One thing I noticed throughout Chapter 1 and 2 was the tone Albert Camus gave Meursault’s diction. Immediately on the first page, Meursault asks for time off work to go to his mother’s funeral and he says, “ I asked my boss for two days off and there was no way he was going to refuse me with an excuse like that. But he wasn’t too happy about it. I even said, “‘It’s not my fault,’” (pg 3). This type of response is a somewhat heartless thing to say when your mother has just died. He does not seem the slightest bit sad over the death of his mother. The narrator’s diction is used to show his heartless and cold personality. The author uses this quote to form a heartless and cold tone. After the funeral, he plans to go back home and 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.” (pg 24). In this quote, he still does not show very much emotion over his mother. He still is thinking about going back to work and moving on with his life. Usually in a time of loss, people tend to take time off of work to grieve over a loved one. I think that these quotes are used especially to show Meursault’s lack of satisfaction in his life. He is not content with what he has or the life he has been living. That is why he does not grieve as much as he should over his mother.
Absolutely, Alisa! It's so out of the realm of what we consider "normal." Why do you think that Camus starts his reader off with an immediate dislike for the main character? Ms. Ballard
I noticed that too. It seems like the death of his mother was not very important or significant in his life. A quote I found to relate to this too is on the first page he said, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know,"(1). In most people's lives a death of a family member is something they remember, but this shows Meursault to not really care. Why do you think that Camus uses this tone towards this death Meursault's mother, and what does this tell us about Meursault? Could this also be somewhat foreshadowing towards his attitude toward the killing later on in the book?
I think that Camus starts the reader with a dislike of the main character because he is trying to says something about Existentialism. Meursalt's extreme indifference toward life shows that he indeed thinks life is meaningless. Yet since he doesn't seem to even make an attempt at giving his life it's own meaning, he confirms that fact, and therefore sets himself up with a meaningless life. This foreshadows his suffering at the end of the book. It seems like Camus is trying to emphasize the importance of finding your own meaning in life.
At first, I thought of the main character as a cold hearted and shallow person who does'nt love his mother the way a normal person would love his/her mother. But as I read further, I realized that Meursault showed little grief over his mother's death not because he doesn't love her, but because he's an existentialist. He believes that life has no meaning and I even if people die, it wouldn't make any difference because no one is significant to him. He sees everyone as meaningless living creatures who have no purpose in life and nothing would change with or without them.
You guys both make good observations! Do you think that he, himself, is actually an existentialist, though? Or is Camus using him as some sort of vehicle?
Also, just to be devil's advocate, in the grand scheme of things, DOES it really matter what day his mom died?
Throughout the book the Stranger, Albert Camus uses Weather, and more specifically heat, light and sun to reflect on Meursault's mood; and later, his actions.In the beginning, we could see how sensitive Meursault is to light. When there is light he turns sour, or drowsy. In the beginning of chapter one, when the caretaker turns on the lights at the mortuary, we can see how the light affects him. Camus writes "I asked him if he could turn off one of the lights. The glare on the white walls was making me drowsy...I didn't pay much attention to him after that....I think I dozed off for a while"(9). He is not concerned about his surroundings at all and is able to fall asleep. He is bothered by the light and he immediately requests to turn them off. But after the caretaker told him he couldn't, Meursault stops paying attention. Later in the story, the author writes, " All around me there was still the glowing countryside flooded with sunlight. The glare from the sky was unbearable...everything seemed to happen so fast, so naturally that don't remember any of it anymore."(16-17). This shows how detached he was from his surroundings. Using words such as "flooded" and "unbearable" Camus shows how powerful the sun is towards him. And by using Meursault's detachment towards his surroundings. I think its interesting how he vividly describes the weather and then say he doesn't remember much, or describes how he feels. That juxtaposition makes the book a bit more interesting to read.a
That's a really good observation, Melanie! Why do you think that Camus does this--aside from making the story more interesting? Do you have any ideas about what that might have to do with existentialism? Ms. Ballard
Ive also noticed how he uses the sun as an excuse, or something to justify his feelings. And since we all die in the end, we can view Meursault as nothing superior than anything/anyone else.
Ive also noticed how he uses the sun as an excuse, or something to justify his feelings. And since we all die in the end, we can view Meursault as nothing superior than anything/anyone else.
Meursault doesn't make a good first impression on the readers because of his insensitivity, lack of simpathy over his mother's death, and child-like way of thinking. He's seems careless and insensitive to what's going on during the funeral when he notices The hearse as "varnished, glossy, and oblong, it reminded [him] of a pencil box" pg. 14. The author's use of comparison of the hearse to the pencil box creates a childish and immature tone because pencil boxes are associated with school. Not only does the pencil box has nothing to do with his mother's death, it makes him sound random as if he has nothing else to think about. On top of that, Meursault has a habit of observing the people at the funeral. For instance, he first saw Monsieur Pérez, and the way Meursault describes him is very comical like on page 15, he said, " his lips were trembling below a nose dotted with blackheads. Strange, floppy, thick-rimmed ears stuck out through his fine, white hair, and I was struck by their blood-red color next to the parlor of his face". Instead of focusing on his dead mother, Meursault instead observes other people's physical features. As if he has nothing to think about his mother, he finds Monsieur Pérez's ear fascinating. This makes Meursault seem insensitive to what is going on and immature for not taking this important moment seriously.
Everyone sees him as insensitive through all of this, but perhaps there is more to him than that. When there is a depressing event taking place, is not the usual instinct to attempt to distract one's mind from such? Noticing that the hearse is similar to a pencil box is probably his attempt to distract himself from that fact that it contains a dead loved one. When in a state of shock, people are either hyper-aware of their surrounds or in a dream-like haze. Meursault appears to be in the former, taking note of is surroundings and all the details. I see these as proof of his sadness and pain over his mother's death, as opposed to how most people see it.
As I read through the first two chapters of this book, a pervasive sense of boredom overcame me. This struck me as odd—even an author lacking the skills necessary to have his or her work studied in a high-level curriculum as IB English should be able to write prose which at least sparks some semblance of interest in the reader. However, I began to understand why the writing was so boring when The Stranger’s main character, Mersault, curtly described a sexual encounter by saying, “I gave her a kiss, but not a good one. She came back to my place” (20). It was when I read this that the boring tone of the entire novel up until that point, created in no small part by the fact that the vast majority of sentences used simple subject-predicate construction, was not evidence of the author’s bad writing but instead evidence of Mersault’s complete detachment from his life. Mersault should at least feel some sort of excitement—he is, after all, getting laid—but instead, he describes his fornication in the same way he later describes turning his chair around because sitting in it backwards felt more comfortable. Mersault even introduces the woman he sleeps with to the reader by saying, “In the water I ran into Marie Cardona, a former typist at the office who I’d had a thing for at the time” (19). By all accounts, having sex with Marie is not something Mersault should be reacting to with sangfroid. But he is. The boring, disinterested tone created throughout the first two chapters and exemplified by Mersault’s sexual encounter has not gone anywhere literarily yet; in the coming chapters, I fully expect Mersault to confront this boredom and come to an existential breakthrough which will attempt to convince me of the glory of existentialism.
I agree with your points! I think the reasoning for giving the narrator such a lack of passion for something that most others would describe in great detail, really drives home one of the points of existentialism: that "I am alone in this world, alienated from everything that attempts to define me". The narrators lack of a connection with his mother, resists the idea that the reader could define him as a son, likewise, with his romantic encounter, there is again a lack of a connection, making it difficult to define the narrator by his relationship with Marie.
In Chapter 1, a quote that particularly stood out to me is one that was said by the nurse to Meursault during the funeral procession through the village. She says, "If you go slowly, you work up getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church" (17). The juxtaposition of the concepts of slow and fast and the conditions associated with each in this context made me stop and ponder the author's purpose in this single quote, eventually concluding a rather meaningful interpretation of the text that goes beyond the literal sense, into the figurative. Taking it literally given the circumstance, the meaning is self-explanatory. A figurative approach, however, offers a more insightfully obscure idea that implicates the inevitability of death. The nurse is practically saying that no matter how you go about it, there is a negative consequence as the result. This is strikingly similar to life itself. No matter what a person does in their life, good or bad, death is there in the end to welcome them and it is a fundamental, defining element to existence that stares at everyone from what may seem at the time quite a distance. Meursault's personal thoughts that follow the nurse's comment, in which he says, "She was right. There was no way out" (17) emphasizes furthermore the inability of anyone to cheat or escape death. Another quote that I found to be of considerable importance is the very last few lines of Chapter 2, which state, "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" (24). In the first two chapters, the reader gets a sense of insensitivity and indifference from Meursault towards the passing of his mother, which strikes the reader as strange or unusual because the normal reaction would be sadness and mourning. Normally death is ignored and seen as this depressing thing no one should ever really dwell upon for too long, but this quote, as well as the many other instances highlighting Meursault's indifference, communicates a tone of nonchalance in regards to death. Perhaps Meursault is so unaffected by the death of his mother not because he had never cared for or loved her, but because he has made a successful effort to accept this final stage of the life cycle, realizing death is natural and that his time will come eventually too. Both these quotes communicate tones of existentialism.
