I first encountered Albert Camus’ L’Étranger (The Stranger) in a college philosophy class. It was the first time I came across the concept of the Absurd. As a student navigating a country far removed from the one I had always known, the book gave me language to make sense of a world that felt unfamiliar and strange. I realized this new world could become a place where ambiguity was a refuge, where life’s contradictions could exist without neat explanations. This initial encounter left an impression I have carried with me ever since.
For people serving time in prison, Camus’ work can also feel surprisingly close. Like Meursault, incarcerated individuals often confront a world indifferent to their existence, where societal expectations and rules dominate daily life. The prison environment exposes one to an unflinching reality—a place where pretense is stripped away, where survival requires confronting life as it is, not as one might wish it to be.
Meursault’s honesty and refusal to “play the game” mirrors the courage it takes to retain integrity inside prison walls. To live authentically in such a rigid, controlled environment is an act of quiet defiance. Camus’ philosophy of the Absurd—the recognition that the universe is indifferent, that meaning is not given, but created—offers a framework for finding freedom in confinement. Even when surrounded by restriction, one can choose how to respond, how to carry oneself, and how to confront the passage of time with clarity and self-respect.
Like Meursault, people in prison may discover that freedom is not simply the absence of walls, but the ability to confront truth, embrace honesty, and define their own sense of purpose. Reading L’Étranger (The Stranger) in this context becomes more than literature; it becomes a mirror reflecting resilience, self-awareness, and the courage to live authentically, even in a world designed to constrain.
Book Recommendations
📚 The Stranger by Albert Camus — a Freedom Library selection
📚 The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus — a Freedom Library selection