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Marie And Meursault In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

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Marie and L’Étranger Famous actor George Chakiris once said, “No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible”. He illustrates how there is a sort of heterogeneity between emotions of darkness and the feelings of hope and love. Similarly, in the existentialist novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the story is told of Meursault, an indifferent introverted man said to be on a quest for hope and purpose. Meursault takes on a love interest by the name of Marie. Whereas Meursault is cold and nonchalant, Marie tends to be hopeful and loving. Marie’s role in The Stranger is to provide hope for Meursault and an emotional contrast to him through their descriptions of each other and their dialogues about love. Camus hints at the theme of emotional meaninglessness through …show more content…

Camus says, “She asked me if I loved her. I said that sort of question had no meaning” (44). First Meursault barely blinks when his mom dies and now he won’t say I love you to his girlfriend. This also demonstrates the extent of the hopefulness of Marie versus the hopelessness of Meursault. Whereas even after this Marie continues to try to make her and Meursault work, Meursault is shown to be lost, cold, and angry. Marie pulls out of Meursault his internal darkness and it stands out so starkly against her own gentle nature. George Makari writes in his literary analysis The Last 4 Shots: Problems of Intention and Camus’s ‘The Stranger: Is Meursault trapped in an emotional prison of narcissistic love/ object indifference? His relationship with his lover, Marie, supports this contention. Meursault coolly informs Marie that marrying her would mean no more or less to him than marrying any other woman. Marie "murmurs some thing about my being a 'queer fellow '. 'And I dare say that 's why I love you ' she adds. 'But maybe that 's why one day I 'll come to hate you"

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