Reading chapter one and two it sparked an interest in me of the indifference Mersault seemingly feels towards his mother's death. Camus characterizes Mersault as a boring man who lives a very gloomy life. At the end of chapter 2 Camus writes, "It occurred to me that somehow I'd got through another sunday, that Mother was buried, and tomorrow I'd be going back to work as usual. Really, in my life nothing has changed." (30) This clearly shows that his Mother was not a big part of his life and the mere passing of her would not abrupt his everyday life. At this point I cannot tell if Mersault is just accepting of the fact his mother is gone or is indifferent about it, what do you think? is he cold hearted and does not care for the incident or is grieving in a way where he has accepted it? Besides the characterization of Mersault I found the writing to be rather dull like Nolan has written above. This really gives the tone to the story and the feelings of dissatisfaction Mersault feels for his life. The one part of interest and randomness in these chapters was the brief sexual encounter with Marie Cardona. "She pressed her leg against mine while we were in the picture house, and I was fondling her breast. Toward the end of the show i kissed her, but rather clumsily." (24) When I read this part of the book it stood out as an abnormal part of Mersault's everyday life, but the language used to describe it was still monotome and brief, which I thought to be very odd.
I find it very strange that Meursault appears to be indifferent to his mother's death. I feel that because Meursault does not express any emotions towards his mother's death, he automatically accepts that she's dead. True, he could be in shock or expressing an unusual form of grieving, but I kind of lean against it because when Meursault is with his mother's friends 'mourning', he gets quite annoyed but every one's movements and sounds and then when they quiet down, "Now it was all these people not making a sound that was getting on my nerves" (11). Anger may be a form of mourning but this just sounds like plain annoyance that seems lacking of any remorse or grief. In terms of the monotone, I too, agree that it makes the story dull. I think this is supposed to represent Meursault's stance as a passive observer. He seems to just observe what others do rather than think about himself or make judgments. This makes for a lack of character in Meursault and the story.
There were two main things that really struck me about the first two chapter: the choppiness of the sentence structure and the author's overwhelming determination to make the reader dislike Meursault. The choppy sentences make it a difficult book to get emotionally involved in. For example, after spending the night with Marie, the narrator doesn't indicate his feelings on the matter saying "Then I smoked a few cigarettes, still in bed, till noon. I didn't feel like having lunch at Celeste's like I usually did because they'd be sure to ask questions and I don't like that." (pg 21) This style of writing conveys a curt tone to the reader, and because it refuses to go deeper into the emotional state of the main character, Meursault, the reader feels disjointed and unconnected to him. I think this could be a big turn-off for people picking the book up for the first time, and I have to applaud Albert Camus for sticking so rigidly to his overall tone of jerky stops and starts. Relating to that, the writer seems to have it out for his main character to be disliked. "leaving a watery film over his ruined face." (Pg 18) and "She was crying softly, steadily, in little sobs......I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore." (Pg 10) show how callous and almost condescending Meursault is even in his personal thoughts. He has little sympathy for anyone and seems to be disconnected emotionally from every scene. Even when describing his mother's funeral, Mersault spends more time describing the trip to the burial site, with Perez taking shortcuts and being out of breath, than his own flesh and blood being put into the ground. This, to me, is very startling, and I would assume that to the average reader it would be as well. It is unusual for the reader to dislike the narrator of a book; usually the narrator is the hero, or has a more justifiable thought process so the reader can understand where they are coming from. However, Meursault's emotions seem harder to crack than a lead egg, if they are even there. I wonder why the writer would choose to portray his main character with such apathy, and I wonder if that foreshadows a later discovery that leads to Meursault discovering himself as a human being?
I agree that I too noticed the choppy sentence structure, but Camus did not write in that style all of the time. When he describes nature, he often uses a lot of detail and imagery. Why do you think this is?
Throughout chapters 1 & 2, Albert Camus shows the characterization of Meursault being uninterested by how he easily gets distracted to his surroundings. In chapter 1, Meursault is in the funeral, and the caretaker starts to talk about himself but his wife interrupts and says, "Hush now, that's not the sort of thing to be telling the gentleman" and Meursault steps in and says, "No, not at all. I thought what he was saying was interesting and made sense," (Camus, 8). When Meursault says that what he was saying was interesting, it shows how he easily is distracted and uninterested to his dead mom who is in the same room as he’s in. The beginning of chapter 2, Meursault says, “As I was waking up, it came to me why my boss had seemed annoyed when I asked him for two days off; today is Saturday. I’d sort of forgotten, but as I was getting up, it came to me.” (Camus, 19), this is said the next morning after his mother's funeral and the exact day they are going to bury her, and yet he wakes up distracted to why his boss seemed upset by the two days he asked off and uninterested to later that day which he will be burying his mother. Can this all just be part of Meursault's grieving?
In the first two chapters, I noticed a characteristic of Camus' writing that I had read about in the group activity last class. Camus tends to use very simple, short declaratory sentences and juxtaposes them with lavish descriptions. For example, after vigil, Meursault narrates, "I was tired. The caretaker took me to his room and I was able to clean up a little," but soon after he states, "Above the hills that separate Marengo from the sea, the sky was streaked with red. And the wind coming over the hills brought the smell of salt with it." (Camus, 12) As I learned, Camus' mixture of simple statements and elaborate filigree serves to illustrate a union of emotion and logic, and we can see that even though Meursault behaves in an apathetic manner towards his mother's death, he can still portray feeling through describing things that evoke a sense of beauty within himself.
In Chapter two, I increasingly noticed the fact that Meursault describes everything around him by relating it to himself. "I had a hard time getting up, because I was tired from the day before. While I was shaving, I wondered what I was going to do and I decided to go for a swim." (Camus, 19) He continually uses "I" statements that show the existentialist view of the individual being alone in the world. It also serves as an emotional barrier between him and others, especially the interactions with Marie Cardona. When describing her thoughts, Meursault says, "She did too, I think," instead of "She did too." (Camus, 19). In other first person novels I've read, when the main character describes other's thoughts making it seem like their own interpretation, the "thought" of the character becomes more real, where in reality, we cannot be sure what the other person is thinking. Because of Camus' extensive use of "I," it not only serves to alienate Meursault from society, but to also focus on his being as an individual among others.
Within the first couple you notice the writing style is somewhat strange. It is from a 1st person view and so you can kind of tell what and how the speaker is feeling by the writing. Something I found to stand out was this guilty feeling that Meursault feels for things that weren't directly his fault or for things that were just natural instinct. This idea of indirect guilt on your conscience think will be a reoccurring idea as the book proceeds. The first sign on this guilt was when the director was talking to about Meursault being the only support of his mother, Meursault think s, " I thought he was criticizing me for something and I started to explain but he cut me off. "You don't have to justify yourself, my dear boy..."(4). This first time stood out to me because he is feeling blame for the death of his mother. we know that his mother's death was not his fault but he feels he needs to justify himself therefore he feels guilt towards the death. We also see Meursault defending or using his natural instinct when someone tries to take his mother's body. It says, "He was moving toward the casket when I stopped him...He was quite. I was embarssed " (6) Naturally, Meursault wants more time with his mother before she is buried but stopping a man from taking her and being somewhat short with him is something he is embarrassed of or feels guilt about the fact that he stopped him. This is an interesting characteristic of Meursault. Meursault is guilty of something he wants and something he deserves; which is a reasonable thing to want. Camus puts this repetition of internal guilt in the first two chapters to convey a message that is carried out in the book about guilt. In class we read about Camus and one of his ideas was that everyone is always guilty in some way. So, Meursault feeling this automatic and instinctual guilt on so many uncontrollable things in his life is an important piece of Camus' craft and overarching messages. With this repeating idea of internal natural guilt show through the interesting writing style of Camus we can further understand the ideas of existentialism that Camus believed.
