Monday, February 10, 2020
Due Wednesday, February 12th - Read "The Stranger" by Albert Camus, Chapters 1-3
Overview and Directions: Read The Stranger by Albert Camus, Chapters 1-3. Please apply the ideas of Existentialism to your reading of the text. Pair direct quotations from the novel with Sartre's essay on Existentialism. I look forward to your responses.
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To me, Meursault is a person that is completely obsessed with his own self image. He seems to display the most emotion when thinking about how something may affect his appearance, or when describing others' appearances. This relates directly to the concept of self worth that is described in existentialism. According to existentialism, people create their own self worth and value, and display that value by way of their outward appearance. Meursault is very keen on his own outward appearance and others’ outward appearances. For instance, when he visits the coffin of his mother he thinks “But I wasn’t sure if I should smoke, under the circumstances—in Mother’s presence. I thought it over; really, it didn’t seem to matter, so I offered the keeper a cigarette, and we both smoked.” This is how he cares about his appearance. He does not consider that smoking could be unhealthy, or even a possible fire hazard, but rather focuses on the picture of a man smoking next to his mother’s coffin, and how this could paint himself in a bad light. Another time that Meursault seemed to take the logical approach to his appearance is when Raymond asks him to be his “pal”. Meursault responds with “I didn't mind being
ReplyDeletehis pal, and he seemed set on it.” This is how Meursault seems to form relationships with people. There was no apparent negative that he could see, and given Rayonds persistence, Meursault saw it in his best interest to be pals. This is also very revealing to how Meursault views the whole world. Throughout the first few chapters he has almost no reaction to the world around him. This is because he knows that what he does has no real effect on the universe. His values have been crafted to only value his personal image because that is how the world sees him, and beyond himself he doesn't really care much about the world. He can only control himself and his appearance, so he does not bother with anything else. This is an example of how existentialism can be seen as pessimistic. It seems the Meursault does not care about the world, and I predict that throughout the story we will see as Meursault’s existentialist tendencies start to evolve. To me, these first few chapter seem to be written from a person that does truly understand existentialism, almost on purpose to show the evolution of Meursault through the book.
While reading The Stranger, I saw Monsieur Meursault as already dead. I feel as though his character completely lacks his own personality for a reason and that he is supposed to represent existentialism between humans and above. The first chapter seemed very ominous to me, as Camus continued to describe the bright lights coming through the room and how they hurt his eyes. We usually distinguish light with heaven, therefore, we can assume that that is where Maman is going. Although, it does say in the first chapter, “While not an atheist, Maman had never in her life given a thought to religion.”, this could be Camus’ way of saying that in the afterlife you go where you believe you’ll go, but this can’t be confirmed since we don’t know where Monsieur Meursault stands in terms of religion. Although, if he really is dead, I’m unsure of where Monsieur Meursault would stand.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to existentialism, I can see him being in an angel-like position to everyone else, yet not interfering with others lives. Throughout the first three chapters, I feel like we don’t learn a lot about Monsieur Meursault himself, rather than the things he is doing and the situations of the people around him. One part that specifically agrees with Monsieur Meursault already being dead and in this angel-like position, is when he spends all day watching the life outside from his balcony, “One of them even yelled up to me, ‘We beat ‘em!’ And I nodded, as if to say ‘Yes.’ From then on there was a steady stream of cars.” (23). From this interaction, Monsieur Meursault does exist and does have an interaction with this sports fan, but it is limited and does not change life itself. This is also seen when Monsieur Meursault interacts with the people in his building. He sees the elderly man and his dog argue everyday, and although he asks what’s wrong and what the dog did, he does not do anything about it. Even when the dog is, “In old Salamano’s room… whimper(ing) softly.” (33), he does not do anything about it. In Raymond’s perspective, Monsieur Meursault’s angelic perspective works too. Raymond talks to him like he is his therapist, almost like he is praying. And although Monsieur Meursault is listening, he notices a lie in Raymond’s story and beats him up over it. This represents the opposite of existentialism, so that part confused me a bit. There is one part in Raymond’s conversation when he actually does mention the Underworld, by stating, “After that he’d looked up some of his underworld friends.” (31).
I hope we get a deeper understanding of who Monsieur Meursault is because, once again, I feel like his character is lacking a lot.
