurrences in his life did not matter. Once Meursault is imprisoned he realizes that “Nothing, nothing mattered […]” over his whole life he “had lived [his] life one way and [he] could just as well have lived it another. Every decision that Meursault had made in his life was meaningless, even the decision that allowed him to be arrested. The Flaming Lips display this similar concept with the line “Do you realize that life goes fast it’s hard to make the good things last”. Life goes so fast that there is no way that meaning can be gathered, time just goes by until one’s life is over. Everything that a person enjoys in their life essentially doesn’t matter because they come and go quickly, leaving a person the same. Meursault encounters this in prison where he is “tormented by [his] desires for women” and his “freedom” (Camus 77). Everything that Meursault had centered his life around and thought gave him meaning was stripped of him so quickly. In that state after being stripped of his freedoms, everything he had done in his life had become meaningless; he was just another person. This condition is seen in even greater effect once Meursault must face the eventuality of his death.

In both works there is a definite focus on death and its importance as the absolute end. Meursault after being imprisoned is sentenced to death and must come to grips with what is left of his life.  Meursault realized that “Since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter” (Camus 114). He comes to peace with death in a way. Death is universal, and with a meaningless life what is there to be afraid of. The Flaming Lips also focus on the eventuality of death in the line “Do you realize – that everyone you know someday will die”. Similar to Meursault, The Flaming Lips understand that death is an eventuality for everyone. The deliverance from The Flaming Lips seems calm and casual as if this revelation is not seen in terror, but in comfort. There is no need to fear you own death if everyone will reach death eventually, and the “when” is unimportant. Meursault comes to a little bitterer conclusion of “Well, so I’m going to die [….] But everyone knows life isn’t worth living” (Camus 114). Only when he is faced with the absolute end of his life is he able to reflect on his life, and realize that it was not worth living. He had no meaning in his life. In the end, an individual’s reflection might be different, but the effect that death makes you sees you for who you truly are still remains the same.

Overall, Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” share the same existential themes due to their attention to the physical realm, absurdity, and the focus on death. The trials of Meursault from the novel and the repeating lines of the song made several obvious parallels. One of first instances was both works showed focus on physical passions in the midst of serious subjects. The second instance occurred with the sense of absurdity surrounding Meursault in his imprisonment and in the message the song was trying to send. Lastly, the focus on death appeared in both works, it was the concluding resolution that death is an eventuality for everyone.  There are many existential revelations that people find within themselves, even today, its one’s hope that a person doesn’t need to be sentenced to death to realize them.

            

Eli Moskowitz

Existentialist Comparison Essay

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4r47lctV4

Based on the American Heritage Dictionary, Existentialism is defined as “a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts.” In The Stranger, Meursault goes through life with very little excitement, and acts as if there is no meaning to his life. He sees everything in his life as he wants to see it, and it is all based on his perception. He also is stuck in many absolute systems in his life until the end, when he breaks free of them and becomes a true existentialist. For most of his life, he lives a life filled with absurdity, with no meaning. “Church” by Outkast and The Stranger by Albert Camus are connected by three existential ideas: Absurdity, Authenticity, and Absolute Systems.

In both mediums, absurdity is one of the main themes. Absurdity is the idea that there is no meaning to life or anything. In the opening lines of the song, the question is posed “why are we here, what is the meanin to all of this?” The speaker in this song is wondering what the meaning of life is, or if there is one at all. For most of his life, Meursault has a similar view towards life, but instead of wondering if there is meaning, he accepts that there is not meaning in his life. When Meursault says “…nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived… (Camus 121)” After killing the Arab and being sentenced to death, Meursault realizes how meaningless his life was. He even uses the word “absurd” to describe his life; showing how he believes his life was truly meaningless. Meursault’s comment about his meaningless life and Outkasts’s lyrics that question the meaning of life both bring up the idea of absurdity.