My first impression of this book is different from any other book that I have read. The narrator’s life seems to be dull and uneventful, yet he has just recently lost his mother. He lacks almost any emotional connection to her; “For now, it’s almost as if Maman weren’t dead. After the funeral, though, the case will be closed, and everything will have a more official feel to it”(3). The narrator doesn’t feel any strong emotion towards his mother at this time but he expects to feel some after the next few days. This contrast a normal response in that a normal person would respond immediately to the tragedy. The narrator’s emotion make him disconnected from the rest of the world. In a similar way, he is unable to understand the point of others; “that still doesn’t keep me from understanding my boss’s point of view”(19). The narrator is alone in the world due to the fact that he can not relate or feel for others. The idea of being alone in the world is a major point to existentialism. The narrator feels detached from the rest of the world because he can not control or relate to any of the events that are going on in his life.
I agree with your observations! Mersaul, the main character, doesn't respond to tragedy like a normal person would. He is rather stoic and prefers to remain cold blooded in situations that require an emotional response. Just like you said, his actions reflect the principles of existentialism due to the fact that the book was written by an existentialist philosopher.
Certain components of Chapter 2 enforce the presence of existentialism in The Stranger by Camus. The narrator, Mersault, seems to live a lifestyle similar to that of existentialist philosophers such as Camus and Sartre. After a night of sex with his co-worker, he wakes up and remembers that "it is Sunday, and that really bothers him because he doesn't like Sundays"(21). This specific statement captures the reader's attention as it follows one of the main principles of existentialism: religion is viewed as philosophical suicide. Mass is held on Sundays, as it is considered a sacred day in the Bible, and the narrator doesn't like Sundays because of such observance. Meresaul isn't afraid to go against popular societal beliefs and he choses to look down upon their weekly routine. He is bothered by such conformity because he doesn't see value in religion, just like most existentialist philosophers, therefore he doesn't value his Sundays. Instead, he "smokes a few cigarettes in bed until noon"(21). Meresaul chooses to smoke tobacco, and ultimately hurt his own health, rather than go to church and revive his lost spirituality. It is ironic in nature the fact that turns to destructive actions in order to feel satisfied. In contrast, a visit to the local church wouldn't poison his lungs and eventually lead him to physical death. Also, in most pictures, Camus is seen smoking a cigarette just like Meresaul does throughout the book. Such similarities further emphasize the importance of existentialism in The Stranger.
Elements of existentialism are prevalent within the first two chapters of "The Stranger". For one, the short declarative statements said by Meursault demonstrate the notion of free will and living life in the present. Such sentences are present in simple statements such as: "I like milk in my coffee, so I said yes, and he came back a few minutes later with a tray. I drank the coffee." (8). Although these sentences are quite simplistic and seemingly undefining, this direct form of writing actually exemplifies the philosophies of extistentialism in that humans are distinct bodily entities existing only in the presence. This quote demonstrates that by showing Meursault's exact thoughts. The writing is in present tense to show that everything that happens, happens in the now. As well as each event, each sentence, is chosen by Meursault as he is independent and of free will. This leads on to the next point: the repetitive use of I throughout the chapters. One of the many instances where I is used is on page 19, where Meusault thinks "I would still have had Saturday and Sunday off anyway. Obviously, that still doesn't keep me from understanding my boss's point of view". Even though this quote doesn't have the most instances of the pronoun "I", this quote does show a good representation of what the "I" means. The many uses of "I" represent the existentialist philosophy of one being alone in the world with everything dependent on oneself. Meursault's inability to empathize with other characters (as shown in the quote) shows how he is dissociated from others and that the only thing that matters to him is his own opinions. Meursault's thoughts and actions are a personification of the philosophies of existentialism as established in the first two chapters.
Throughout the first two chapters of the novel, I couldn't help but notice the way Camus characterizes Meursault was an obvious emotional indifference to most things and events. The novel leads with "Mother died today. Or maybe, yesterday: I can't be sure."(1). It is interesting that his main concern is not that is mother is dead, but is about the day in which she died. By using this as the beginning of the novel, Camus sets a tone for the rest of the book and introduces the existentialist philosophy. Meursault indifference about his mother's death foreshadows his indifference about many other things, like love, laws. and his own life. Meursault is also characterized by his silence and unfazed outer appearance, when listening to Raymond talk about how he beat a girl he "just listened, without speaking".(38). This is interesting because normally people try to engage in conversation, yet he doesn't even make an attempt. Perhaps his glaring indifference makes him feel as if it is pointless to try and talk, because like existentialist would say, people are going to do what their going to do, maybe he feels like no matter what, what he thinks wont make a difference.
I also noticed Mersault's apparent lack of emotional attachment. Like you said, in his situation most people would attempt to make small talk. Camus seems to be trying to convey that constantly trying to engage yourself in the world makes it impossible for you to separate your meaning from it. By listening and being watchful, Mersault puts himself in a situation where he can view the world from an impartial perspective, and therefore extract his own meaning out of the happenings of his life.
In chapter 1 of The Stranger, one thing I found interesting was the description of the nurse. Meursault describes, “ I looked over at the nurse and saw that she had a bandage wrapped around her head just below the eyes. Where her nose should have been, the bandage was flat” (Camus, 7). This is the only major detail of the nurse given besides the fact that she had a colorful scarf. Later on, the white of the bandage becomes the main focal point of the nurse. Camus seems to have added this detail into the story to show how sickness in life is dominant over people. The fact that the two female characters in the book so far are dead or diseased seems to give women the connotation of less importance because they will soon go away. This trend continues into chapter 2 with Marie. Meursault describes, “ She came back to my place. When I woke up, Marie had gone” (Camus 21). Whatever female Meursault has had a relationship with, they seem to leave. His mother, the nurse, and Marie have all left him. Camus uses this trend to continue to point out how in life, people can come and go at any time. With this element, it can be assumed to make moments count which is the reason why Meursault describes women in such detail.
Camus' writing style is representative of existentialism shown through short and simple sentences, juxtaposed with thorough descriptions in the first two chapters of "The Stranger". The narrator, Meursault, who seems to be an existentialist, says really short and declarative sentences; a man of little words. Even though he doesn’t say a lot, everything he says tells a lot about his character and how he views the world. When he asked his boss for two days off of work for his mother’s funeral, he said, “It’s not my fault.” (3). This at first may seem very insensitive of him to say that after his mother’s death, showing no grief about her passing, but on the other hand, he follows the existentialist belief that things happen and we cannot control what happens to us. If we look at it from this viewpoint, the way he responds to his boss seems appropriate even though it may not be the most normal response. Later, Meursault observes the people on the street from his house and also describes the weather, “But the passing clouds had left a hint of rain hanging over the street, which made it look darker.” (23). Usually, a person would not elaborate about the way clouds looked, but it is interesting how Meursault shows such a lack of emotion towards a painful event, his mother’s death, but shows a different kind of emotion towards nature. In class, we learned that Camus had an interest in the beauty of nature and the glory of the moment. Likewise, Meursault found his interest in nature and in a way had an emotional connection to nature to a different extent than how he reacted to his mother’s death. Camus’ descriptions of nature shows his (Camus’s) love for nature but reflects that love of nature onto Meursault with the use of elaborate descriptions. The use of short and simple sentences juxtaposed with elaborate descriptions demonstrates the existentialism writing style executed by Camus.
So far I have really enjoyed chapter one and two. These chapters are very interesting and reveal a lot about the protagonist and novels narrator, Meursault. He is very hard to figure out but I came to the conclusion that he acts very different when it comes to social situations/interaction and emotion. On the first page of the book he says, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure…. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday” (Page 1). He was not genuinely upset about his mother’s passing, he was more concerned about the day she passed. There was no emotional response toward his mother which made it hard to categorize him. Something that I have also noticed that was continuous through both chapters, is the sentence structure. It is very short, precise, and only really says what is thought or done. He does not elaborate on things and just cuts to the point. For example, on page 21 there is a paragraph that is just sentence after sentence. None of them offered much detail and just were stated thoughts. But when he talks about the weather he seems to mention more detail and expansion in chapter two. He likes to relate himself to the weather and the situations he is going through. Does anyone else notice this?
As Mi was previously talking about, the first thing that came into my mind while reading was how childish Meursalt was acting. When Camus writes “I remembered that it was Sunday, and that bothered me: I don’t like Sundays” (21), I immediately thought of a child in church because of the affiliation with Sunday being a holy day. Usually children are not interested in even the thought of going to church because it bores them and I believe that Meursalt expresses this boredom with the association of Sunday being the holy day. Also when reading I couldn’t help but feel frustrated when he constantly focused on everyone other than his deceased mother which also included himself. On pages 10 and 11 we see how annoyed he feels about others grieving when Camus writes “I wished I didn’t have to listen to her anymore” and “Then she finally shut up”. Even after the caretaker explains that the woman was very close to his mother he seems to express no sympathy for her. I also found it ironic that when at a vigil for his dead mother all he cared about was himself, which gives the reader a negative impression on who Meursalt is.