The word ‘I’ is used superfluously by Albert Camus in “The Stranger.” This pronoun signifies a first person perspective, but the reader hardly gets knowledge of what goes on in Monsieur Meursault’s mind. There is a great mood of separation, where the usage of ‘I’ is juxtaposed with scant personal details and a certain dejectedness. A hallmark of Existentialism, or what many might perceive as being a characteristic of Existentialism as being “too gloomy a view of things” (Sartre). The removal from life is very apparent in “The Stranger,” where Monsieur Meursault cannot feel upset or even held to a higher standard in the presence of his deceased mother, and “[offers] the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked” (Camus). There exists no respect for the presence of his dead mother, and the traditional vigil is seen as an unimportant aspect of life. To most, this would seem terrible, and un-Christian. However, Sartre believes that “what is annoying them is not so much our pessimism, but, much more likely, our optimism” (Sartre). There isn’t always that much optimism in “The Stranger,” but a tendency to focus on the future, to move continuously forward. The death of a mother isn’t fixated upon, but just a natural aspect of life. Indeed Monsieur Meursault finds himself annoyed by an elderly woman in his mother’s vigil who cannot stop sobbing. In addition, Meursault realizes that there is nothing that he can do to change the date of his mother’s funeral, and take a four day weekend. He knows that his boss was annoyed, but Meursault didn’t really care and knew that life would go on. Sartre describes this state of apathy by that “in such a moment a man cannot escape from the sense of complete and profound responsibility” (Sartre). Many don’t honestly care about what will befall them, unless they have to stand up and take charge, which Meursault fails to do. He lives his life like a spectator, watching but never participating.
ReplyDeleteSartre considered himself an atheist Existentialist, where human awareness was seen as proceeding humanity, rather than a god. He believes that “if I am a worker, for instance, I may choose to join a Christian rather than a Communist trade union” (Sartre). Religion has to bearing upon his life, and is a choice like so many other things. The funeral of Madame Meursault was to be religious, and “while not an atheist, Maman had never in her life given a thought to religion” (Camus). One type of burial was chosen over another, religion negligible, unaccounted for.
I don’t think Meursault cares about anything. He has a very clear emotional detachment from his surroundings and acts indifferent towards everyone he speaks with. This was evident to me from the first chapter when he has a conversation with a man after his train ride and says he has had an exhausting trip just to get away from having an actual interaction with him. Meursault also hears a lot of terrible stuff in the course of these first three chapters that he sort of shrugs off, like when Raymond mentions that he beats his mistress on occasion. Meursault explains that he “just listened. I'd drunk close to a liter of wine and my temples were burning. I was smoking Raymond's cigarettes because I'd run out.” Meursault also appears to have a drinking problem based on how much wine he drinks in this specific scene. It’s common for people who are depressed or mentally ill to drink and smoke so they can feel something besides whatever it is they feel. Meursault, and it’s not quite clear yet, drinks either so he can feel something more than indifference and irritance at the people around him, or so he can suppress whatever feelings he used to have. Maybe he went through something oftly traumatic and uses alcohol as a self-diagnosed method of relaxation to numb the fear and anxiety it has drilled into his brain. Perhaps he has never been a very emotional person and thinks that getting drunk or getting on some high will prompt him to feel something finally. He is really mysterious, especially when observing how he behaves over the death of his mother. It’s almost like her death is an inconvenience to him because it forces him to have to mourn her and make himself vulnerable in the eyes of other people. Is that what he’s afraid of? Being vulnerable?
