THE OUTSIDER, MARIE CARDONA , ALBERT CAMUS AND NACHIKETA OF KATHA UPANISHAD.

       

                                                          

THE OUTSIDER, MARIE  CARDONA  , ALBERT CAMUS AND NACHIKETA OF KATHA UPANISHAD.

( Photo: Danish -French actress Anna Karina ( born 1949) as Marie Cardona in 1967  movie " The Stranger ' Or "Lo Straniero ". The movie was a cinematic version of  novel "The Outsider" by Albert Camus.The other person in the picture is Marcello Mastroianni who played the role of Meursault, the protagonist of the novel.   )

Albert Camus created a character  known as  Marie Cardona in  his novel    "  The  Outsider  "

. Marie is the girlfriend of  Meursault, the protagonist of the novel. Marie is a typist formerly at Meursault's office , where they first met. There are some clues about Marie’s  personality  in the novel. Very less  in number but so vital  in revealing her true nature  . To me,  she appears  straightforward and simple . It appears that her expectations from life   are not hyped or extraordinary  .  And then not much does she demand from others around. Her middle class upbringing convinces her that she ( a typist ) and Meursault ( a clerk ) could lead a happy life together .

The day after the funeral of  Meursault’s mother , she meets him  at the beach and continues to date him afterwards. Like Meursault, Marie delights in physical contact yet  Marie’s physical affection implies  a deeper sentimental and emotional attachment. For example, when Marie asks Meursault if he loves her, he replies “That sort of question has no meaning, really; but I suppose I didn’t” . Later in the novel, Marie asks Meursault if he would marry her, to which he responds that he  does not care whether he marries her or any other woman. Though Marie is disappointed when Meursault expresses his indifference towards love and marriage, she does not end the relationship or rethink about  her desire to marry him. She has a hope . A normal  hope to lead a happy life with a man whom she loves. In fact, for Marie, Meursault’s strange behavior seems to be the essential part of his appeal and charm . She says explicitly says  that she probably loves him because he is so peculiar and different from  the crowd around him. 

There  could also  be an element of pragmatism in Marie’s decision to marry Meursault. She enjoys a good deal of freedom within the relationship because he does not take any interest in her life when they are not together.

 While reading  the novel ,  sometimes I feel , as if,  Meursault  only cares about Marie’s  physical appearance, not about her as a person. Does he  lack requisite emotional connect with Marie ? Did he lack this vital emotional connect with his mother also ? Whatever  be her motivations for entering into the relationship, Marie remains loyal to Meursault  at all times and during all periods of their relationship. When he is arrested and put on trial, she does not end the relation. I quote from the novel their communication in specific   when she visits Meursault  in prison ; 

'She shouted out again, 'You'll get out and we'll get married!' I answered, 'You think so?' but it was mainly just to say something'

She only drifts apart after she comes to know about the death sentence . The reason could be the death of her dream to live a happy life with a man whom she loved .  And then she suddenly  fades away and we no longer hear about the uncomplicated and simple girl. Where does she go at the end? A question that every reader wants   to know .

 Does the death of  hope  prevent Marie  from reaching the understanding that Meursault attains at the end of the novel ?  At the end of the novel, Meursault  grasps "The benign  indifference of the universe" while Marie does not . She finds value in dumping hope and  simply moves away.If Camus made Meursault ,  the protagonist of his novel   die for 'Truth ' and suffer, he  gave Marie her share of suffering  too. Some critics believe that Camus applied his Upanishadic knowledge to build behaviour patterns of his characters in this novel.For certain,  the novel hovers around truth, freedom ,  absurdity of human existence and death. Many situations in the novel come close to the Upanishadic concept of  ,'here and now', Atman ( self of a man) , knowledge ( Para and Apara of Mundaka Upanishad ), Satya ( Chandogya Upanishad  ), doctrine of Karma(  Kaushitaki Upanishad)  unity and solidarity of the universe ( Isa and Brahadaranyaka Upanishad ) , Dharma ( Chandogya Upanishad  ) , and the spirit of fundamental inquiry into issues of life and death ( Katha Upanishad ) . Using situations and characters, Camus  brings his characters out from obscurity  to confer immortality upon them. 

It now widely believed that Camus had studied  Bhagwad Gita  and the Upanishads translated into French . The concept of Dharma or Nishkama Karma is evident in his novel 'The plague' at many places . At one place , the main character, a doctor, says this :-

“I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”

As writer, Camus pursued four  fundamental issues  : The absurdity of human condition, the inevitability of death, the fundamental need of  individual liberty , and a relentless search for happiness. The Katha Upanishad deals with all the four  .  The knowledge of this  Upanishad made Camus's  thinking totally  different from the other writers of his age. I find Camus's "The Outsider"  loudly echoing Katha Upanishad. Camus believed that life was absurd. Man has not to stop at this thought. His business is to generate happiness to overcome this absurdity. To overcome the absurdity, he choses struggle and   struggle leads him  to happiness. This is the message of Upanishads more specifically Katha Upanishad. 

Is Camus the Nachiketa of Katha Upanishad who rebels against existing  beliefs and traditions to seek answers to the questions troubling his mind. Camus's  questioning is visible in his novels and essays . Nachiketa’s story begins with his bold questioning during his father’s sacrificial ceremony. Dissatisfied with his father’s answers, Nachiketa of Katha Upanishad  seeks out Yama, the God of Death, to learn about the ultimate truths of life and death. And Katha Upanishad presents a profound dialogue between a young boy, Nachiketa, and Yama, the lord of death, exploring fundamental questions about life and death . 

And Albert Camus succeeds in making Nachiketa alive in all of us with his books and essays  especially through his novels ,"The Plague", " The Myth of Sisyphus" and " The Outsider ". Nachiketa, an embodiment of the seeker within us, always yearns to know the purpose of his life.

( Avtar Mota )

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