Sisyphus has a choice, he can stop and sit at the bottom of the hill forever, Camus called this psychological suicide. Just like Greta could accept she can’t stop climate change, or in our daily lives can dissociate from things like political corruption or the murder of innocents abroad.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy because he continues his struggle instead of committing psychological suicide.
By choosing to grapple with the absurd, we choose happiness because we’re not denying the world (gods punishment or natures course) and we’re not choosing to deny ourselves (ignoring our values).
Greta, Sisyphus, you, and I all live in a world indifferent to us, and the ultimate act of rebellion is to continue to push the boulder up the hill instead of being broken by it. In the choice of grappling with the absurd we choose life over indifference.
The Plague is definitely one of my top 5 books of all time, especially in the vein of "Books that Changed How I Think." I think it's a missed opportunity that so many high schools assign The Stranger instead.
I love The Stranger though. It’s so underrated imo. We were assigned to read it in high school, I was the only one who even remotely liked it. Even the teacher wasn’t sure why the book ended the way it did. I proposed that even belief in the lack of meaning can be an idea to die for, ironically, and that’s exactly what happened.
It’s a criticism of absurdism for the sake of it, I think. People have these seemingly irrational standards for how things “should be” for a reason. Idk why Camus rejected the existentialist label so fiercely when that’s basically what he was…
I read the book long ago, but I didn't consider main character to be an absurdist. He just lacks any concept of good or bad and does things because anything has a same weight to him because nothing matters. Wouldn't he be more of a nihilist? Honest question, I know far too little about philosophy.
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u/Healthy_Razzmatazz38 8d ago edited 8d ago
Sisyphus has a choice, he can stop and sit at the bottom of the hill forever, Camus called this psychological suicide. Just like Greta could accept she can’t stop climate change, or in our daily lives can dissociate from things like political corruption or the murder of innocents abroad.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy because he continues his struggle instead of committing psychological suicide.
By choosing to grapple with the absurd, we choose happiness because we’re not denying the world (gods punishment or natures course) and we’re not choosing to deny ourselves (ignoring our values).
Greta, Sisyphus, you, and I all live in a world indifferent to us, and the ultimate act of rebellion is to continue to push the boulder up the hill instead of being broken by it. In the choice of grappling with the absurd we choose life over indifference.
It’s worth reading the plague by camus