ReplyDeleteBoom, straight out the gate we have some interesting lines. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know". I'll apply these quotes right away: There is anguish in this very sentence. Many people place the death of a loved one, close or distant, as a definitive day. People remember the dates of deaths sometimes obsessively, but our main character, Meursault, just takes it in. It does not matter when his mom has died, only that she is dead now. He places his own importance value on the matter. He obviously cared about her, and would not have gone to the funeral otherwise. There was no reason to go other than to pay it forward to his mother: He had no friends in attendance, it was far away, it was hot, but he did it because he wanted to. I think that Meursault realizes that he is free and can do whatever he pleases, as seen in his specific interaction with Raymond. Raymond is clearly a masochist in some essence, wishing nothing but to hurt his ex wife for the reason of giving himself pleasure. It is one thing to wish bad events upon someone, but it is totally different to fantasize about humiliation and physical pain inflicted. Myself placing this statement and my sentiments towards Raymond are my own, influenced by society perhaps, but mine nonetheless. Meursault listens to Raymond talking, seeking his assistance in the infliction of pain upon his ex wife. Meursault agrees, yet I do think there are many possible reasons why. I personally believe that Meursault knows that there is no god, no definite good in the universe, so it makes himself his own judge. He will not personally be affected in any way by his participation in this cruel event that will happen to this poor Moorish girl. Are we to judge Meursault for his participation? As if he cares. Meursault has his despair in that his life seems to be suffering and loneliness; he is a sad man in that he humbles himself in that he is a mortal but has no problem in doing things that he sees fit.
ReplyDeleteQUOTES
Delete- Meursault agreeing: "Since I didn't say anything, he asked if I'd mind doing it right then and I said no."
- Raymond is clearly a Masochist: "What bothered him was that he 'still had sexual feelings for her.' But he wanted to punish her."
- The funeral was very hot: "Big tears of frustration and exhaustion were streaming down his cheeks. But because
of all the wrinkles, they weren't dripping off. They spread out and ran together again, leaving a watery film over his ruined face."
Meursault is a person that is completely obsessed with himself. He seems to show the most emotion when thinking about how something may affect his appearance, or when describing others' appearances. This relates directly to the concept of self worth that is described in existentialism. According to existentialism, people create their own self worth and value, and display that value by way of their outward appearance. He is very keen on his own outward appearance and others’ outward appearances. For instance, when he visits the coffin of his mother he thinks “But I wasn’t sure if I should smoke, under the circumstances—in Mother’s presence. I thought it over; really, it didn’t seem to matter, so I offered the keeper a cigarette, and we both smoked.” This is how he cares about his appearance. He does not consider that smoking could be unhealthy, or even a possible fire hazard, but rather focuses on the picture of a man smoking next to his mother’s coffin, and how this could paint himself in a bad light. Another time that Meursault seemed to take the logical approach to his appearance is when Raymond asks him to be his “pal”. Meursault responds with “I didn't mind being
ReplyDeletehis pal, and he seemed set on it.” This is how Meursault seems to form relationships with people. There was no apparent negative that he could see, and given Rayonds persistence, Meursault saw it in his best interest to be pals. This is also very revealing to how Meursault views the whole world. Throughout the first few chapters he has almost no reaction to the world around him. This is because he knows that what he does has no real effect on the universe. His values have been crafted to only value his personal image because that is how the world sees him, and beyond himself he doesn't really care much about the world. He can only control himself and his appearance, so he does not bother with anything else. This is an example of how existentialism can be seen as pessimistic. It seems the Meursault does not care about the world, and I predict that throughout the story we will see as Meursault’s existentialist tendencies start to evolve. To me, these first few chapter seem to be written from a person that does truly understand existentialism, almost on purpose to show the evolution of Meursault through the book.
While studying The Stranger, I thought of Monsieur Meursault as already dead. The first chapter was offputting, as Camus described the lights on his eyes. We typically distinguish mild with heaven, therefore, we can count on that that is the place Maman is going. Although, it does say in the first chapter, “While now not an atheist, Maman had by no means in her life given a concept to religion.”, this ought to be Camus’ way of announcing that in the afterlife you go where you agree with you’ll go, however this can’t be confirmed since we don’t recognize where Monsieur Meursault stands in phrases of religion. This srelates to existentialism because Camus discusses ideas pertinent to existentialism. One part that mainly concurs with Monsieur Meursault already being dead, is when he spends all day looking at the people outside from his balcony, as if he were haunting them. This also expressed when Monsieur Meursault interacts with the people in his building. He always stalks the old man and his dog. Even when the canine is, “In historical Salamano’s room… whimper(ing) softly.” (33), he disregards the dog.This expresses the opposite of existentialism.