In both the book and the song, authenticity is a clearly visible idea. Authenticity is the idea that one decides what the truth is in their life, and, to a person, the world is how they perceive it and their life is based off of their choices. In the second verse of the song it says “Life, is nothing but a dream, so peaceful and serene, Unless you’re being evil then you on the devil’s team, Well you perceive what you want to believe.” This refers to how one perceives their life, and a person can see what they want to believe. Also, it refers to the choices a person makes, if one is good, their life can be peaceful and serene, but if they are evil then their life will be negative. Meursault shows this idea of authenticity when he says “I had been right, I was still right, I was always right. I had lived my life one way and I could just as well have lived it another. I had done this and I hadn’t done that. (Camus 121)” The first sentence of this quote shows how Meursault believes he was always right about everything, showing how he decides what is true in his life, as what he believes is right may be wrong to someone else. Then in the next two sentences he refers to how he made the choices that make up what his life his, which shows how he believes that his life happened the way it did completely because of the choices he made, and it could have turned out differently had he made different choices. Meursault’s feeling that he is always right is exactly what Outkast was referring to when saying “You perceive what you want to believe,” because Meursault believes he is always right, and that is all he knows.

The last theme that can be seen in both the book and the song was Absolute Systems. Absolute systems are organized systems that control peoples’ lives, usually by enforcing rules or regulations. Near the end of the song, Big Boi says “Talk to the coach or break out the huddle.” This refers to making a change in your life in order to “break out of the huddle.” The huddle could be considered your everyday routine, which is controlled by absolute systems. The huddle in the book is essentially Meursault’s boring, absolute system filled life. He breaks out of it when he kills the Arab, going against the laws and moral rules of the world, which are ruled by absolute systems (Camus 59). In the song, the speaker talks about breaking out of absolute systems, and in the book, Meursault actually breaks out of a few absolute systems that he is in.

The three ideas that are talked about in “Church” by Outkast are shown in The Stranger, during and after Meursault kills the Arab. Absurdity is shown in both, as the song wonders why we are here, and Meursault is very blunt in saying that life is meaningless. In the song, Outkast talks about how a person is in the life that they chose and that the want to live in, which Meursault agrees with, and believes his life is exactly how he wanted it to be. Absolute systems are also referred to in both, the song believes that one should get out of absolute systems, and in the book, Meursault breaks out of his absolute systems. In conclusion, “Church” by Outkast and The Stranger by Albert Camus both have strong agreeing existentialist themes.

Cam Ca$hman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgfgFpFaxgw

Comparing The Stranger and existentialism to Edguy’s “King of Fools

The song “King of Fools” has lyrics that show existentialist themes like individuality and not following absolute systems, and some lines can be compared to scenes in The Stranger when Meursault is being questioned by his Lawyer and the judge during his trial. The song’s lyrics describe a character, who is similar to Meursault in that he lives the way he wants to rather than the way society wants him to, however the song’s character seems to have more emotion, in particular anger, while Meursault doesn’t express his feelings outwardly. The song goes on to describe how the character doesn’t follow the crowd and absolute systems and chooses to walk his own way, calling the leader of these people the “King of Fools.”

What do you think when you spit in my face? How does it feel to accuse and to haze? Now look at me, I’m not one of your kind, and I prefer to stay behind. The first verse is demonstrating a couple of existentialist themes. The first two lines represent alienation, as the speaker is describing how the other people don’t understand him and mock him for how he lives his life. The line “I’m not one of your kind” alludes to not only this, but also individuality, because the speaker is describing how he chooses not to follow the crowd and their absolute systems because he wants to live his own life. This attitude can be directly compare to Meursault’s, although Meursault never explicitly states it in the book as the speaker in the song is. The other people mocking the song’s speaker could also be compared to when the judge calls Meursault “Monsieur Antichrist” because he doesn’t understand the way that Meursault lives his life.

We don’t wanna be like you, don’t you get that King of Fools? We don’t mind your life is trite, you are the King of Fools. The chorus begins with the speaker saying he doesn’t want his life to be like the others who blindly follow the King of Fools and absolute systems. The next line uses the world “trite,” which means lacking in originality or freshness. In this line, the speaker is mocking the others for their lives being controlled by absolute systems. We are never gonna be like you, we don’t follow – King of Fools, you’re the blind who lead the blind. In this line, the speaker is saying that even the leaders of this absolute system are blind as well as the followers, and nobody is making choices for themselves. Since the chorus is kind of insulting to the others, this is where I think the song’s character differs from Meursault. While Meursault is largely emotionless and often keeps to himself, the speaker in the song is quite angry and insulting the others.

