The importance of the surrounding environment in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha and Albert Camus's The Stranger According to John Locke, people start their lives with a blackboard clean and are nourished by their surroundings and contact with others, also known as Tabula Rasa (Landry). In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha and Albert Camus's The Stranger, both Siddhartha and Meursault, respectively, influence this concept of Tabula Rasa, which makes each of the men what they ultimately become. Part of this theory is that a change in position can and will change who a person becomes. In conjunction with his own unhappiness and the opinions of others around him, Siddhartha moves from place to place in the novel in a cyclical motion..