ReplyDeleteThe one word that comes to mind with regards to Meursault is detached. “The Stranger” is told from his point of view, but somehow we do not feel any emotions from him. Instead, we feel the emotions for him. When he says “Maman died today,” we feel sympathy, but when he says, “Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know,” we take a step back, realizing that we are the only ones who feel sad about his mother’s death even though we do not even know his mother. Yet he is not detached in a way that he is vague about his emotions. He is actually quite blunt about his feelings, which are no feelings at all. Raymond said to him that his mother’s death “ was one of those things that was bound to happen sooner or later” and in response, Meursault said “I thought so too.” To the readers, we find this kind of reaction very unsettling because it is unusual for someone to be so indifferent to their own mother’s death. The reaction he gives is almost the same as the reaction we would give to killing an ant. The day after the funeral, he goes on a date with Marie, and then goes back to work because in his mind, “nothing had changed.” I wonder if he actually wants to be emotional and interact with other people but can’t, or if he enjoys living a lonely, purposeless life. A couple of times he indicates that he is content, but only because of a good cup of coffee and his nice walk back home along the docks. It is especially disturbing when Raymond, a clearly immoral person, tells Meursault about how he abuses this woman and Meursault does not tell him that he should not be doing such things. On the contrary, he says that it is “interesting.” Maybe he feels like he has no power to change Raymond, but that also doesn’t mean that he should have written the letter for him. With regards to existentialism, Meursault does not put any meaning into his life, so he does not get any meaning out of it. He does not feel love or hatred because he does not place enough meaning on anything to feel love or hatred for the person or thing.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I felt bad for Meursault. His life in these first chapters is repetitive and boring: wake up, smoke a cigarette, walk around town, go back home, smoke some more, and repeat the next day. He is nothing yet, because according to Paul-Sartre, “if man as the existentialist sees him is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself”. He may have a job and a relatively good life, but he has nothing to live for. In that case, can he truly follow existentialism? Even after his own mother had died, he realizes that “Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed” (p24). He had nothing to worry about, nothing to be responsible for, and was lifted of all weight except for his job. He’s left to contemplate nothing. Even through the lens of another aspect of existentialism––the idea counter to how “you must not oppose the powers that be; that you must not fight against superior force; must not meddle in matters that are above your station”––Meursault fails. He doesn’t combat his situation. He even feels bad that his own mother died and that he must miss work. He truly has nothing to live for.
ReplyDeleteLike with the “Hunger Artist”, I personally tended to see more existentialism (or existential mindsets) in supporting characters. During the funeral procession, for example, the nurse says to Meursault, “‘If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.’ She was right. There was no way out” (p17). A large portion of this story was spent where various characters felt lost, as if there really was no way out in any sense. Meursault can’t escape the daily routine of his life just as pedestrians can’t escape the harsh sun. Duty creates burden and that is what we want to, yet cannot escape.
Existentialism refers to the ideology that one's existence precedes their meaning in life and the meaning is developed through their choices and acts by their own and not influenced by societal expectations. Certain aspects of existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger reflects through Mersault's life experiences with the death of his mother Maman. Meursault is cold, detached, and indifferent about his mother’s death and calmly accepts the absurdity of life. The first line of the book, "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure,” is the epitome of his indifference, distance from normal society, lack of emotion and interaction with others, and acceptance of reality.
ReplyDeleteInstead of grieving at the news of his mother’s death, his primary concern is figuring out on which day his mother died. He does not even want to see the body and sits back relaxing during the vigil. Even more, when some Maman’s friends sob at the funeral, he still does not show any emotion at all, neither happy nor solemn. He accepts life or death without looking for a deeper significance. However, just before the funeral, he is able to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery, despite the sad occasion. A day after the funeral, he goes swimming and has a fair with Marie Cardona. Meursault runs into his neighbor, Raymond Sintes, who invites Meursault to dinner. He accepts it as he feels he needs to eat. Over dinner, Raymond requests Meursault’s advice, but Meursault offers no objection and just writes a letter for him.
Meursault has an uneventful and repetitive life which allows him to live without thinking or feeling, contradictory to our daily lives.. He is only perceptive of his physical surroundings which is his reality. His mother's passing does not affect his everyday routine life. Thus, Meursault does not care about her passing. To Meursault, his mother holds no importance or meaning to him after her death. He does not ask too much from life other than his physical existence. Death is even less important. Meursault enjoys being alive and feeling the physical surrounding to an extent. His motivations are logically driven, not due to any innate desire to socialize Put quote here.