The line “And walk the wicked way!” is used multiple times throughout the song, and it is a very important line in the song. The speaker isn’t saying the way he “walks” or lives his life is actually wicked, he’s saying in the eyes of the others, his strange way of living is unusual and they shun him for it, so in their eyes it is wicked.

You feel at ease as you flock with the masses, what do you see with your heads in their asses? This is the most existentialist line in the song. It uses harsher language to really push the message of the song. In this line, the singer describes how he sees the rest of the people, all in one huge flock. Not literally, of course, but they’re all following the same absolute systems that he doesn’t like. He says “What do you see with your heads in their asses” to describe how many of them there are, so many that they’re so close to each other their heads are figuratively up their asses. This shows just how different this character is from Meursault, because Meursault very much keeps to himself and isn’t really outspoken about how he lives his life, in fact, Meursault might not even be aware how existentialist his life is, meanwhile the speaker in the song is very much aware of how he lives his life and is outspoken and insulting to the people who don’t share the same views as him. The next line, Keep on railing at what I believe, call me insane and I am proud to be, describes even more that even though these people make fun of him he’s still proud and stands behind his choices, which is something that existentialists do. This line I think best represents the scene in The Stranger when the lawyer is questioning Meursault. Meursault mentions that “I had pretty much lost the habit of analyzing myself…I probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything. At one time or another all normal people had wished their loved ones dead” and the lawyer, shocked “Made me promise that I wouldn’t say that at my hearing or in front of the examining magistrate.” Even though the lawyer is not directly insulting him for his beliefs, Meursault has chosen that he wants to live and feel this way and the Lawyer warns him against expressing this because he feels that it is strange.

It is very clear that the song “King of Fools” has a lot of specific existentialist themes and can be directly connected to Albert Camus’ The Stranger.

Wils Ezequelle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJmnvhAOIBo

Ghost! By Kid Cudi

                The song Ghost! By Kid Cudi is an existentialist song because it contains absolute systems, alienation, forlornness and individuality. The individuality in the song is found by one repeating sound that extends throughout the song and the rest of these traits are found in the lyrics sung by Kid Cudi. This song relates to the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus because they both exhibit existentialist traits.

References to absolute systems are present in the song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi. The line “down the road with no lights on” in this song exemplifies Kudi’s choice to stray away from where everyone else is going and be an individual. Cudi is breaking free from the absolute system to become who he wants to be, not what society wants him to be. He followed the path of his destiny and this was a path of darkness. This quote relates to when Meursault, from ”The Stranger” by Albert Camus, says “He wanted to talk to me about God again, but I went up to him and made one last attempt to explain to him that I had only a little time left and I didn’t want to waste it on God.” This is when Meursault is being spoken to about his beliefs and the man is confused as to how Meursault is blind to God. The father is trying to push belief in God upon him but Meursault is not listening to what he has to say. This shows that Meursault is not conforming to the absolute system of the belief in any religion. Meursault has decided not to connect with anything that he can’t physically see or feel; therefore he is not conforming to the absolute system of religion. In both of these instances the character being focused on isn’t obeying a specific absolute system or in Cudi’s case just absolute systems in general. Nearly everything in life is an absolute system of which one is expected to follow the rules of, however the choice can always be made to become the person one wants to be, not the person that they are expected to be.

The trait of alienation is also present in the song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi and the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. When Cudi says “I hope they understand that I really understand that… they don’t understand,” he exemplifies alienation. Cudi is saying that he accepts the fact that no one understands him. He believes that no one will ever be able to completely understand him because of the idea that everybody’s meaning of life is different and that his belief of happiness may be very different than other peoples. His life is very complex with many different decisions that he has made that he doesn’t expect anyone to be able to relate to and understand. Meursault in “The Stanger” also experiences alienation in his life. He shows this in his conversation with Maria when he says “Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had last time, that it didn’t mean anything but I probably didn’t love her.” This is saying that Meursault doesn’t think that love means anything and that he doesn’t know if he loves her. He says that he probably doesn’t which implies that he doesn’t know what it is like to love someone. No one can understand him because no one knows what it is like to have never loved anyone. The fact that he has never loved before means that his meaning of life is much different than someone’s meaning of life that has loved, which makes it so that no one can fully understand him. Both of these characters exhibit the feeling that no one can ever understand their life but themselves.

