Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor and philosopher, states, "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked throughout the huts comforting others, giving their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." In such concentration camps, people were on the verge of death. However, the fact that they would die wasn't the main point, the fact that one can choose their own paths in life is what defines a man and sets him ultimately free. In the novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays the theme that when man realizes that death is inevitable, he is ultimately free as he chooses his own decisions.
Throughout the novel Camus introduces the idea that if one accepts death, one will be free because one will have nothing to fear. In the opening of the book, Monsieur Meursault finds that his mother has recently passed away. "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure" (1). Most people would know when their own mother died and would show some kind of sympathy. However through the death of Meursault's mother Camus portrays his nonchalance. Meursault realizes that death is a part of life and is inevitable. He formulates his own opinions about death and makes the choice to be nonchalant about it. The question now is if he lacks feeling, or if he purposely remains stoic to represent some sort of barrier to keep his emotions hidden from society. In contrast, at the end of the novel, Meursault now invites the reader to make judgment about his own execution. "I"d been happy, and I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration," (154).
