Why do we exist?

We are born into this world, not knowing anything about it, what's worse not knowing anything about ourselves. Thousands have spent their entire lives trying to answer questions like these, what is the reason for my existence? What am I meant to do in this world?

If we are seemingly born to die, what is the point then? Why should we get up each day? It is known that people need a reason to live something to devote themselves to such as religion, music, studying and for some the accomplishment of their dreams. But why should we? Ghandi said "Everything you do in life wil be insignificant, meaningless but its very important that you do it."

In our daily lives we are enveloped in a number of things that seem paramount to us in the moment, causing us to loose sight of what is truly important. When and if ever we do realize that most of the things we do are really unimportant, questions will start popping up, many of which you will find that you have no answer to. However we will get shocked back int our routines without really doing anything about our real thoughts.

Still there are people like Mr. Meursal that have seemingly detached themselves from any of these questions, maybe he just doesn't want to know or he simply doesn't care. "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed." (pg. 24)
From the  very first moment that Monsieur Meursal is introduced it is very clear that he does not care about any of the things "normal" people would care or grieve about. It would seem as if his mothers death had no meaning at all like its just something thats not important and isn't worthy of his attention. According to him there is no reason as to why his life should change in any way due to his mothers death.


"They're not going to take him away from me, are they, Monsieur Mersault?" (pg. 39)

Old Salamano has lost his dog and now seems to not find anymore meaning in life. He is worried that his dog could be lost from him for ever and instead of worrying for the creature, its himself he worries about. Without his dog he has lost his daily life, since it practically revolved around walking, beating, and cursing his dog. The dog is gone now and apparently so has his will to live. Amazingly Mr. Salamano grieves the loss of his companion, unlike Mersault who didn't so much as shed a tear over his own mother.



The way in which Meursalt reacts or doesn't react is completely astonishing to me, I don't think I could ever just not look forward to something in my life. Simply because quite possibly our lives will have no relevant meaning, to be completely hopeless that way is something beyond me. Most of us have no idea why we are here, but the situation is that we are. So even if my life has no meaning to other people it means a lot to me, because its taken a lot of effort to be where I am now.