Kid Cudi also speaks of experiencing forlornness in his song “Ghost!” When he says in his song “But I want to know one thing, when did I become a ghost” he is speaking of forlornness. Cudi is experiencing the realization that he has to make his own meaning of life. He is realizing that he has become a ghost of himself and has lost his originality and now has to recreate his meaning of life. This all causes him to have a sense of isolation because it is up to him to decide who he is. This isolation and lack of positivity in his life causes him to be depressed. The realization that he must create a meaning for his life is a large and complex idea that is very intimidating to think about. Meursault also experiences a feeling of forlornness but not to the same extent as Cudi does in his song. Meursault never really reaches the point of realization that he has to define his own meaning of life, but he does suffer through the feeling of isolation and he has no meaning of life. Meursault has never thought about what the meaning of his life is and therefore has no personal idea of his meaning of life. Both Cudi and Meursault experience of forlornness, however Cudi experiences it much more drastically than Meursault does in their lives.

In Kid Cudi’s song “Ghost!” individuality is expressed, however this trait is expressed through the music of the song rather than the lyrics. The general sound of the music in the song is low and repeating with the same noise. This trend of low sounds carries throughout the entire song. Also in the song is one higher pitched ringing noise that is much higher than the rest of the music. This sound is present throughout the whole song with a certain rhythm that repeats itself. This sound is representing individuality because is unique from the rest of the music that goes along with the song. The other music sets an absolute system of a lower beat and this sound is showing how to be an individual one must break out of their shell and not let absolute systems define who they are. One must make their own personal idea of themselves as an individual and what that looks like to them. Meursault states that he had “pretty much lost the habit of analyzing himself,” he is claiming his sense of individuality. Meursault is becoming his own person by not analyzing himself because he isn’t being limited as much by absolute systems if he isn’t constantly analyzing himself to see how well he is fitting in with other people. He has given up on the idea of self evaluation and become a more individual person. Cudi and Meursault experience great amounts of individuality in their lives and they embrace it as individuals.

The song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi is existentialist because it contains individuality, forlornness, alienation and absolute systems. These traits are not all found in the lyrics of the song, individuality is found in the music used in the song. Existentialist traits don’t always have to be found in the lyrics of a song, they can be hidden in underneath layers of the music. All four of these traits are found in the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus in the character Meursault. Because of these traits, Meursault is comparable and similar to Kid Cudi. Both individuals experience very similar feelings in their lives

Katie Ameida

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_CydL91xZak&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_CydL91xZak