I totally agree with this cass! I think that it could defiantly be related to the holy day and also just like us because we always end up having homework, or even church on Sundays! this was a really good connection. I was also kind of bothered by his moms remarks because he seriously only cared about himself which left a negative impression on me.
After reading chapters one and two, it's clear that Camus is not interested in having a very likable main character. It is also clear that Camus is not interested in this character's life being normal. Instead, I believe he wanted to focus on how human nature deals with absurdity. Throughout the first and second chapters, Mersualt is continuously bombarded by absurd or strange situations. During his mothers vigil, her friends come filing in and do not say a word to Mersault. He realizes that "they were all sitting across from (him), nodding their heads...For a second (he) had the ridiculous feeling that they were there to judge (him)" (Camus, 10). This entire scene is very absurd, with the elderly being described as having huge bulging stomachs and small suckled lips. Camus does this in order to create a dominant effect of strangeness, which helps explore what humans do when confronted with the fact that there is absurdity in the world. In The Stranger, Mersault deals with this by simply accepting it and moving on, which adds to the absurdity because any normal person would say some sort of greeting, but instead not one word is exchanged the whole time. I am interested to see how this absurdity shows itself in the rest of the novel.
In the first two chapters of The Stranger, Albert Camus has placed a lot of emphasis on physical things when regarding Mersault. First, Mersault does not seem to be all that shaken up by the fact that his mother has just passed. He is concerned with how his boss might be mad at him among other things more than he is with the death of his mom. During the trip that he takes in chapter 1, Mersault is much more bothered by the heat he is enduring than by the pain that would usually come by losing a loved one. Mersult states that "My temples were throbbing and I could hardly drag myself along" (p.21). This is clearly a very big burden that has been placed on him, but this is from the heat, the smell of hot leather, whiffs of incense smoke, and sleep deprivation. The lack of emotional distress that Mersault is undergoing I find very uneasy, and very abnormal. Later, on his date with Marie, he describes their encounter in another physical fashion. He says "She pressed her leg against mine while we were in the picture house, and I was fondling her breasts" (pg.24). Camus rarely includes any description of Mersults feelings about her, other than that he liked her. There is no basis of why and there is minimal conversation between them two that is of much substance. All of this gives Mersault a shallow personality. He does not seem to have many deep or intense emotions, he is just going through the motions of everyday life, which appears to have little lasting effect on him. The first two chapters give a message that the world is meaningless and that other than what you can physically touch and feel, not much else matters in the world or to Mersault.
Immediately in Chapter One, Camus sets a tone of estrangement from social norms. Regarding his mother’s death notice, Mersault says, “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” (Camus, 3). The reader right away gets the sense that Mersault is not totally be connected to the reality he is living in. In effect, this allows the reader to view Mersault and his actions from a less judgemental perspective. Mersault is seemingly indifferent to events in his life that would typically be highly emotional, such as the death of his mother. In a usual case, the reader would feel judgemental or even hostile towards Mersault’s apparent lack of empathy or consideration for others. However, Mersault’s immediate disengagement allows the reader to watch his story unfold from viewpoint that allows for consideration of Mersault’s unconventional world outlook. Another clear example of Mersualt’s emotional detachment unfolds at the end of Maman’s funeral, “There was Perez fainting (he crumpled like a rag doll)…” (18). Typically, it would be very easy for the reader to become frustrated, or even angered, by Mersault’s obliviousness to Perez’s suffering. However, Mersult’s lack of attachment is so excessive that it sends a clear message warning against getting caught up in the day-to-day workings of life and forgetting to live. Mersualt cannot change the fact that his mother is dead or that Perez cannot handle the heat of the day. By understanding thathe cannot change the circumstances around him, Mersault is able to detach his own meaning from them and find peace within himself.
In “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, the very first line of the book is “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe. I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday” (Camus 3). It is clear from the very beginning that the main character is very cut off from his emotions. He learns of his Mother's passing and it barely registers in this mind. This first paragraph is structured in very short choppy sentences, representing his apathy. Outside of his emotions, he is also very detached from society as he rarely acknowledges anyone by their name. He simply refers to others as The caretaker, The director, etc. The only instance where he acknowledges someone by name early on is with Thomas Perez after being informed by the director.
Having read over several people's comments, I see the most people are associating Mersault with apathy and a lack of caring when it involves the death of his mother, or anything else really. For example, when he said that telegram “doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” (3), people see it as indifference. However, when in a state of shock, people are either hyper-aware of their surroundings or in a dream-like haze. His appearing to not care or lack of knowledge or drive to find out the information is evidence of his state of of shock. Again, when he sat and "just listened, without speaking" (38), Mersault was still attempting to cope with the death and life itself. The other end of the spectrum, Meursault appears to be in a heightened state of alertness, taking note of his surroundings and all the details. When he was hyper aware and noticed that, on Monsieur Pérez "strange, floppy, thick-rimmed ears stuck out through his fine, white hair, and… blood-red color next to the parlor of his face" (15), he was trying to distract himself. When there is a depressing event taking place, is not the usual instinct to attempt to distract one's mind from such? I see these as proof of his sadness and pain over his mother's death, as opposed to how most people see it - proof of his apathy and indifference.
In the first few chapters of the book The Stranger By Albert Camus the reader is giving an intro into the view of an existentialist mentality. The idea that one man can be so indifferent to his surroundings and feelings, is what really draws our (as readers) attentions in. To the average eye without background knowledge about existentialists Meursault's attitude towards his mothers death almost seems appalling. His last of grief seems to insult his mother's memory. like when he says on page 1 “Maman died today. Or yesterday, I don’t know.” automatically we notice the first line of the book he seems indifferent to the apparent tragedy. Why would Camus write the beginning sentence like this? The answer is actually simple, he is going to give the reader a clear cut piece of Meursault and his lack of emotion. This is to prepare us for novel being centered around a meaningless world. Another time we realize the lack of effect his mother dying caused is on page 16 “..agian I said ‘Yes.’ ‘Was she old?’ I answered ‘Fairly’ because I didn’t know the exact number” This is huge because we see even his lack of knowledge shows the development of Meursault as a character.
In the first two chapters of The Stranger, Albert Camus uses highly descriptive imagery, simple declaratory sentences, and unemotional diction to portray the protagonist's indifference toward all human connections, evoking an increasing sense of moral discomfort in the reader. The opening scene of Chapter 1 is especially impactful because it depicts the narrator, Meursault, as entirely unaffected by the death of his own mother. Meursault's internal monologue before and during Maman's funeral is practical, almost exclusively literal, reacting significantly only to inconveniences; for example, in considering why he hadn't visited Maman more frequently in the year before her death, Meursault complains that “it took up my Sunday – not to mention the trouble of getting to the bus, buying tickets, and spending two hours traveling”, expressing no regret or further justification (5). Camus' fixation on details in these hypotheticals is disturbing to the reader as the hollowness and meaningless routine of Meursault's life becomes apparent – the omission of emotional language leaves behind an uncomfortable void. It is also interesting to note how Camus uses erratic diction and simplified sentence structure to show that (despite its apparently consistent boredom) Meursault's mental state is somewhat unstable or disjointed. For example, when Meursault witnesses Maman's friend's grief, he describes the scene by stating that “We just sat there like that for quite a while...She sniffled a lot. Then finally she shut up” (11). The immediacy of each sentence is disturbing to the reader in these cases; Meursault never pauses to consider anything beyond the superficial aspects of anyone he meets. Overall, the completeness and shallowness with which Meursault describes the scene of his mother's funeral introduces a cold, aimless attitude that invites the reader to wonder whether or not this uniquely heartless man can be saved.
In the first two chapters of "The Stranger," Albert Camus introduces Meursault, an impassive character who does not seem to care for anything. The first chapter starts with Meursault on his way to his mother’s funeral. The first sentences, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (1) are very surprising because this is not how a normal person would respond to their mother’s death. Meursault is very emotionless and seems to not really care for his mother. In the second chapter, Meursault’s unemotional response to everything is apparent. On page 22, Meursault tells the audience, “After them, the street slowly emptied out. The matinees had all started, I guess. The only ones left were the shopkeepers and the cats. The sky was clear but dull above the fig trees lining the street.” Throughout this chapter, Meursault doesn’t seem engaged in his surroundings and just recites what is happening around him. His sentences are brief and lifeless. From these two chapters, all that is apparent to me is that Meursault is an emotionless, uncaring character.
