The Priest(Kafka Vs Camus) Essays - Literature, Fiction,

The Priest(Kafka vs Camus) The Outsider, written by Albert Camus, and The Trial, written by Franz Kafka, are two books that have been critically acclaimed since the time that they were published. There are critics that claim that The Outsider is a dull book, and is not even a read-worthy book. Other people claim that it shows us how society actually acts upon people who do not want to be like the rest of society. The Trial falls under the same kind of criticism; but both books, although written by different writers in a different ?poque, fall under the same kind of genre: Imprisoned Lives. In both The Outsider and The Trial there are many people who influence the protagonists in a positive and in a negative way, but none of those characters are as important as the priest. The priest, being of the same profession in both books and trying to accomplish the same kind of tasks, have a totally different effect on the two protagonists. In The Outsider the priest changes the whole attitude that Meursault has to life, whereas in The Trial the priest tells Joseph K. how his life actually is. "Why do you refuse to see me?" This question was asked by the priest and was meant for Meursault. Normally, if a person is convicted to death, he will see a priest before the sentence is executed. Meursault did not do that. He profusely refused to see the priest and why should he? He "did not believe in god." Meursault did not care, as he did not care if his mother died, or if someone proposed marriage to him. This of course went totally against the rules and ethics of society, which cannot permit such kind of behaviour. But why does Cam?s characterize Meursault like that? Why did he create such kind of an outsider to society? Cam?s created such an outsider because he wanted to show people how life actually is. Society does not accept people who do not bend the truth a little and lie. Society wants to make life as easy as can be, making up lies so that everything can run smoothly because truth can hurt sometimes, and Cam?s knows that. Cam?s implements the priest not just as another c haracter in the novel, but as a person who wants to tell Meursault how society expects him to behave. Meursault did not want to know how he has to act to make the society happy, as a matter of fact, the priest was "beginning to annoy" him. Meursault was not even following what the priest said but rather gazed out of the cell into the sky. Cam?s wants to show us actually how uninterested Meursault is in the priest. But all this is about to change because Cam?s adds an unexpected twist. The priest mentions how even the hardest of criminals stare at something at one point in their life and imagine a divine face in it. Meursault did not see the face of Jesus Christ in it, but he saw the face of Marie, the girl who proposed the marriage to him. But this was the turning life in Meursault's life. All of a sudden he starts to care about things and take some interest in things, and that explains the outrage he suddenly got against the priest. Meursault knows that he his going to die, and he cannot accept that. His whole attitude all of a sudden changed. Cam?s shows us that a person cannot go against society and that society and the majority, be it good or bad, will always win. Kafka's priest however was different. He did not tell to change Joseph K.'s life but rather told Joseph K. how his life is and how unjust society actually is. The setting that Kafka creates is pretty phenomenal. The cathedral is dark and gloomy, only lighted by some oil lamps which have a small illumination radius. "It is a rainy day", which gives it an even more sad and depressing feeling. As time passes by, the inside of the cathedral gets darker and darker, which creates a sort of evil foreshadowing of what will happen at the end of the book. Then the priest