Overall, the method of depiction that focuses intently on his surroundings only is an existential style of life. Meursault dictates for himself and lives his life as he wishes. He has made a commitment for himself and himself only: he will live his life in his way: perceiving only the physical environment. In turn, his life is dull, monotonous, and uneventful, but he is content. He has no desire, no driving motivation, and no need to prove his meaning. Camus’s novel is an existential literature that implores people to accept life’s lack of meaning and rebel by rejoicing in what life does offer.
The main character in The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault is incredibly representative of the idea of existentialism, displaying each of the three stages, humans in anguish, humans in forlornness, and humans in despair. Meursault is someone who tends to keep to himself, never wanting to fully be in the middle of the action but rather observe from the sidelines. Day in and day out, Meursault lives a fairly simplistic and boring lifestyle in which he goes to work, eats at Celestes, then goes home. He does not have much companionship within his life except for the occasional glances he gets at his neighbors and the people he works with. Meursault is someone who is extremely observant and is often watching the people around him focusing on things that others may seem as insignificant such as how the sky prepared for “a summer storm” and the “passing clouds [that] had left a tint of rain handing over the street”. Most people are too preoccupied with other things in their lives to notice the little things, busily worrying about the next thing they have to do. Meursault however does not act in that way at all, causing him to be an outcast. By only going through the motions of life and not going out of his way to fully enjoy it, it can be fair to assume that Meursault is suffering both physically and mentally and as a result has an absence of hope. He is so far gone that not even the most horrible of situations can invoke any emotions in him besides an occasional sigh. Meursault witnesses the animal abuse and domestic abuse of his neighbors yet does nothing about it. Even after his neighbor admits to hurting his girlfriend and “smack[ing] her around”, Meursault still agrees to write the letter that is going to serve as a jab to Raymond’s poor girlfriend. Meursault does not agree to writing the letter because he wants to, or because he enjoys hurting others, but because he does not care enough to go through the effort of saying no to his neighbor because in the end that will just result in more work for him.
ReplyDeleteMonsieur Meursault is a strange character. In some ways, he seems like an average and dull person. He has a daily routine and a tedious job. And like most people who live boring lives, he does not seem happy with his situation. But he is not angry about it either. Nowhere within the story does he mention not being content with his life. But he seems so detached from everything. The first thing he says is, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." I find it bizarre that he does not know the day his mother died, or even care that she died. Throughout the first chapter and the process of his mother's funeral, he seems very cold and does not seem to be griefing at all. Maybe he did not have the best relationship with his mother, so he does not feel sad when she dies. But it does seem like he feels guilty for putting his mother in the home because he keeps saying it is not his fault every time people would try to talk about it. So he does care a bit about his mother but it is not apparent. And when he says, "It occurred to me that anyway, one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed." I do not think saying nothing changed is the best way to describe it. His mother is gone, something has changed, he might not see her death as a significant impact on his daily life, but she was his mother, so in many ways, it is still a big deal.
ReplyDeleteI also find it uncomforting that he does not react to anything that happens in his life. Especially when he writes the letter for Raymond. He says, "I wrote the letter. I did it just as it came to me, but I tried my best to please Raymond because I didn't have any reason not to please him." I think Raymond's great idea for revenge is beating his mistress should be a huge reason not to please him, but Meursault does not seem to see abuse as a big enough problem to react. And it is not like everyone else feels the same way. Marie seems quite uncomfortable about Raymond abusing his former mistress, but she cannot express it because of all the toxic masculinity surrounding her.
Meursault's personality feels robotic. He does not show any emotion towards anything. It seems like he is just a body walking around and observing everything but does not have the soul to absorb any of the things he is seeing. Or it might just be uncomfortable for me to see him not react the same way I would respond to those situations. He might not see things the way I see them, and that is hard to understand and get over.
