加缪思想的核心是人道主义，人的尊严问题，一直缠绕着他的创作、生活和政治斗争的根本问题。《西西弗斯神话》和《局外人》构成了加缪文学创作的母题，包含着加缪未来作品的核心问题。书中，西西弗斯的幸福假设的提出，其本质动机，不在荒诞，因为荒诞不能告诉我们何谓幸福及不幸；之所以加缪假设西西弗斯是幸福的，是因为他认为只有幸福的生活才符合人的尊严。反抗才能体现尊严。西西弗斯被责为永罚，却幸福，这是一种反抗，也是在这种条件下唯一可能的反抗形式。
Years ago—how long was it? Seven years it must be—he had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”——George Orwell 《1984》
