Existentialism

"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?"
-Albert Einstein

There are no complex characters in Existentialism literature; only the complex questions: Who are we? and Why are we here? Character's primarily in Existential literature, are simplified, so simple in fact that they become complex through the idea that you have no idea why they exist.

In The Stranger by Albert Camus has a main character who is so simple that he can't figure out why he killed an Arab. The entire book the man does simplistic things like, eat sleep and talk. Camus portrays the main character so simplistically that the reader is left to wonder why he is even a character at all, and what is his point in the world.

The same theme holds true for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The entire book circles around the theme that the two characters don't know why they have been placed in Hamlet. The characters themselves aren't that developed, and can't even remember who they are and which one is which. The idea that they keep coming back to is why do they exist, and what is their purpose.

Existtentialism has really opened my eyes in asking these questions. Good literature, and this type especially, gets you to thinking about the bigger picture. Why are we here? What is our purpose? And do we want to do more then just exist. Through existentialism I have started asking, and applying these questions to my everyday life.