“Crooked Teeth” by Death Cab for Cutie conveys responsibility and forlornness; tenets of existentialism. The tone of the music and the tone of the lyrics are contrasting. The music displays emotional depth, unlike in The Stranger, where the simplicity and monotone speech demonstrates a lack of emotion. The lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard, recently lost a lot of weight. He took his life into his own hands, created and defined his own life. He is also a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Through his band, he searches for something to fill the empty void of his forlornness. His existentialism leaks into the songs he writes, which in the song “Crooked Teeth”, is displayed through many of the lyrical verses.
The theme responsibility is illustrated in “Crooked Teeth” by Death Cab for Cutie. Responsibility is creating meaning for your own life. No one can define it for you or create it for you. In this song, the lyrics demonstrate this tenet. “Cause I built you a home in my heart, With rotten wood it decayed from the start.” Here the artist writes about how he took responsibility and began to create his own life. Although creating something from something that is already rotten will only decay after time. Something that starts broken can never be fixed.
Similarly, in The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault begins to create his own life, but he also begins to build his life on things that are broken. On page 41, Meursault says, “When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered.” Meursault constructed his life without the values that had once been important to him. This quote leads you to believe that when Meursault was younger, he had ambitions and cared about things, but he gave up on them and built his life with his own values outside the absolute systems.
Forlornness is conveyed in the lyrics of “Crooked Teeth.” Forlornness is the feeling of despair, isolation, hopelessness after realizing that one must create their own meaning. Being in a state of forlornness can happen whenever a part of your life is based upon something that can break down, like a relationship or an athlete that gets injured. In “Crooked Teeth”, the artist sings lyrics that say “Cause you can’t find nothing at all if there was nothing there all along. No you can’t find nothing at all if there was nothing here all along.” The artist describes here the loneliness and hopelessness he feels. He has lost a loved one, but realizes that there was actually no love. He has been alone and is alone again now. As said in the lyrics, you can’t create something if there was nothing there in the beginning. No one can experience what you do or know how you truly feel. This is attributed to the sense of anxiety one feels.
In The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault also experiences forlornness. He has a lack of caring and is lonely because he has no one. Even after he finds someone, he doesn’t even know if he loves her. On page 41, “That evening, Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know that I loved her. I answered the same way I had that last time, that it didn’t mean anything, but that I probably didn’t love her.” Meursault is unable to feel emotion or actually love for somebody. He has realized that it is his own job to create his own world and identity. Because he has realized this, he is unable to feel love for Marie.
The emotional depth displayed throughout the lyrics of the song does not coercively match the tone of the music. Through the song, the music is happy and upbeat, misleading you to believe that without the lyrics, the song would be about positive and blissful subjects. The lyrics reflect the artists struggling emotional life, while the music and sound don’t reflect anything. The music is just a happy sound the band created to trick one into believing that the song is not sad, but is happy. The lyrics in “Crooked Teeth” are very unlike the monotone writing in The Stranger.
The text in The Stranger is the opposite of the lyrics in Crooked Teeth. In The Stranger, the text is very simple and monotone, making it impossible for the reader to create emotional depth while reading. This is the style of Camus’s writing and it is written in this way, for a specific reason. All the sentences are short and simple, while the opposing script, in Crooked Teeth, the lyrics talk a lot about the inability to feel emotion and the artist describes specific scenes and explains in detail.
“Crooked Teeth” by Death Cab for Cutie and The Stranger by Albert Camus both illustrated many tenets of existentialism. Specifically chosen were the characteristics of responsibility and forlornness. Contrastingly, the actually text in each of the pieces are different. In the song, the lyrics are emotional, yet still displaying existentialism, while in The Stranger; the text is very simplistic and monotone. Both of these pieces successfully display similar tenets of existentialism in comparable ways, as well different ways. Although the band Death Cab for Cutie and Albert Camus are from completely different time periods, and create different styles of literature, music and novels, both pieces compared here have still been able to relate to each other because both have the foundation of responsibility, forlornness and a perpendicular style of writing.

Brendan Sileo

 

Brendan Sileo’s Thoughts on the Death Penalty

 

The death penalty should not be used as a punishment for criminals. Not because it is too harsh, but because it is inadequate. Punishments such as life in prison are more effective. It also has the advantage of being much cheaper than the death penalty. There are no reasons to use the death penalty other than because of old traditions from our countries inception.

The death penalty  has been used as a way to punish criminals who have committed terrible crimes such as murder and rape. It is seen as the highest form of punishment, with the next step down being life in prison. However, no matter how effective the death penalty seems as a punishment, it has some very glaring flaws. The death penalty should not be used as a punishment because there are worse punishments for the worst of criminals, there are no societal gains from using the death penalty, it is the most expensive form of punishment, and there is the ever present possibility of killing an innocent man or woman.