One thing I noticed throughout Chapter 1 and 2 was the tone Albert Camus gave Meursault’s diction. Immediately on the first page, Meursault asks for time off work to go to his mother’s funeral and he says, “ I asked my boss for two days off and there was no way he was going to refuse me with an excuse like that. But he wasn’t too happy about it. I even said, “‘It’s not my fault,’” (pg 3). This type of response is a somewhat heartless thing to say when your mother has just died. He does not seem the slightest bit sad over the death of his mother. The narrator’s diction is used to show his heartless and cold personality. The author uses this quote to form a heartless and cold tone. After the funeral, he plans to go back home and 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.” (pg 24). In this quote, he still does not show very much emotion over his mother. He still is thinking about going back to work and moving on with his life. Usually in a time of loss, people tend to take time off of work to grieve over a loved one. I think that these quotes are used especially to show Meursault’s lack of satisfaction in his life. He is not content with what he has or the life he has been living. That is why he does not grieve as much as he should over his mother.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Alisa! It's so out of the realm of what we consider "normal." Why do you think that Camus starts his reader off with an immediate dislike for the main character?
DeleteMs. Ballard
I noticed that too. It seems like the death of his mother was not very important or significant in his life. A quote I found to relate to this too is on the first page he said, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know,"(1). In most people's lives a death of a family member is something they remember, but this shows Meursault to not really care. Why do you think that Camus uses this tone towards this death Meursault's mother, and what does this tell us about Meursault? Could this also be somewhat foreshadowing towards his attitude toward the killing later on in the book?
DeleteI think that Camus starts the reader with a dislike of the main character because he is trying to says something about Existentialism. Meursalt's extreme indifference toward life shows that he indeed thinks life is meaningless. Yet since he doesn't seem to even make an attempt at giving his life it's own meaning, he confirms that fact, and therefore sets himself up with a meaningless life. This foreshadows his suffering at the end of the book. It seems like Camus is trying to emphasize the importance of finding your own meaning in life.
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ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought of the main character as a cold hearted and shallow person who does'nt love his mother the way a normal person would love his/her mother. But as I read further, I realized that Meursault showed little grief over his mother's death not because he doesn't love her, but because he's an existentialist. He believes that life has no meaning and I even if people die, it wouldn't make any difference because no one is significant to him. He sees everyone as meaningless living creatures who have no purpose in life and nothing would change with or without them.
DeleteYou guys both make good observations! Do you think that he, himself, is actually an existentialist, though? Or is Camus using him as some sort of vehicle?
DeleteAlso, just to be devil's advocate, in the grand scheme of things, DOES it really matter what day his mom died?
Ms. Ballard
Throughout the book the Stranger, Albert Camus uses Weather, and more specifically heat, light and sun to reflect on Meursault's mood; and later, his actions.In the beginning, we could see how sensitive Meursault is to light. When there is light he turns sour, or drowsy. In the beginning of chapter one, when the caretaker turns on the lights at the mortuary, we can see how the light affects him. Camus writes "I asked him if he could turn off one of the lights. The glare on the white walls was making me drowsy...I didn't pay much attention to him after that....I think I dozed off for a while"(9). He is not concerned about his surroundings at all and is able to fall asleep. He is bothered by the light and he immediately requests to turn them off. But after the caretaker told him he couldn't, Meursault stops paying attention. Later in the story, the author writes, " All around me there was still the glowing countryside flooded with sunlight. The glare from the sky was unbearable...everything seemed to happen so fast, so naturally that don't remember any of it anymore."(16-17). This shows how detached he was from his surroundings. Using words such as "flooded" and "unbearable" Camus shows how powerful the sun is towards him. And by using Meursault's detachment towards his surroundings. I think its interesting how he vividly describes the weather and then say he doesn't remember much, or describes how he feels. That juxtaposition makes the book a bit more interesting to read.a
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good observation, Melanie! Why do you think that Camus does this--aside from making the story more interesting? Do you have any ideas about what that might have to do with existentialism?
DeleteMs. Ballard
Ive also noticed how he uses the sun as an excuse, or something to justify his feelings. And since we all die in the end, we can view Meursault as nothing superior than anything/anyone else.
DeleteIve also noticed how he uses the sun as an excuse, or something to justify his feelings. And since we all die in the end, we can view Meursault as nothing superior than anything/anyone else.
DeleteSo why does he use the light and warm as opposed to anything else? Such as some smells and such?
DeleteMeursault doesn't make a good first impression on the readers because of his insensitivity, lack of simpathy over his mother's death, and child-like way of thinking. He's seems careless and insensitive to what's going on during the funeral when he notices The hearse as "varnished, glossy, and oblong, it reminded [him] of a pencil box" pg. 14. The author's use of comparison of the hearse to the pencil box creates a childish and immature tone because pencil boxes are associated with school. Not only does the pencil box has nothing to do with his mother's death, it makes him sound random as if he has nothing else to think about. On top of that, Meursault has a habit of observing the people at the funeral. For instance, he first saw Monsieur Pérez, and the way Meursault describes him is very comical like on page 15, he said, " his lips were trembling below a nose dotted with blackheads. Strange, floppy, thick-rimmed ears stuck out through his fine, white hair, and I was struck by their blood-red color next to the parlor of his face". Instead of focusing on his dead mother, Meursault instead observes other people's physical features. As if he has nothing to think about his mother, he finds Monsieur Pérez's ear fascinating. This makes Meursault seem insensitive to what is going on and immature for not taking this important moment seriously.
ReplyDeleteEveryone sees him as insensitive through all of this, but perhaps there is more to him than that. When there is a depressing event taking place, is not the usual instinct to attempt to distract one's mind from such? Noticing that the hearse is similar to a pencil box is probably his attempt to distract himself from that fact that it contains a dead loved one. When in a state of shock, people are either hyper-aware of their surrounds or in a dream-like haze. Meursault appears to be in the former, taking note of is surroundings and all the details. I see these as proof of his sadness and pain over his mother's death, as opposed to how most people see it.
DeleteAs I read through the first two chapters of this book, a pervasive sense of boredom overcame me. This struck me as odd—even an author lacking the skills necessary to have his or her work studied in a high-level curriculum as IB English should be able to write prose which at least sparks some semblance of interest in the reader. However, I began to understand why the writing was so boring when The Stranger’s main character, Mersault, curtly described a sexual encounter by saying, “I gave her a kiss, but not a good one. She came back to my place” (20). It was when I read this that the boring tone of the entire novel up until that point, created in no small part by the fact that the vast majority of sentences used simple subject-predicate construction, was not evidence of the author’s bad writing but instead evidence of Mersault’s complete detachment from his life. Mersault should at least feel some sort of excitement—he is, after all, getting laid—but instead, he describes his fornication in the same way he later describes turning his chair around because sitting in it backwards felt more comfortable. Mersault even introduces the woman he sleeps with to the reader by saying, “In the water I ran into Marie Cardona, a former typist at the office who I’d had a thing for at the time” (19). By all accounts, having sex with Marie is not something Mersault should be reacting to with sangfroid. But he is. The boring, disinterested tone created throughout the first two chapters and exemplified by Mersault’s sexual encounter has not gone anywhere literarily yet; in the coming chapters, I fully expect Mersault to confront this boredom and come to an existential breakthrough which will attempt to convince me of the glory of existentialism.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points! I think the reasoning for giving the narrator such a lack of passion for something that most others would describe in great detail, really drives home one of the points of existentialism: that "I am alone in this world, alienated from everything that attempts to define me". The narrators lack of a connection with his mother, resists the idea that the reader could define him as a son, likewise, with his romantic encounter, there is again a lack of a connection, making it difficult to define the narrator by his relationship with Marie.
DeleteIn Chapter 1, a quote that particularly stood out to me is one that was said by the nurse to Meursault during the funeral procession through the village. She says, "If you go slowly, you work up getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church" (17). The juxtaposition of the concepts of slow and fast and the conditions associated with each in this context made me stop and ponder the author's purpose in this single quote, eventually concluding a rather meaningful interpretation of the text that goes beyond the literal sense, into the figurative. Taking it literally given the circumstance, the meaning is self-explanatory. A figurative approach, however, offers a more insightfully obscure idea that implicates the inevitability of death. The nurse is practically saying that no matter how you go about it, there is a negative consequence as the result. This is strikingly similar to life itself. No matter what a person does in their life, good or bad, death is there in the end to welcome them and it is a fundamental, defining element to existence that stares at everyone from what may seem at the time quite a distance. Meursault's personal thoughts that follow the nurse's comment, in which he says, "She was right. There was no way out" (17) emphasizes furthermore the inability of anyone to cheat or escape death. Another quote that I found to be of considerable importance is the very last few lines of Chapter 2, which state, "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" (24). In the first two chapters, the reader gets a sense of insensitivity and indifference from Meursault towards the passing of his mother, which strikes the reader as strange or unusual because the normal reaction would be sadness and mourning. Normally death is ignored and seen as this depressing thing no one should ever really dwell upon for too long, but this quote, as well as the many other instances highlighting Meursault's indifference, communicates a tone of nonchalance in regards to death. Perhaps Meursault is so unaffected by the death of his mother not because he had never cared for or loved her, but because he has made a successful effort to accept this final stage of the life cycle, realizing death is natural and that his time will come eventually too. Both these quotes communicate tones of existentialism.
