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
He compares his father’s appearance and that he hardly recognizes the father he once knew before his mother died. Towards the end of the book, he isn’t AS annoying, but now he’s super sappy towards everyone and I find it to be too much of a blatant good/evil resolution. “It’s perfect,” he marveled. “I still
Throughout the text, he demonstrates uncontrollable fits of anger and aggressiveness. The most blatant perhaps was his brutal attack on the nurse at the closing of the book. Although a strong argument could be made that she deserved it, the attack undoubtedly shows his aggressive tendencies. However even after he tries to literally choke her, the readers (myself included) pitied him. Not the nurse who had been brutally attacked, but rather, her attacker.
He experiences feelings of a normal human being, he just doesn't know how to channel these emotions. What society wants from anyone is repression and that is not something the Creature is able to bestow. His unconscious mind plays a major role in this novel and effects his life drastically. He is unable to function normally when all he really desires is to be normal. The loneliness the Creature faces does not allow him to be a normal human being nor live a normal life.
Right away the death of Meursault’s mother joined with other very random occurrences seem to be everyday occurrences. Once again I noticed the similarities of the two main characters of the book, acting as if all the events in their lives seem to be normal. Meursault views life so simply, despite its irregularity. This can be seen in the quote in which he talks about life, “I said that people never change their lives, that in any case on life was as good as another and that I was not dissatisfied with mine her at all”. He really exerts no emotion towards anything in this life.
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.
He becomes emotionally close with these people and doesn't show a disdain for those he meets. Despite this, he rejects them and prefers to be alone without people. He chooses to live a life without
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.
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...
This Meursault creates a careless tone by saying “That doesn't be anything”. Mersual seems like he doesn't care about his mother's death. If mersual were me I would care so much about my mother's death but in this case I wonder why he doesn't feel the need to care. I wonder why Meursault changed his mind on the women he loved when she asked. In the book he talks about how much he loves her and describes her in a romantic way.
When I first read these lines, I was shocked by how Meursault answers to Marie with little emotion or empathy. Meursault telling Marie in full honesty that marrying her or someone else does not mean anything to him starts to show Meursault's indifference in society. Although honesty is important in relationships, it is not immediately used if emotions are at risk. However, instead of thinking about what he has to say and how it will affect others, Meursault genuinely says what he feels at the present moment, showing his ignorance in situations. Therefore, I was surprised at how Marie still remains in a relationship with Meursault, despite knowing that Meursault does not truly love her.
Meursault also strays from the morals society has imposed; he does not see a difference between bad and good; he merely observes without judging. However, when Meursault kills an Arab, he is brutally judged for the aspects that make him unique. In the second part of the novel, as the trial
Is religious faith normal, natural, or desirable? Does it serve an important function in the life of man, or is it, rather, an aggregation of pernicious superstitions, designed to soothe timid souls and blind man to truth by retarding his development? A thousand treatises, setting sail on oceans of ink, have been penned in response to these questions. I personally have argued that religious faith is a necessary part of civilization, and an indispensable tool in the cultivation and taming of the wild individual ego.
The philosophical theory of absurdism aids Meursault in The Stranger to grow as a character and develop meaning in his absurd life, specifically Meursault’s decision to shoot the Arab and the relationship he has with his mother. After Meursault’s realization that life is absurd due to the inevitability of death, he decides to shoot the Arab, to create meaning in his life. When Meursault was introduced in The Stranger, he thought like a nihilist and believed “all alike would be condemned to die one day…since it all came to the same thing in the end” (Camus 75). He views the world as meaningless because he repeats the same routine every
Also, Meursault doesn’t lie because he doesn't feel the need to, so he is digging his hole deeper and deeper instead of helping himself. He believes that whatever happens is suppose to happen and he can’t change or control his life. Meursault fully accepts the absurdist idea that the universe is indifferent. This is a way that Meursault is compared to the universe, they are both indifferent. Meursault realizes that nothing he does will effect the universe, nothing will change when he dies.