To most people, death is the worst thing that could happen to a person. You lose your life, your chance to experience the world and everything in it. According to some people, death is not actually the pinnacle of punishment. According to William Blake, a prisoner for 26 years, this is not true. He told a reporter that “If I try to imagine what kind of death, even a slow one, would be worse than twenty-five years in the box — and I have tried to imagine it — I can come up with nothing.” William didn’t even have a life sentence, and he was wishing for death during his sentence. Why would a someone with a life sentence want something different? Compared to the life of confinement suffered by prisoners for life, death would be like releasing them from their punishment. Suicide is the 5th most common cause of death in all state prisoners, and the leading cause for inmates under 35. The amount of prisoners that prefer to kill themselves instead of spending any more time confined shows how much better a punishment life in jail is compared to the death penalty. In The Stranger, the main characters Meursault is in jail for a murder and says that he “felt […] that [his] life was coming to a standstill there” and that he was often “gripping the bars, [his] face straining toward the light.” This shows the torture that prisoners go through while in jail, forced to deal with that fact that as the world goes on, their life is reduced to only a small box of cement and metal bars. It is similar to how death robs you of the rest of your life, except life in prison makes sure that you stay alive so that you know it. The death penalty, if anything, allows these criminals to escape their punishment, while prison makes them live it for the rest of their life.

One of the largest arguments in favor of the death penalty is that the possibility of death for their crimes is a much better deterrent than the threat of imprisonment. Although this may be a viable claim, it is not as true as it seems. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), there are many reasons why the death penalty is not a good deterrent. One of them is that “a punishment can be an effective deterrent only if it is consistently and promptly”. Very few of first-degree murderers are given the death penalty, and even fewer of them are actually executed, with most of them being changed to life in prison. With such a small group of people actually being sentenced to death, a criminal allowing that to control their actions would be similar to a skydiver not skydiving to avoid the possibility of being hit by a falling meteor. The ACLU also says that “most capital crimes are committed in the heat of the moment”. In such a situation that would make a person commit a crime such as murder (an extremely heated argument, drugs, alcohol, etc) they are not thinking in a way that allows them to understand the consequences. In The Stranger,  Meursault kills the Arab at a time when he is experiencing great emotional stress, which can be seen when he says “That’s when everything began to reel. The sea carried up a thick, fiery breath. It seemed to me as if the sky had split open from one end to the other to rain down fire. My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver.” Meursault was obviously not thinking about the possibility of any punishment, let alone the death penalty. In some cases, the threat of the death penalty actually increases the amount of murders that occur in an area. This is because “a return to the exercise of the death penalty weakens socially based inhibitions against the use of lethal force to settle disputes” meaning that when the government uses death as a punishment, it makes the idea of using lethal force to resolve arguments and disputes much easier to reach.

A common opinion about the death penalty is that it is much cheaper than life in prison, so it makes sense to use the death penalty to waste less money, however, the death penalty is more expensive than one would think. It costs millions more than life in prison. For example, the Death Penalty Information Center says that “Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole.” This is because since the death penalty is permanent, and punishing the wrong person can not be taken back, there are many more trials and appeals before the actual punishment is given. This to more jail time, with some inmates on death row spending “well over 20 years” waiting for their punishment. While that is not as long as life in prison, the amount of trials that happen during this time are much higher, costing the state millions of dollars per inmate. In addition to these costs, many of them later end up either released or sentenced with life in prison anyway. Since 2000, 59 death row inmates have been exonerated in the United States alone. That’s almost 10 percent of the inmates who have actually been executed.

Human judgement is not infallible. The advantage of most criminal punishments is that it can always be reversed by releasing them from prison. The death penalty is different in that it is the only punishment that is irreversible. If the government executes and innocent man there is no taking it back. According to the ACLU, “ there have been on the average more than four cases each year in which an entirely innocent person was convicted of murder.” Many of these individuals were not found innocent until after they died. The fact that innocent people have the chance to die makes the death penalty a very difficult idea to support. Until our societies ability to determine who actually committed a murder or other crime is improved to be 100% correct, it is not ethically permissible to continue issuing the death penalty.

The death penalty is not a viable option for punishing criminals. There are too many variables to consider. With the possibility of ending the life of an innocent person combined with the incredible costs of this form of punishment, life in prison is a much better option for punishing the harshest of criminals.

Paul Stacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjbRampe4qE&app=desktop

Existential

The Stranger and “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” share existential themes including absurdity and anxiety. The jovial chorus of the song contrasts wells with the anxious tone, while the absurd lyrics connect well with the absurdity of The Stranger. Both Meursault’s existential behaviors and emotions, as well as Geto Boys lyrics, demonstrate anxious and absurd trends that compare well. Camus writes about a young man who views things in a negative way because he is unable to express his emotions. While Geto Boys writes about Scarface’s unease with his life and his paranoia of everything from being stuck in the drug game; Camus writes about not having the ability to express joy or any other emotion towards anything. The two people, for different reasons, are unable to display any positive emotions.

