DefinePK

Abstract

Ideologies play an important role in human life and can influence human behaviors and actions. This paper investigates the nature of socio-political forces that try to determine an individual’s behavior and in return how the individual resists these interpellative attempts in Albert Camus’ The Outsider. The theoretical standing of the study rests upon Althusserian concept of Interpellation while the protagonist’s psychological resistance is examined in the light of Freudian psychoanalysis. For Althusser (1971) interpellation is a process through which an individual’s behavior is controlled by the ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) prevalent in the culture. Through close reading of the selected text, this study explores the socio-cultural influence of ISAs, such as family, law and other cultural agents, on the protagonist in the novel. Whereas, the psychological resistance of the protagonist to these agents are examined in the light of Sigmund Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis. The findings of the study suggest that interpellation process has influenced the protagonist psychologically which is evident through his dialogues at several occasions.