Death is inevitable, but whether one can maintain happiness until death is filled with uncertainty

Reading Camus’s books always fills me with a sense of dread. His descriptions of absurdity and nihilism, along with his analysis of the meaning of life, often lead me to reflect deeply on my own existence. Every conscious person questions the meaning of their life. After all, if life has no meaning, why not end it now rather than go through the repetitive, meaningless days until death? It’s no wonder he said, “There is only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.”

Camus’s debut novel, A Happy Death, was not published until after his death. Even as a first work, Camus’s profound insights into life already foreshadowed his later achievements. In A Happy Death, the central theme is “happiness,” and all the reflections interwoven throughout the book revolve around this theme. Death is inevitable, but whether one can maintain happiness until death is filled with uncertainty.

The novel’s protagonist, Mersault, is a young office worker whose life is monotonous and dull, spent day after day in tedious work. Mersault feels disinterested in the world around him, experiencing loneliness and a sense of nothingness. After meticulously planning and committing a murder, he acquires a large sum of money, allowing him to escape his routine job and embark on a life of freedom and travel. However, despite gaining wealth and freedom of time, Mersault remains unhappy. He begins to ponder: Can money bring happiness? Can having time bring happiness? Throughout his journey, he continually reflects on these questions, seeking genuine self-satisfaction and happiness. This phenomenon reflects Camus’s deep thoughts on human existence: money cannot fill the emptiness within; true happiness comes from inner contentment and a love for life.

Some say that as long as you are still pondering how to be happy, you are not truly happy. For Mersault, this is indeed the case. Even though I cannot conclusively determine whether this statement is an absolute truth, I can genuinely feel the difficulty of achieving happiness in life.

Camus once said, “The only real duty of a man born into an absurd world is to live, to be aware of his life, his revolt, his freedom.” His ideas in A Happy Death are consistent with those in The Stranger. In A Happy Death, he seems to explore a broader range of issues, from the definition of happiness to the ways of attaining it, and even to the concept of a happy death. Each part requires deep contemplation. His thoughts are clear, but the questions about the definition of happiness, its duration, and the prerequisites for it are so intertwined that readers need to carefully digest them to grasp their deeper meaning.

After finishing A Happy Death, life seems even more perplexing. There is a strange feeling that Camus, unable to test the outcome of life with such extreme absurdity in his own life, created a character to do so in his writing. In the novel, Camus explores the absurdity of life, and although he strives for happiness, he ultimately finds that the meaning of life is elusive. Through Mersault’s story, Camus expresses a profound understanding of the absurdity of existence.