The song “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” has an optimistic chorus that contrasts well with the anxious tone and lyrics of the song. The focus of the song is of Scarface trying to escape the drug game because he’s so paranoid that everyone is out to kill him. At night Scarface can’t sleep because every time he closes his eyes, he sees someone, who later disappears when he awakes. He’s paranoid of every sound, “I’m popping in my clip when the wind blows, every twenty seconds got me peeping out my window.” No matter what the sound is, he feels as though he needs to protect himself because it could be someone who’s after him. Likewise, in The Stranger Meursault is asked by his boss if he would like to go to Paris to work there as well as travel for part of the year. After Meursault told him that it “was all the same” to him, his boss asked if he was interested in a change of life. Meursault responded by saying, “that people never change their lives, that in any case one life is as good as another and that I wasn’t dissatisfiedwith mine here at all.” Meursault is demonstrating anxious actions by stating that life has no meaning because everyone’s life is pre-determined. Similar to Meursault’s thoughts on people never changing their lives, Scarface isn’t getting out of the drug game, even though his life is in danger due to him staying in it. Similar to his anxious tones throughout the song, Scarface also writes about the absurdity he was going through.

Scarface went through many absurd moments when his mind was playing tricks on him, as did Meursault throughout the book. Almost every line in “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” refers to something absurd happening, but the final verse of the song really summarizes what Scarface was feeling. The final verse, rapped by Bushwick Bill, tells a story of the Geto Boys trick-or-treating. While robbing little kids for bags, an officer caught them and began chasing them. Bushwick decides to fight the officer. After punching him in the mouth, the other Geto Boys joined him on beating up the man. All of a sudden everyone disappears and Bushwick Bill is by himself, punching the concrete. This scene displays absurdity beautifully in that Bushwickimagines that it’s Halloween and he and Geto Boys are triple-teaming on an officer, when in reality he was punching concrete and “it wasn’t even close to Halloween”. Scarface’s paranoia of being killed is very similar to Meursault’s physical actions brought upon by inability to express emotions. On page 9 in The Stranger Meursault dozes off while attending his mother’s wake. When he awakens, it was his eyes that hurt rather than his heart. Rather than emotionally mourning the loss of his mother, the lighting in the room caused his eyes to hurt. In both cases, the narrator has problems coping with reality. In “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” Scarface is paranoid that someone is out to kill him causing him to hallucinate things. While in The Stranger, Meursault is unable to feel emotions causing him to physically display how he feels.

Scarface writes a song explaining his difficulties of living a normal life because of the need to peep out his window every twenty seconds. His decision to stay in the game causes him to live an anxious-filled life. Albert Camus creates an existential character who is unable to express any emotions he feels, but rather physically expresses them. Because of this, both men live existential lives in which they are separate from society, making their own decision. Their lives are filled with both anxious and absurd moments that are caused by their actions and behavior, which ultimately make it impossible for the two to deal with other people in a habitual manner.

Matthew Hopfenspirger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoNtIkRm1HE