What I found most interesting about this piece is the severe lack of emotion from the main character. No matter what occurs in his life around him, he seems to neither accept or reject it, rather he merely accepts its existence and moves on. The primary conflict of the beginning of the piece is his mother passing away, yet when he requests time off from work he apologizes. He reflects that, “I even said, "It's not my fault." He didn't say anything. Then I thought I shouldn't have said that. After all, I didn't have anything to apologize for. He's the one who should have offered his condolences. But he probably will day after tomorrow, when he sees I'm in mourning.” His utter lack of emotion is stunning. This seems to line up with the ideas of existentialism, for instead of attaching ideals to everything around him, he merely continues with life. He isn’t necessarily content, he just exists. Later on in the piece, when a dubious friend offers him over for dinner, he seems to be disinterested. However, when the neighbor says that, "I've got some blood sausage and some wine at my place. How about joining me?", he figures that, “would save me the trouble of having to cook for myself, so I accepted.” This unemotional mentality seems to be a charade, but I believe it is actually much deeper than meets the eye, and will soon crack when put under pressure.
ReplyDeleteRight from the start, the ideas of Existentialism are evident throughout the text. The book opens with the narrator stating “Maman died” and that he needs to take time off from work because “I’m in mourning.” This could be classified as humans in anguish, as the narrator is saddened by the passing of his mother. However, it is not super obvious that he has any emotional feelings whatsoever. He shows what appears to be indifference; after stating that his mother died, he proceeds to say that he doesn’t know when the actual date of death was. Maybe it wasn’t completely his fault for not knowing, as the call he received that informed him of her passing wasn’t very detailed, but he certainly didn’t seem interested in finding out on his own. It could also be argued that the start of the book is an example of humans in forlornness, as he is now that much more alone in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis book is so simple with its wording, but the images that they provoke are extremely deep and vivid. I don’t know why Meursault reacts the way that he does to his Mother’s death - he apologizes to his boss for missing work! He cares more about his missing work and what his boss thinks about him than he cares about the actual loss, analyzing why his boss was upset with him for missing two days. He doesn’t seem to have that much human emotion for this situation. He doesn’t really care about finding out how his mother died or when, stating that: “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure.” He seems very attached to everyone. Marie seems like an amazing woman, and Meursault likes her - I think he likes the idea of her, because when it comes down to deeper steps like falling in love, he either won’t let himself or he just doesn’t have the ability. I’ve met people like this before, and I guess some can be happy living this way without genuine connection, but it feels very strange. Nothing seems to have any emotional weight for him - I don’t understand the lack of reaction in important moments. What’s the point of living if you don’t care for others? If you don’t feel?
ReplyDeleteLivia ^
DeleteIn The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, the ideas of existentialism are presented through the main character, Meursault. Camus describes this character as someone stuck in their own routine and so caught up in their own life. Even as his mother passes away all he is worried about is getting back into his routine,“It occured to me that anyway one more was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed.” (Page 24, Camus) He believes his mother’s death is not going to impact his life and it is either a result of two extremes: sociopathic behaviors or feeling so much remorse that he is in shock as a result of her death. While his reaction is unnatural to the reader this proves we form expectations of how people are supposed to react in certain situations. Everyone reacts differently as individuals and we cannot compare our own expectations of grief to how it affects someone else.
ReplyDeleteCamus creates a detached mood as Meursault is an outsider that is unable to connect with anyone. The book begins with his reaction to his mother's death in which we see that he is unable to decide what is right or wrong. Before he leaves to attend the funeral he must take off work and instead of understanding that others will be empathetic to his situation he thinks his boss will be mad. He apologizes to his boss so that he will not lose his job, "It's not my fault." (Page 3, Camus) He does not expect his boss to understand, because he can not comprehend feelings of empathy. Rethinking his decision to say that, proves to the reader that Meursault does not know what is right, because he has no real opinions or feelings.
The character of Meursault is different from any other character that is the narrator of a novel. It is hard to understand whether Mersault chooses to not feel emotion because he feels it is easier to then not feel repercussions of his decisions, or if he is incapable of feeling emotion and connecting with other people through emotions. He is a person that goes through the motions of everyday life, but he does not have a response to the events. The title of the book being translated to “the outsider” is tying the beginning of the story together, and probably will continue to evolve throughout the rest of the novel. Meursault explains himself as someone who “just listened” so as to not engage in confrontation with other people, however this stops him from forming connections with others. I am curious to how Meursault evolved to be this way. How do others in his life view him? What is Meursault’s role in their life?
