What is existentialism and alienation?

Existentialism
Existentialism is a belief of placing importance on individualism, freedom, and decision.  It emphasizes one's existence and the problems that come with it.  Existentialism also uses subjectivity.  One's ardent choices and actions are important.  Personal experience and knowledge and acting upon one's own beliefs are important when arriving to one's personal development or truths.  Decisions also play significant roles.  Since one learns from making choices, one should have the freedom to make choices.  It is impossible to not make choices because every single one of our actions is based on a decision.

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Alienation
is a state of depersonalization or loss of identity in which the self seems unreal, thought to be caused by difficulties in relating to society and the resulting prolonged inhibition of emotion. In sociology and critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual's estrangement from traditional community.

Crime & Punishment

Author's biography: Crime & Punishment was written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky was born in November 11, 1821, and was a Russian writer of realist fiction and essays. His work explored human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th century Russian society. He was considered as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism.

Summary: Raskolnikov is the main character of Crime & Punishment and feels special and different from everybody else. He has the characteristics of a nihilist and considers himself above society. His belief that God gave him the power to be special and to be superhuman made him believe that he did society a favor by killing the extortionist pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna. In the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov feels a sense of alienation because of his pride but as the novel unravels and develops, his sense of guilt and delusional sickness caused by the guilt causes him to feel even more isolated from society. His inability to connect with others such as Sonya is an important factor in the novel.

Raskolnikov's existentialistic views: Aside from his nihilistic views, Raskolnikov believes that he does society a favor when he eliminates Alyona. At first, he is alienated from society. Much like superman, he believes that he has the right to murder Alyona. However, after he commits the crime, his insanity unravels and he starts to drift away more and more from reality and society. Even as he has an opportunity to intimately connect with Sonya, he is unable to due to the guilt from the murder.

Elements of existentialism/alienation in Crime & Punishment: The theme of alienation is presented in Crime and Punishment through the main character – Raskolnikov - who feels that he is different from society. As he sees himself in a way superior toward the rest of the world and that everyone are just mere ponds and tools to use as he may. After he commits the murder his own guilt and conscious causes him to retreat to himself even more than before as he starts to reject everyone that is trying to help him. He soon realizes that he has completely alienated himself from society and is now regretting it as he realizes how much he loves Sonya. In the end he breaks through his alienation and is able to consider himself a normal human being for Sonya.

The Metamorphosis

Author's biography: The Metamorphosis was written by Franz Kafka. Kafka was born on July 3, 1883. He was a culturally influential German-language novelist. Kafka's childhood influenced much of his alienated work. Much of Kafka's work did not become famous until after he died. Kafka wished that his work be burned unread before he died. However, Max Brod ignored his request and went on to publish his novels.

Summary: In The Metamorphosis, Gregor wakes up as a big giant bug. He is unable to communicate with his family. Instead of his family trying to help and be there for Gregor, he becomes shunned and thought of as a burden. The only person that tries to help him is his sister, Greta. As time passes, Greta begins to grow tired of Gregor as well and thinks of him as a burden. Through much more difficulties and hardship among the Samsa family, Gregor begins to feel alienated and isolated from the rest of his family. He is locked up in his room and his family forbids that any guests see his transformation. With the alienation from society and his family, Gregor grows depressed and eventually dies.

Gregor's alienation: Before his transformation, little information is given about Gregor's typical life. He works a stable job that he hates merely for the income to support his family. He loves his family and he is the sole source of income. It is implied in the novel that he is socially detached from society as he does not socially interact with others so much. However, after his transformation, Gregor's alienation is much more enforced. With his family except his sister, unable to look at him, Gregor is shunned. He is not allowed to leave his room nor let the guests see him. This contributes to Gregor's self-esteem and eventually this leads to his death at the end of the novel.

Elements of existentialism/alienation in The Metamorphosis: The main character Gregor realizes his own individualism in the beginning of the novel when he wakes up to discover that he has become a bug. This transformation causes distance to be formed between the people around him as they alienate him because he is a bug. Because of all of these changes Gregor feels different and separate from the rest of society as well as humanity. Although much of it is out of his control, Gregor is forced to be alienated from society in his bedroom. He is not allowed to see guests -- even his own parents refuse to look at him.

The Stranger

Author's biography: Albert Camus was born November 7^th 1913. He published “The Stranger” in 1942.  The theme of his novel is very much related to existentialism even though he did not consider himself an existentialist. His views were most commonly related to absurdism and individual freedom. Camus was very devoted to his efforts for human rights and protested constantly during the mid 20^th century.

Summary: The Stranger begins with Meursault going to pay his respects to his dead mother. When he arrives there though he ends up feeling little remorse for her and does not seem to care or even show emotion at her funeral. When he arrives back in Algiers he goes for a public swim in the beach and meets up with an ex co-worker, Marie Cardona. He and Maria then proceed to have intimate relationships that night. The day after he has dinner with his neighbor Raymond- who is rumored to be a pimp. Raymond then proceeds to tell him how he cheated on his mistress because he caught her cheating on him, but he now wants her back so that he can make her suffer even more. He needs Meusault’s help though in writing the letter that would bring her back to him. While all this is happening though Maria asks Meursault if he loves her and if he wants to get married, he very passively agrees and they get engaged. Later Raymond becomes mad enough that he is going to try and kill his mistress with his gun, Meursault convinces him to not and takes the gun away from him. With that gun though Meursault kills the mistress brother and goes to jail. While he is in jail he shows indifference toward the whole thing and later decides that there is no such thing as an afterlife but all that is left for him is death.

