Character development is an essential component to every type of storytelling. Quality characters that are interesting, complex, and relatable propel a story’s plot and make audiences more apt to enjoy the overall piece. An example of this is Fitzgerald’s creation of Jay Gatsby. The mystery surrounding him along with the human emotion readers see within him are what makes The Great Gatsby a classic. Similarly, Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, and Albert Camus, author of The Stranger, are both celebrated for their creation of the characters Celie and Meursault respectively in their aforementioned books. Both unique to their stories, these characters are different in several regards such as the environment in which they live and the situations they encounter while being connected in other ways such as how they respond to the world around them.
The Color Purple and The Stranger are two very different books that deal with different issues and, as a result, have different themes. In accordance with this, Celie and Meursault contrast each other in several ways. First, the most blatant differences between the characters are physical and geographic. Celie is a young black woman who lives in rural Georgia in the early 20th century while Meursault is a male living in French North Africa in the similar time of the mid 20th century. As a result of these varied settings, Meursault and Celie’s experiences are very different. Celie faces severe oppression, facing racism, sexism, and abuse. Meursault, however, does not have to deal with any form of discrimination for his physical appearance, sex, or race. While Meursault is looked down upon for his actions, the abuse Celie experiences is different as she had no control over it.
Aside from their physical differences, the two characters are different as a result of how their authors developed them throughout the book. A central theme of The Color Purple is the ability an individual has to change the circumstances they find themselves in. The color purple, a symbol of hope, along with Celie’s friend Shug Avery help change Celie from the woman that felt nothing and viewed her life as pointless. This transformation can be seen when Celie stands up to her husband saying, “You a low down dirty dog, that's what's wrong. Time for me to get away from you, and enter into Creation. And your dead body'd be just the welcome mat I need” (Walker 201). This change in hope and ability to restart your life is not developed by Camus in Meursault. Unlike Celie, Meursault does not hate his life but instead describes himself as content with his life and saying, “I wasn’t unhappy” (Camus 41). Meursault never makes the transition Celie makes into a new life. Even when put on Death Row, Meursault reflects that death is inevitable and that there is no difference between put to death tomorrow than dying of natural causes 30 years later. This resistance to change can be seen in his response to the minister's question, “Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?” (Camus 117) with a simple “yes” towards the end of the book.
Despite these differences, Celie and Meursault are alike in many ways. The largest similarity between these two is the seeming detachment from life they both experience. Even though Celie’s personality changed over the course of Walker’s book, the emotions and views on life she had for the majority of the book correlate with Meursault’s personality. An example of this detachment is their relationships with others. Celie writes, “Everybody say how good I is to Mr._________ children. I be good to them. But I don’t feel nothing for them. Patting Harpo back not even like patting a dog. It more like patting another piece of wood. Not a living tree, but a table, a chifferobe” (Walker 63). Likewise Meursault struggles with relationships largely due to his lack of interest. He attends his mother’s funeral where he doesn’t cry and the most grievous thing he says is that he would rather her not have died. Furthermore, Walker and Camus characterize them such that it appears as if life is just passing them by. In Celie’s case, the reader sees time elapse in her letters without any change in her attitude. The entire time she describes the lack of emotion she feels towards her husband and family members giving the reader an impression of her as a ghostly observer to a stranger’s life. Likewise, Meursault’s life is symbolized in his court case when he thinks, “In a way, they seemed to be arguing the case as if it had nothing to do with me. Everything was happening without my participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion” (Camus 98).
In addition to their detachment, these two characters are similar as a result of their believability. Despite the unusual situations these characters are in, it is very easy for the reader to imagine both Celie and Meursault as real people. The reason for this is the authors were very thorough in developing their characters. Both authors used the first person point of view with these characters being the protagonists. This made it so the reader could very easily understand the character’s thought process while also being able to clearly see and experience their emotions.
In conclusion, these characters, who are seemingly completely different, are perhaps more alike than they are not. While their physical characteristics and setting are not in common, their more important personalities are shockingly similar. As previously stated, Celie’s personality did eventually change, however, Celie’s detached personality, which was present for a majority of The Color Purple, corresponds very well to Meursault’s personality. Both Walker and Camus were successful in creating strong central characters that were interesting, believable, and easy for the reader to relate to. The Color Purple’s and The Stranger’s success are largely because of these strong protagonists.
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