ReplyDeleteIt truly seems like Meursault does not have any emotion to him at all. He just seems like some sort of programmed robot like being with no empathy or sympathy at all. The way that he reacts to great emotional tragedies and events in the novel are quite odd and unusual. During the funeral he describes the people crying as such a foreign and weird concept that he did not quite understand and he even stated that, “ Now it was all these people not making a sound that
ReplyDeletewas getting on my nerves”. He was basically saying that it was the fact that all of the people were crying at a funeral which was actually making him upset and not the fact that his own mother died. He definitely has great observational skills but he is seriously lacking in emotional intelligence. This is also seen when Meursault befriends a man who beats his mistress and helps him get revenge on her. He kind of just goes along with the whole thing and looks upon the whole situation as more of an interesting event and an observational study and not as an emotional and abusive tragedy which is very terrible and disheartening. Meursault is definitely following Existentialism in the sense that he is making all of his own decisions and choices but he just isn't taking responsibility for those actions and isn't thinking those actions through and isn't using his own moral compass (which I don’t even think that he has) to make thoughtful and just decisions. It will be interesting to see how his decision making might change or escalate as he continues to ignore the social cues around him and disregards nearly all normal, human emotion.
I struggle to connect “The Stranger '' to Sartre’s definition of existentialism. For one, I believe Meursault better fits the stereotypical image of an existentialist that Sartre is attempting to dissolve in his 1946 lecture. He is a husk of a character who is completely emotionless and compliant. Just in the first three chapters he shows little reaction to his mother’s death, shows nothing more than pleasure-seeking behavior with Marie Cardona, and shows no sympathy towards the obvious mistreatment of his neighbor’s dog and Raymond’s “girlfriend”. He is so empty of a character that I had to look back to even remember his name. In line with the stereotypical existentialist, Meursault seems to float through life as if he understands his mortal actions hold little consequence to the grander scale of the universe. Sartre addresses peoples’ actions in stating anguish “does not prevent their acting, on the contrary it is the very condition of their action.” Perhaps, in a way, Meursault’s grieving process is more dependent on projecting his anguish for his mother’s death into action, which in his case is simply carrying on with life. I certainly can relate. When I am feeling depressed I try to utilize my sadness as motivation to change.
ReplyDeleteHowever, where I believe “The Stranger” holds few strong connections to existentialism as Sartre defines it, I see more connections to Kafka. In my previous blog posts I discussed the meaning of the word “Kafkaesque” and Kafka’s use of the absurd to call attention to our everyday lives. In class, the day before this assignment was due, some classmates who had already read “The Stranger” expressed their frustration with how passive and undeveloped a character Meursault is. Although I initially saw this as a possible weakness of the story, I realized that for the main character of the story to be such an exaggeratedly blank person must have been a conscious decision by Albert Camus. Mr. Pellerin reinforced this thought by telling us our frustration comes not from the fact that Meursault is reacting incorrectly to his situations, but really that he is reacting differently from how we would react. Just as Kafka used a character’s exaggerated reaction to becoming a bug in “Metamorphosis” to call attention to the smaller absurdities in our lives, Albert Camus does the same with Meursault. In reaction to his passiveness, we introspectively analyze our own thoughts and question why we would react differently.
In the first part, Chapter one, the scene where a nurse tells Meursault that he will get sunstroke if he walks too slowly, but will work up a sweat and catch a chill in church if he walks too quickly, Meursault’s response can be equated to Camus’ opinion on existentialism and the meaning of life. Meursault agrees, thinking, “There was no way out.” I equate this to the popular American phrase, “you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.” Camus comments on the paradoxical nature of life and whether existing, let alone putting in any effort, will truly matter. In chapter two, Meursault muses to himself, "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed." Yet another Sunday is over. His mother is buried, and he must return to work in the morning. He concludes that nothing has changed after all. In another scene, Raymond asks Meursault if he “thought [his mistress] was cheating on him.” He responds with “you can't ever be sure, but [that he] understood his wanting to punish her." His lack of self assurance in his own opinion on the matter relates back to Sartre’s essay in which he said “man will only attain existence when he is what he purposes to be. Not, however, what he may wish to be.” Camus doesn’t give an certain purpose to this man so the question remains is whether he truly exists in his plane of life.
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