Mersault's existentialistic views and alienation: Mersault alienates himself from society. No one knows exactly why he is like this. At his mother's funeral, he is unable to express grief. Not only is he unable to express grief, he acts as if he did not share a relationship with his mother -- soon after the funeral, he sleeps with a women that he just meets. His lack of grief disgusts others at the funeral. His inability to connect with others also gets him into trouble, especially with the law When he is put on trial for murdering the Arab, Mersault does not even bother to explain the situation or defend himself. He simply accepts the punishment and moves on with life. His inability to connect with others also hurts the people around him -- such as Marie. She waits for him when he is sent to prison. Mersault is unable to have have an intimate relationship with Marie due to his personality.

Elements of existentialism/alienation in The Stranger: In the story The Stranger, the main character – Meursault – believes that having emotions for others is not something that he has.  He feels that everyone else’s lives do not matter, as he sees his own mothers death and reacts very little toward it – where he does not even cry or feel sad about the whole experience and death. When he is in jail he comes to the realization that there is no after life and that everything in life is completely meaningless and that the universe is indifferent to him therefore he should be indifferent to the universe. There is also a sense of alienation in this novel as the story progresses the townspeople become more and more worried about why Meursault does not care about his mother’s death. The town soon starts to isolate him and not interact with him because they thought that something was wrong with him.

Existentialism and Alienation in Pop Culture

Radiohead - Creep

The lyrics in this song start off with the speaker admiring another person. However, the transition from the first verse to the chorus is very dramatic as the tone changes. The chorus recites 

"But I'm a creep

I'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here.

I don't care if it hurts.

I want to have control

I want a perfect body

I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice when I'm not around

You're so @#$%$#@! special

I wish I was special"

The personality of the speaker is very similar to those of Raskolnikov's of Crime and Punishment and Mersault's of The Stranger. 

In The Venture Brothers episode 'Mid-Life Chrysalis." Dr. Venture's transformation into a caterpillar slightly mirrors that of Gregor Samsa's transformation. The transformation includes elements of existentialism and especially alienation. Dr. Venture's transformation results in him being feared by others just as Gregor was by his family.

Paranoid Park, a film by Gus van Sant based on the novel of the same name. That author has said that the book is a kind of retelling of Crime and Punishment in a young adult fiction setting. This movie was filmed in 2007 and it stars Gabe Nevins and Taylor Momsen. The film is about Alex, a 16 year old skateboarder, who accidently kills a security guard but purposely tries to cover up the manslaughter. Just like Raskolnikov, after the murder, the two similar characters' insanity unravels and they start to detach from society. As Raskolnikov did the same, Alex breaks up with his girlfriend and alienates himself from almost everybody.

Lo Straniero by Lichino Visconti is the 1967 Italian film adaptation of The Stranger. This is the same storyline that Albert Camus first wrote. However, it is just an Italian adaptation of it.

"Metamorphosimpsons" is a parody of Franz Kafka's "The Metamophosis." Maggie turns in to a bug because of a gypsy curse. The plots do not mirror each other exactly, but the episode does contain evidence of influence. For example, Lisa attens "Cafe Kafka," which has several posters of cockroaches.

Original Media/Activity/Art

Leave Me Alone by Nathaniel Tomokiyo

Sometimes I really just want to be left alone

I don’t want to even bother picking up the phone

For society is dark, evil, and grim

My life with others is no longer a beautiful hymn

Is it bad that I don’t care about the people around me

Their lives aren’t mine, why can’t you just see

Is it my fault that I love the act of alienation

It is not like I am causing my own deprivation

I love being alone, it’s the best place to be

It is more satisfying then for the queen to drink tea

Is it weird that I am my own best friend

I never have to worry about relationships I have to mend

Where I can be by myself, happy and free

And never have to worry about paying some ones fee

I cannot wait for God to just call my name

So I can stop pretending to be in this friendship game

Just because I will never believe in the idea of assimilation

It doesn’t mean that I cannot be happy in complete isolation

The idea of society just makes me want to groan

Sometimes I really just want to be left alone

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All I See is Nothing by Priscilla Ibarra

All I see is nothingness within this world

Everything and everyone is lost in a swirl.

It’s as if I’m invisible, no one sees my perspective

Nothing I say or do will ever be effective.

The voices fade just like the faces

Im pushed away and left on my own

Alone in my kingdom sitting on my throne

I think I just might be cursed

It couldn’t get any worse

Nobody even sees me anymore

So bury me, since you treat me like a corpse

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Alienated by Krystie Sor

This drawing depicts the unidentified human (the one with eyes) to be secluded from the group of people behind him or her. S/he is frustrated from being alienated from other people and is expressing sadness.

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Flightless by Michael Matienzo 

A flightless bird watching in envy trying to figure himself out. Existentialism focuses on the actions, emotions, thoughts and etc. of an individual. This Penguin know he has wings but yet cannot fly. Once he has realized this he isolates himself and tries to find out why it's the way it is.