ReplyDeleteReading chapter one and two it sparked an interest in me of the indifference Mersault seemingly feels towards his mother's death. Camus characterizes Mersault as a boring man who lives a very gloomy life. At the end of chapter 2 Camus writes, "It occurred to me that somehow I'd got through another sunday, that Mother was buried, and tomorrow I'd be going back to work as usual. Really, in my life nothing has changed." (30) This clearly shows that his Mother was not a big part of his life and the mere passing of her would not abrupt his everyday life. At this point I cannot tell if Mersault is just accepting of the fact his mother is gone or is indifferent about it, what do you think? is he cold hearted and does not care for the incident or is grieving in a way where he has accepted it? Besides the characterization of Mersault I found the writing to be rather dull like Nolan has written above. This really gives the tone to the story and the feelings of dissatisfaction Mersault feels for his life. The one part of interest and randomness in these chapters was the brief sexual encounter with Marie Cardona. "She pressed her leg against mine while we were in the picture house, and I was fondling her breast. Toward the end of the show i kissed her, but rather clumsily." (24) When I read this part of the book it stood out as an abnormal part of Mersault's everyday life, but the language used to describe it was still monotome and brief, which I thought to be very odd.
ReplyDeleteI find it very strange that Meursault appears to be indifferent to his mother's death. I feel that because Meursault does not express any emotions towards his mother's death, he automatically accepts that she's dead. True, he could be in shock or expressing an unusual form of grieving, but I kind of lean against it because when Meursault is with his mother's friends 'mourning', he gets quite annoyed but every one's movements and sounds and then when they quiet down, "Now it was all these people not making a sound that was getting on my nerves" (11). Anger may be a form of mourning but this just sounds like plain annoyance that seems lacking of any remorse or grief. In terms of the monotone, I too, agree that it makes the story dull. I think this is supposed to represent Meursault's stance as a passive observer. He seems to just observe what others do rather than think about himself or make judgments. This makes for a lack of character in Meursault and the story.
DeleteThere were two main things that really struck me about the first two chapter: the choppiness of the sentence structure and the author's overwhelming determination to make the reader dislike Meursault. The choppy sentences make it a difficult book to get emotionally involved in. For example, after spending the night with Marie, the narrator doesn't indicate his feelings on the matter saying "Then I smoked a few cigarettes, still in bed, till noon. I didn't feel like having lunch at Celeste's like I usually did because they'd be sure to ask questions and I don't like that." (pg 21) This style of writing conveys a curt tone to the reader, and because it refuses to go deeper into the emotional state of the main character, Meursault, the reader feels disjointed and unconnected to him. I think this could be a big turn-off for people picking the book up for the first time, and I have to applaud Albert Camus for sticking so rigidly to his overall tone of jerky stops and starts. Relating to that, the writer seems to have it out for his main character to be disliked. "leaving a watery film over his ruined face." (Pg 18) and "She was crying softly, steadily, in little sobs......I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore." (Pg 10) show how callous and almost condescending Meursault is even in his personal thoughts. He has little sympathy for anyone and seems to be disconnected emotionally from every scene. Even when describing his mother's funeral, Mersault spends more time describing the trip to the burial site, with Perez taking shortcuts and being out of breath, than his own flesh and blood being put into the ground. This, to me, is very startling, and I would assume that to the average reader it would be as well. It is unusual for the reader to dislike the narrator of a book; usually the narrator is the hero, or has a more justifiable thought process so the reader can understand where they are coming from. However, Meursault's emotions seem harder to crack than a lead egg, if they are even there. I wonder why the writer would choose to portray his main character with such apathy, and I wonder if that foreshadows a later discovery that leads to Meursault discovering himself as a human being?
ReplyDeleteI agree that I too noticed the choppy sentence structure, but Camus did not write in that style all of the time. When he describes nature, he often uses a lot of detail and imagery. Why do you think this is?
DeleteThroughout chapters 1 & 2, Albert Camus shows the characterization of Meursault being uninterested by how he easily gets distracted to his surroundings. In chapter 1, Meursault is in the funeral, and the caretaker starts to talk about himself but his wife interrupts and says, "Hush now, that's not the sort of thing to be telling the gentleman" and Meursault steps in and says, "No, not at all. I thought what he was saying was interesting and made sense," (Camus, 8). When Meursault says that what he was saying was interesting, it shows how he easily is distracted and uninterested to his dead mom who is in the same room as he’s in. The beginning of chapter 2, Meursault says, “As I was waking up, it came to me why my boss had seemed annoyed when I asked him for two days off; today is Saturday. I’d sort of forgotten, but as I was getting up, it came to me.” (Camus, 19), this is said the next morning after his mother's funeral and the exact day they are going to bury her, and yet he wakes up distracted to why his boss seemed upset by the two days he asked off and uninterested to later that day which he will be burying his mother. Can this all just be part of Meursault's grieving?
ReplyDeleteIn the first two chapters, I noticed a characteristic of Camus' writing that I had read about in the group activity last class. Camus tends to use very simple, short declaratory sentences and juxtaposes them with lavish descriptions. For example, after vigil, Meursault narrates, "I was tired. The caretaker took me to his room and I was able to clean up a little," but soon after he states, "Above the hills that separate Marengo from the sea, the sky was streaked with red. And the wind coming over the hills brought the smell of salt with it." (Camus, 12) As I learned, Camus' mixture of simple statements and elaborate filigree serves to illustrate a union of emotion and logic, and we can see that even though Meursault behaves in an apathetic manner towards his mother's death, he can still portray feeling through describing things that evoke a sense of beauty within himself.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter two, I increasingly noticed the fact that Meursault describes everything around him by relating it to himself. "I had a hard time getting up, because I was tired from the day before. While I was shaving, I wondered what I was going to do and I decided to go for a swim." (Camus, 19) He continually uses "I" statements that show the existentialist view of the individual being alone in the world. It also serves as an emotional barrier between him and others, especially the interactions with Marie Cardona. When describing her thoughts, Meursault says, "She did too, I think," instead of "She did too." (Camus, 19). In other first person novels I've read, when the main character describes other's thoughts making it seem like their own interpretation, the "thought" of the character becomes more real, where in reality, we cannot be sure what the other person is thinking. Because of Camus' extensive use of "I," it not only serves to alienate Meursault from society, but to also focus on his being as an individual among others.
Within the first couple you notice the writing style is somewhat strange. It is from a 1st person view and so you can kind of tell what and how the speaker is feeling by the writing. Something I found to stand out was this guilty feeling that Meursault feels for things that weren't directly his fault or for things that were just natural instinct. This idea of indirect guilt on your conscience think will be a reoccurring idea as the book proceeds. The first sign on this guilt was when the director was talking to about Meursault being the only support of his mother, Meursault think s, " I thought he was criticizing me for something and I started to explain but he cut me off. "You don't have to justify yourself, my dear boy..."(4). This first time stood out to me because he is feeling blame for the death of his mother. we know that his mother's death was not his fault but he feels he needs to justify himself therefore he feels guilt towards the death. We also see Meursault defending or using his natural instinct when someone tries to take his mother's body. It says, "He was moving toward the casket when I stopped him...He was quite. I was embarssed " (6) Naturally, Meursault wants more time with his mother before she is buried but stopping a man from taking her and being somewhat short with him is something he is embarrassed of or feels guilt about the fact that he stopped him. This is an interesting characteristic of Meursault. Meursault is guilty of something he wants and something he deserves; which is a reasonable thing to want. Camus puts this repetition of internal guilt in the first two chapters to convey a message that is carried out in the book about guilt. In class we read about Camus and one of his ideas was that everyone is always guilty in some way. So, Meursault feeling this automatic and instinctual guilt on so many uncontrollable things in his life is an important piece of Camus' craft and overarching messages. With this repeating idea of internal natural guilt show through the interesting writing style of Camus we can further understand the ideas of existentialism that Camus believed.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of this book is different from any other book that I have read. The narrator’s life seems to be dull and uneventful, yet he has just recently lost his mother. He lacks almost any emotional connection to her; “For now, it’s almost as if Maman weren’t dead. After the funeral, though, the case will be closed, and everything will have a more official feel to it”(3). The narrator doesn’t feel any strong emotion towards his mother at this time but he expects to feel some after the next few days. This contrast a normal response in that a normal person would respond immediately to the tragedy. The narrator’s emotion make him disconnected from the rest of the world. In a similar way, he is unable to understand the point of others; “that still doesn’t keep me from understanding my boss’s point of view”(19). The narrator is alone in the world due to the fact that he can not relate or feel for others. The idea of being alone in the world is a major point to existentialism. The narrator feels detached from the rest of the world because he can not control or relate to any of the events that are going on in his life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your observations! Mersaul, the main character, doesn't respond to tragedy like a normal person would. He is rather stoic and prefers to remain cold blooded in situations that require an emotional response. Just like you said, his actions reflect the principles of existentialism due to the fact that the book was written by an existentialist philosopher.
