Meursault is eventually convicted and sentenced to death because of his inability to conform to the societal expectations of French Algeria in the 1940’s. 3. Characters: Meursault- the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Meursault is a young shipping clerk who has detached himself from the world around him. He is indifferent
The heat is also very important in this novel. Both times that death was in front of Meursault, the heat was unbearable for him; his mother’s funeral and the murder of the Arab. The heat is very uncomfortable for him, because he mentions it many times. Sometimes it is so bad, he becomes dizzy and is unable to think properly. When he is in court, every time he is questioned about the murder, he alway relates back to how hot the scene was.
(3), suggest that Meursault was not very close to his mother. These two sentences are the first impressions of Meursault. This point it is where readers can notice something is indeed wrong with him. The disconnection between Meursault and his mother provokes a hatred towards Meursault, especially from the prosecutor. The prosecutor argues against Meursault for his relationship with his mother than for his actual crime.
Meursault is not an emotional person. Meursault often seems not to react to major events that happen to him. For example when his mom dies, he says, “Really, nothing had changed”(24). There is an obvious emotional disconnect. Either he was not close to his mother or her death had little to no effect on him.
The argument of these chapters of A Year of Magical Thinking focus on how we perceive we would deal with grief/death, and how Joan Didion actually deals with. It also covers the fact that moving forward with life, after a death, has to be a conscious decision. Also, it is a decision that can only be made by those who are grieveing. (Didion, 2005) I agree with the fact that grief is an abstract topic.
16. Reread page 114 very carefully before answering the following question: Does Meursault care about dying at this point in his life? Yes, Meursault does care about his death while waiting to see if his appeal has been approved or not. This is evidenced by his thought process of rationalizing and coming to peace with the possibility of dying.
In Albert Camus’s “The Stranger,” Camus presents his existentialistic absurdist views in multiple ways throughout the novel; however, in one instance Camus uses imagery dealing with the sun and sky to articulate his philosophy further. Moreover, if such detail were left out, the reader would be faced with a seemingly incomplete philosophy and a futile understanding of Camus’s thinking, thus, leaving “The Stranger,” thematically flat. As an absurdist, Camus believed that intrinsic meaning in life is impossible. Seemingly depressing; however, Camus would argue that suicide or implementation of say religion is a fallacy.
Through the use of diction, Meursault perceives life is meaningless, which leads him to have the absence of strong bonding with acquaintance around him. He indicates that he lacks empathy from personal and social level. Meursault is a simple man who lives his life in a stickler type and changes annoy him. As the novel introduces Meursault mother being dead, he shows lack of concern and a burden to visit his mother for the last time. “Maman died today...
[Camus 3]. First Meursault doesn’t know what date his mother died, showing him that he is submissive to find out which date she actually dies, he just doesn’t give effort in the things he does. Albert Camus shows Meursault’s insignificance feelings and actions to his mother and as he sends her away and when she dies, he doesn’t care and is disrupted by her and her presence. Another way Meursault shows the unimportance of women is Marie’s relationship. He shows is imbalanced relationship with Marie through his lack of love and emotion towards her.
Many of Meursault’s actions are due to his physical needs such as eating when he is hungry, sleeping or drinking coffee when he his tired, and making love with Marie or smoking cigars when he desires a physical pleasure. Similar to animals, Meursault’s physical demands impact his actions. When Meursault is tired, he fails to be engaged in anything that happens around him. Meursault describes attending Maman’s funeral being half awake saying that ”[his] physical needs often [get] in the way of [his] feelings” (65). Camus incorporates repetition of Meursault’s hunger, fatigue, and his sex drive more frequently than human-like desires (such as love, wealth, power, or status) to emphasize the portrayal of Meursault being
Many people live life with a purpose while others live life with the purpose that everyone dies eventually. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the main character, Meursault expresses his belief in life being meaningless due to his actions and thoughts towards his everyday life until he faces death. Meursault’s character conveys to having no importance in the world. As a man, he reveals no emotions or feelings towards anything. Everything and everyone surrounding his life means nothing.
(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.
The novel starts with the passing of Meursault's Maman(Mother). Despite the fact that he goes to the funeral, he doesn't demand to see the body, in fact, he
Their inability to connect with him stems from Meursault 's distinctive behaviour that is not influenced by society. This individualism instils dread in the jury. According to society, an individual such as Meursault, who is authentic and not shaped by society, has no place on Earth. And so, because it is a jury, filled with biased humans, that convicts the defendant, there is injustice in the justice system. As a result of the fallibility of the court of law,
“Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” (Camus 1) If someone were to say this in our world, it would be condemned, and the person would be thought of telling a sick joke or having even a mental problem. In reference to an absurd world, though, this usage of extremist ideals about death can better explain the concept and how it is seen by the writer.