Existentialism in “Sleeping Lessons” by The Shins

The song “Sleeping Lessons” by The Shins is existentialist. It embodies absolute systems, authenticity and individuality. This song relates to Meursault in The Stranger by Albert Camus because of Meursault’s existential aspects, especially absurdity. The repeating ringing tone in “Sleeping Lessons” gives this same feeling of absurdity that is portrayed in The Stranger. “Sleeping Lessons” discusses the existential aspects found within The Stranger through the lyrics and also through to music behind the lyrics.
A main theme in the song “Sleeping Lessons” discusses breaking free from absolute systems. An absolute system is an organized system that has an enforced code of conduct. Absolute systems limit a person’s own personal meaning to life; they hold back and restrain a person. Sleeping Lessons portrays breaking free from these restrictive absolute systems. James Mercer sings, “Jump from the book,/ You’re not obliged to swallow anything you despise,” Mercer emphasize breaking away from the norms that everyone is following. A big part of existentialism is that you create a personal meaning to life. When James Mercer says, “jump from the book” he is explaining not to be ruled by absolute systems, but rather to create personal meaning in one’s life. Meursault has a similar existential outlook on absolute systems as in, “Sleeping Lessons.” Religion is one such absolute system that Meursault refutes because it doesn’t let him control himself. When Meursault is sentenced to death, a priest tries to have him turn to God in his last little while before his death. Meursault explains, “He wanted to talk to me about God again, but I went up to him and made one last attempt to explain to him that I had only a little time left and I didn’t want to want to waste it on God.” (Camus 120) Religion tries to make meaning for life, but religion really only limits personal meaning to life. Meursault doesn’t want religion forced upon him and to create meaning for him. In the last hours of his life, he doesn’t want religion to restrict his own personal meaning. Absolute systems create a forced meaning to life, that’s why in “Sleeping Lessons” and in The Stranger they both refute these absolute systems and break free from them to create their own meaning for life.
“Sleeping Lessons” also demonstrates another underlying theme of authenticity. A person is true to his own choices and personality, despite the pressures of society. In the song “Sleeping Lessons” James Mercer expresses, “Just put yourself in my new shoes,/and see that I do what I do,” Mercer talks about doing something new, against the norm, and doing what is pleasing to him. By making personal choices and not letting society sway them, it creates a personal meaning to life. Staying true by making personal decisions and not letting society form them, shapes the world around whoever makes these decisions and makes it their own life. These personal decisions and personality make it so that absolute systems aren’t defining; personal meaning is individually created. James Mercer is telling the listener to step outside the norm, and make their own decisions to define themselves.
James Mercer expresses individuality blatantly in his lyrics, “And glow, glow, melt and flow,/
Eviscerate your fragile frame and spill it out in the ragged floor,/A thousand different versions of yourself,” Absolute systems create a strict code in which everyone follows; however, this code heavily restricts a person’s potential in life. Sleeping Lessons calls to “Eviscerate your fragile frame.” Cast away the societal norms and absolute systems; their obtrusive rules dilute someone’s true meaning. Mercer is calling for people to break free from the restraints and to “spill it out on the ragged floor,/ A thousand different versions of yourself,” He talks about creating a personal definition and not letting absolute systems taint this meaning because it forces something that isn’t there. Opening up and putting forward a genuine meaning, gives a person their own definition to life; it doesn’t let the stringent absolute systems set restrictions to it. It gives someone individuality.
​The variation of up and down ringing tones, exemplified in the beginning of the song, helps to convey the feeling of absurdity. This incessant tone shows that there is no actual meaning to life. It goes up and down to the same notes and never really goes anywhere, having no real meaning towards the song. It is a higher pitch tone and paints the picture of absurdity. Just like how Meursault in The Stranger portrays absurdity when his maman dies. Meursault expresses, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” (Camus 3) This depicts the feeling of absurdity. To a normal person, this event would cause great sadness. However, to Meursault, this occurrence is meaningless. He can’t even remember the day of which his maman died. She had lived with him and they were close, yet Meursault shows no emotion at all. This is absurd because it has no meaning to him at all and it shows that he has no real meaning to life. The back tone in “Sleeping Lessons” and Meursault radiate a feeling of absurdity and add to the feeling of existentialism.
​The Stranger and “Sleeping Lessons” both hold similar themes of existentialism like absolute systems, authenticity, individuality and absurdity. “Sleeping Lessons” focuses on breaking free from the restraining grip of absolute systems, while pursuing a personal definition to life. The harsh absolute systems choke out personal meaning and replace it with a generic meaning. Individuality helps create this authentic meaning and push back against the norms. Meursault exemplifies these existentialist themes, especially when dealing with absolute systems, by not conforming to the societal norm of religion. The tone of “Sleeping Lessons” also helps portray the meaningless theme of absurdity. It is a never ending up and down tone, which helps show that there is no real meaning. “Sleeping Lessons” and Meursault from The Stranger are both existentially themed.

Jonathan Kempf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUX9IcSzHX0