Creep
Existentialism is a system where an individual person is free and responsible for their own life. Existentialists have free will to decide what they want to do and when they want to do it. The Stranger, by Albert Camus, involves Meursault, a character whose emotions are unknown and hard to recognize. “Creep,” by Radiohead, displays a great deal of emotion throughout the song. It has a slow beat to demonstrate the sad tone of the way the signer is feeling. The song “Creep” by Radiohead is existentially different from the character Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger because it expresses powerful senses of emotion and freedom, whereas Meursault shows no emotion throughout the book and follows multiple absolute systems. “Creep” is a song full of emotion. It begins with a slow beat, the drums and guitar playing at a soft tone. The music transitions into the lyrics, “when you were here before,” giving the listener the impression that the speaker is talking about a woman. The speaker moves on throughout the song with the same beat and the lyrics “you’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry.” These lyrics give the reader an intense image of how the speaker is feeling about this individual. It gives the reader a sense of passion and engagement, then follows through with the same slow beat with the words “in a beautiful world”. The emotion catches the listener making them understand that the signer feels there is meaning in the world, and that it is worth living. The song moves to a verse with the beat moving at a faster pace as more instruments are added. The vocalist sings “but I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the **** am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” This indicates the speaker feels he has no value in life and is a stranger in his own life. After the pattern plays out twice, the volume increases and grows into a shout “She’s running out the door she runs runs…” creating a sense of freedom. This individual has control of their life and is able to escape the limitations of philosophy religion and science. The Stranger has no sense of emotion to the character Meursault. He has lived his life as a part of absolute systems that he has no idea exist: they are inescapable. The phrase “you’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry” is an example of the existential difference between the song and Meursault. He has no emotion towards Marie, and only talks about the physical attractions towards her. Meursault’s is not interested in the passion and engagement. “When she laughed I wanted her again” (page 35) Meursault describes Marie and physically wanting her, not the way she makes him feel. “In a beautiful world” contradicts the aspect of absurdity. In the book Meursault would think that nothing changes and everyone just goes on with their lives. He doesn’t look at the world as beautiful, he feels there is no actual meaning of life. Meursault is given an opportunity to go to Paris for work and thinks nothing of it. “Then he asked me if I wasn’t interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as any other and that I wasn’t dissatisfied with mine here at all” (page 41). This quote shows that Meursault’s way of life doesn’t seem to matter to him. Lastly Meursault is stuck in this absolute system that he cannot escape. He is not able to become free because he is oblivious to the idea of his life being an absolute system. “She’s running out the door” give that individual their sense of freedom that Meursault is unable to escape in the book. In conclusion the song “Creep” displays emotion and freedom throughout. Its tone is slow and sad. The tone of the song is different form the tone of the book because “Creep” is full of an emotional tone, whereas The Stranger excludes the emotion. The existential difference between Meursault and the signer of the song is that Meursault is in the state of absurdity and anxiety. Meursault in the book The Stranger is unable to express his emotion and incapable to free himself from the absolute system that he is living in.
World Studies World Literature 