DeleteCertain components of Chapter 2 enforce the presence of existentialism in The Stranger by Camus. The narrator, Mersault, seems to live a lifestyle similar to that of existentialist philosophers such as Camus and Sartre. After a night of sex with his co-worker, he wakes up and remembers that "it is Sunday, and that really bothers him because he doesn't like Sundays"(21). This specific statement captures the reader's attention as it follows one of the main principles of existentialism: religion is viewed as philosophical suicide. Mass is held on Sundays, as it is considered a sacred day in the Bible, and the narrator doesn't like Sundays because of such observance. Meresaul isn't afraid to go against popular societal beliefs and he choses to look down upon their weekly routine. He is bothered by such conformity because he doesn't see value in religion, just like most existentialist philosophers, therefore he doesn't value his Sundays. Instead, he "smokes a few cigarettes in bed until noon"(21). Meresaul chooses to smoke tobacco, and ultimately hurt his own health, rather than go to church and revive his lost spirituality. It is ironic in nature the fact that turns to destructive actions in order to feel satisfied. In contrast, a visit to the local church wouldn't poison his lungs and eventually lead him to physical death. Also, in most pictures, Camus is seen smoking a cigarette just like Meresaul does throughout the book. Such similarities further emphasize the importance of existentialism in The Stranger.
ReplyDeleteElements of existentialism are prevalent within the first two chapters of "The Stranger". For one, the short declarative statements said by Meursault demonstrate the notion of free will and living life in the present. Such sentences are present in simple statements such as: "I like milk in my coffee, so I said yes, and he came back a few minutes later with a tray. I drank the coffee." (8). Although these sentences are quite simplistic and seemingly undefining, this direct form of writing actually exemplifies the philosophies of extistentialism in that humans are distinct bodily entities existing only in the presence. This quote demonstrates that by showing Meursault's exact thoughts. The writing is in present tense to show that everything that happens, happens in the now. As well as each event, each sentence, is chosen by Meursault as he is independent and of free will. This leads on to the next point: the repetitive use of I throughout the chapters. One of the many instances where I is used is on page 19, where Meusault thinks "I would still have had Saturday and Sunday off anyway. Obviously, that still doesn't keep me from understanding my boss's point of view". Even though this quote doesn't have the most instances of the pronoun "I", this quote does show a good representation of what the "I" means. The many uses of "I" represent the existentialist philosophy of one being alone in the world with everything dependent on oneself. Meursault's inability to empathize with other characters (as shown in the quote) shows how he is dissociated from others and that the only thing that matters to him is his own opinions. Meursault's thoughts and actions are a personification of the philosophies of existentialism as established in the first two chapters.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the first two chapters of the novel, I couldn't help but notice the way Camus characterizes Meursault was an obvious emotional indifference to most things and events. The novel leads with "Mother died today. Or maybe, yesterday: I can't be sure."(1). It is interesting that his main concern is not that is mother is dead, but is about the day in which she died. By using this as the beginning of the novel, Camus sets a tone for the rest of the book and introduces the existentialist philosophy. Meursault indifference about his mother's death foreshadows his indifference about many other things, like love, laws. and his own life. Meursault is also characterized by his silence and unfazed outer appearance, when listening to Raymond talk about how he beat a girl he "just listened, without speaking".(38). This is interesting because normally people try to engage in conversation, yet he doesn't even make an attempt. Perhaps his glaring indifference makes him feel as if it is pointless to try and talk, because like existentialist would say, people are going to do what their going to do, maybe he feels like no matter what, what he thinks wont make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed Mersault's apparent lack of emotional attachment. Like you said, in his situation most people would attempt to make small talk. Camus seems to be trying to convey that constantly trying to engage yourself in the world makes it impossible for you to separate your meaning from it. By listening and being watchful, Mersault puts himself in a situation where he can view the world from an impartial perspective, and therefore extract his own meaning out of the happenings of his life.
DeleteIn chapter 1 of The Stranger, one thing I found interesting was the description of the nurse. Meursault describes, “ I looked over at the nurse and saw that she had a bandage wrapped around her head just below the eyes. Where her nose should have been, the bandage was flat” (Camus, 7). This is the only major detail of the nurse given besides the fact that she had a colorful scarf. Later on, the white of the bandage becomes the main focal point of the nurse. Camus seems to have added this detail into the story to show how sickness in life is dominant over people. The fact that the two female characters in the book so far are dead or diseased seems to give women the connotation of less importance because they will soon go away. This trend continues into chapter 2 with Marie. Meursault describes, “ She came back to my place. When I woke up, Marie had gone” (Camus 21). Whatever female Meursault has had a relationship with, they seem to leave. His mother, the nurse, and Marie have all left him. Camus uses this trend to continue to point out how in life, people can come and go at any time. With this element, it can be assumed to make moments count which is the reason why Meursault describes women in such detail.
ReplyDeleteCamus' writing style is representative of existentialism shown through short and simple sentences, juxtaposed with thorough descriptions in the first two chapters of "The Stranger". The narrator, Meursault, who seems to be an existentialist, says really short and declarative sentences; a man of little words. Even though he doesn’t say a lot, everything he says tells a lot about his character and how he views the world. When he asked his boss for two days off of work for his mother’s funeral, he said, “It’s not my fault.” (3). This at first may seem very insensitive of him to say that after his mother’s death, showing no grief about her passing, but on the other hand, he follows the existentialist belief that things happen and we cannot control what happens to us. If we look at it from this viewpoint, the way he responds to his boss seems appropriate even though it may not be the most normal response. Later, Meursault observes the people on the street from his house and also describes the weather, “But the passing clouds had left a hint of rain hanging over the street, which made it look darker.” (23). Usually, a person would not elaborate about the way clouds looked, but it is interesting how Meursault shows such a lack of emotion towards a painful event, his mother’s death, but shows a different kind of emotion towards nature. In class, we learned that Camus had an interest in the beauty of nature and the glory of the moment. Likewise, Meursault found his interest in nature and in a way had an emotional connection to nature to a different extent than how he reacted to his mother’s death. Camus’ descriptions of nature shows his (Camus’s) love for nature but reflects that love of nature onto Meursault with the use of elaborate descriptions. The use of short and simple sentences juxtaposed with elaborate descriptions demonstrates the existentialism writing style executed by Camus.
ReplyDeleteSo far I have really enjoyed chapter one and two. These chapters are very interesting and reveal a lot about the protagonist and novels narrator, Meursault. He is very hard to figure out but I came to the conclusion that he acts very different when it comes to social situations/interaction and emotion. On the first page of the book he says, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure…. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday” (Page 1). He was not genuinely upset about his mother’s passing, he was more concerned about the day she passed. There was no emotional response toward his mother which made it hard to categorize him. Something that I have also noticed that was continuous through both chapters, is the sentence structure. It is very short, precise, and only really says what is thought or done. He does not elaborate on things and just cuts to the point. For example, on page 21 there is a paragraph that is just sentence after sentence. None of them offered much detail and just were stated thoughts. But when he talks about the weather he seems to mention more detail and expansion in chapter two. He likes to relate himself to the weather and the situations he is going through. Does anyone else notice this?
