Existentialism - Ends in Death

In the novels They Shoot Horses, Don't They by Horace McCoy and The Stranger by Albert Camus both main characters end another person's life through shootings. These murders were perpetrated due to both Robert's and Glorias', from McCoys book, and Mersault's, from Camus' book, alienation from society. Though these characters were all alienated the responses they felt differed due to the reasons behind the alienation. Robert and Gloria felt alienated largely due to their circumstances in life, while Mersault just felt the need to fulfill his personal pleasures.

Robert and Gloria lived in a time where it was easy to be alienated from society. The 1930s were a time of great struggle for the American nation. For many people there were no jobs, no food, no shelter. People had to turn to each other for support and care to get them through these tough times. Gloria came from an extremely disfunctional family on which she could not rely. She had no friends to share her time with. Robert has no family to speak of and no friends either. When times got rough they didn't have someone to help them see the bright side of things. Both young people were in California trying to make it in Hollywood, but with little success. Due to their lack of food or money Gloria talks Robert into entering a dance marathon. While the sadistic marathon progresses Gloria frequently announces her wish for death. She has experienced too much to lull her into the idea that something better awaits her. She faces reality and knows she will not become a movie star. After the dance marathon there is nothing left for either her or Robert to look forward to. Their hopes are gone. The marathon shows them how desperate people are to live and how worthless it is. James and Ruby, two other characters in the book face the same difficulties as Robert and Gloria. Their outlook on life differs because of what they can share together; love and the impending baby. Gloria rejects the idea of a baby because she knows she has nothing to offer it, just a helpless and colorless life, like her own. Society glorified movie stars and they were paid handsomely while common citizens starved to death and suffered. Once the dream of stardom was dashed Gloria and Robert were able to remove themselves from society. Gloria responded to this alienation through wishes of death. She found little pleasure in anything. No longer did life hold any future. Gloria would have committed suicide if it were not for the fact that she still held fear of God. When Gloria asks Robert to kill her she does so in a calm manner. Death itself does not frighten her. She is quite ready for it. Robert, while not suicidal, understands Gloria's feelings. He lives in this same world, with the same lack of basic amenities. Robert recognizes the truth in how Gloria views her own life; pointless. Shooting Gloria is an act of charity. Gloria should not live if she didn't want to. For both Robert and Gloria life has no value and it would be more civilized to put her down.

Mersault lived every day just to experience the things he enjoyed and not for any other reason, which caused his alienation from society. In The Stranger Mersault focuses on the pleasurable aspects of life. His emotional range is almost non-existent. When his mother dies he does not feel sorrow. It is just an inconvience in his life and he worries about taking time off from work. During the vigil he continues to smoke, which is something he enjoys. He quickly wonders about how appropriate smoking over his dead mother's body is, but then his urges to smoke put propriety aside. Mersault has no ambitions or hopes in life, but rather, he lives day to day, and gets as much pleasure from that day as possible. Daily functions and work occur just to keep him in the same, pleasurably status he is in. Marie, his mistress, supplies a lot of physical pleasure for him, but does not offer anything emotional. He is ambivalent about marriage and love. To him neither matter much. Honesty comes naturally to him because he is not worried about the consequences of hurting someones feelings. When asked to do something he would rather not, Mersault will go along, just to not cause strife. Mersault would just as easily take a life, as to not take one. Life, to him, only has meaning while one is alive. To take a life is not important because life ceases, and that is all. No major ramifications come from it. The only reason Mersault regrets the killing he orchestrates is the fact that once in jail his pleasures are taken away from him. This does not hinder him for long. He then utilizes his memory to continually live out past pleasures. Society does not view Mersault as normal. Society wants Mersault to have emotions and take from life something other than pleasure. Mersault does not see the need for this so society rejects him.

Mersault, Robert and Gloria all reject and live outside what society expects from us. Society would want us to strive for goals, be emotionally attached, and treasure life. Gloria and Robert respond the way they do towards life out of a lack of a future. Mersault responds purely based on physical pleasures. It is easy for Robert and Mersault to pull the trigger of a gun and snuff out another's life because of these views.