ReplyDeleteAs Mi was previously talking about, the first thing that came into my mind while reading was how childish Meursalt was acting. When Camus writes “I remembered that it was Sunday, and that bothered me: I don’t like Sundays” (21), I immediately thought of a child in church because of the affiliation with Sunday being a holy day. Usually children are not interested in even the thought of going to church because it bores them and I believe that Meursalt expresses this boredom with the association of Sunday being the holy day. Also when reading I couldn’t help but feel frustrated when he constantly focused on everyone other than his deceased mother which also included himself. On pages 10 and 11 we see how annoyed he feels about others grieving when Camus writes “I wished I didn’t have to listen to her anymore” and “Then she finally shut up”. Even after the caretaker explains that the woman was very close to his mother he seems to express no sympathy for her. I also found it ironic that when at a vigil for his dead mother all he cared about was himself, which gives the reader a negative impression on who Meursalt is.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this cass! I think that it could defiantly be related to the holy day and also just like us because we always end up having homework, or even church on Sundays! this was a really good connection. I was also kind of bothered by his moms remarks because he seriously only cared about himself which left a negative impression on me.
DeleteAfter reading chapters one and two, it's clear that Camus is not interested in having a very likable main character. It is also clear that Camus is not interested in this character's life being normal. Instead, I believe he wanted to focus on how human nature deals with absurdity. Throughout the first and second chapters, Mersualt is continuously bombarded by absurd or strange situations. During his mothers vigil, her friends come filing in and do not say a word to Mersault. He realizes that "they were all sitting across from (him), nodding their heads...For a second (he) had the ridiculous feeling that they were there to judge (him)" (Camus, 10). This entire scene is very absurd, with the elderly being described as having huge bulging stomachs and small suckled lips. Camus does this in order to create a dominant effect of strangeness, which helps explore what humans do when confronted with the fact that there is absurdity in the world. In The Stranger, Mersault deals with this by simply accepting it and moving on, which adds to the absurdity because any normal person would say some sort of greeting, but instead not one word is exchanged the whole time. I am interested to see how this absurdity shows itself in the rest of the novel.
ReplyDeleteIn the first two chapters of The Stranger, Albert Camus has placed a lot of emphasis on physical things when regarding Mersault. First, Mersault does not seem to be all that shaken up by the fact that his mother has just passed. He is concerned with how his boss might be mad at him among other things more than he is with the death of his mom. During the trip that he takes in chapter 1, Mersault is much more bothered by the heat he is enduring than by the pain that would usually come by losing a loved one. Mersult states that "My temples were throbbing and I could hardly drag myself along" (p.21). This is clearly a very big burden that has been placed on him, but this is from the heat, the smell of hot leather, whiffs of incense smoke, and sleep deprivation. The lack of emotional distress that Mersault is undergoing I find very uneasy, and very abnormal. Later, on his date with Marie, he describes their encounter in another physical fashion. He says "She pressed her leg against mine while we were in the picture house, and I was fondling her breasts" (pg.24). Camus rarely includes any description of Mersults feelings about her, other than that he liked her. There is no basis of why and there is minimal conversation between them two that is of much substance. All of this gives Mersault a shallow personality. He does not seem to have many deep or intense emotions, he is just going through the motions of everyday life, which appears to have little lasting effect on him. The first two chapters give a message that the world is meaningless and that other than what you can physically touch and feel, not much else matters in the world or to Mersault.
ReplyDeleteImmediately in Chapter One, Camus sets a tone of estrangement from social norms. Regarding his mother’s death notice, Mersault says, “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” (Camus, 3). The reader right away gets the sense that Mersault is not totally be connected to the reality he is living in. In effect, this allows the reader to view Mersault and his actions from a less judgemental perspective. Mersault is seemingly indifferent to events in his life that would typically be highly emotional, such as the death of his mother. In a usual case, the reader would feel judgemental or even hostile towards Mersault’s apparent lack of empathy or consideration for others. However, Mersault’s immediate disengagement allows the reader to watch his story unfold from viewpoint that allows for consideration of Mersault’s unconventional world outlook. Another clear example of Mersualt’s emotional detachment unfolds at the end of Maman’s funeral, “There was Perez fainting (he crumpled like a rag doll)…” (18). Typically, it would be very easy for the reader to become frustrated, or even angered, by Mersault’s obliviousness to Perez’s suffering. However, Mersult’s lack of attachment is so excessive that it sends a clear message warning against getting caught up in the day-to-day workings of life and forgetting to live. Mersualt cannot change the fact that his mother is dead or that Perez cannot handle the heat of the day. By understanding thathe cannot change the circumstances around him, Mersault is able to detach his own meaning from them and find peace within himself.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, the very first line of the book is “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe. I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday” (Camus 3). It is clear from the very beginning that the main character is very cut off from his emotions. He learns of his Mother's passing and it barely registers in this mind. This first paragraph is structured in very short choppy sentences, representing his apathy. Outside of his emotions, he is also very detached from society as he rarely acknowledges anyone by their name. He simply refers to others as The caretaker, The director, etc. The only instance where he acknowledges someone by name early on is with Thomas Perez after being informed by the director.
ReplyDeleteHaving read over several people's comments, I see the most people are associating Mersault with apathy and a lack of caring when it involves the death of his mother, or anything else really. For example, when he said that telegram “doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” (3), people see it as indifference. However, when in a state of shock, people are either hyper-aware of their surroundings or in a dream-like haze. His appearing to not care or lack of knowledge or drive to find out the information is evidence of his state of of shock. Again, when he sat and "just listened, without speaking" (38), Mersault was still attempting to cope with the death and life itself.
ReplyDeleteThe other end of the spectrum, Meursault appears to be in a heightened state of alertness, taking note of his surroundings and all the details. When he was hyper aware and noticed that, on Monsieur Pérez "strange, floppy, thick-rimmed ears stuck out through his fine, white hair, and… blood-red color next to the parlor of his face" (15), he was trying to distract himself.
When there is a depressing event taking place, is not the usual instinct to attempt to distract one's mind from such? I see these as proof of his sadness and pain over his mother's death, as opposed to how most people see it - proof of his apathy and indifference.
ReplyDeleteIn the first few chapters of the book The Stranger By Albert Camus the reader is giving an intro into the view of an existentialist mentality. The idea that one man can be so indifferent to his surroundings and feelings, is what really draws our (as readers) attentions in. To the average eye without background knowledge about existentialists Meursault's attitude towards his mothers death almost seems appalling. His last of grief seems to insult his mother's memory. like when he says on page 1 “Maman died today. Or yesterday, I don’t know.” automatically we notice the first line of the book he seems indifferent to the apparent tragedy. Why would Camus write the beginning sentence like this? The answer is actually simple, he is going to give the reader a clear cut piece of Meursault and his lack of emotion. This is to prepare us for novel being centered around a meaningless world. Another time we realize the lack of effect his mother dying caused is on page 16 “..agian I said ‘Yes.’ ‘Was she old?’ I answered ‘Fairly’ because I didn’t know the exact number” This is huge because we see even his lack of knowledge shows the development of Meursault as a character.
In the first two chapters of The Stranger, Albert Camus uses highly descriptive imagery, simple declaratory sentences, and unemotional diction to portray the protagonist's indifference toward all human connections, evoking an increasing sense of moral discomfort in the reader. The opening scene of Chapter 1 is especially impactful because it depicts the narrator, Meursault, as entirely unaffected by the death of his own mother. Meursault's internal monologue before and during Maman's funeral is practical, almost exclusively literal, reacting significantly only to inconveniences; for example, in considering why he hadn't visited Maman more frequently in the year before her death, Meursault complains that “it took up my Sunday – not to mention the trouble of getting to the bus, buying tickets, and spending two hours traveling”, expressing no regret or further justification (5). Camus' fixation on details in these hypotheticals is disturbing to the reader as the hollowness and meaningless routine of Meursault's life becomes apparent – the omission of emotional language leaves behind an uncomfortable void. It is also interesting to note how Camus uses erratic diction and simplified sentence structure to show that (despite its apparently consistent boredom) Meursault's mental state is somewhat unstable or disjointed. For example, when Meursault witnesses Maman's friend's grief, he describes the scene by stating that “We just sat there like that for quite a while...She sniffled a lot. Then finally she shut up” (11). The immediacy of each sentence is disturbing to the reader in these cases; Meursault never pauses to consider anything beyond the superficial aspects of anyone he meets. Overall, the completeness and shallowness with which Meursault describes the scene of his mother's funeral introduces a cold, aimless attitude that invites the reader to wonder whether or not this uniquely heartless man can be saved.
ReplyDeleteIn the first two chapters of "The Stranger," Albert Camus introduces Meursault, an impassive character who does not seem to care for anything. The first chapter starts with Meursault on his way to his mother’s funeral. The first sentences, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (1) are very surprising because this is not how a normal person would respond to their mother’s death. Meursault is very emotionless and seems to not really care for his mother. In the second chapter, Meursault’s unemotional response to everything is apparent. On page 22, Meursault tells the audience, “After them, the street slowly emptied out. The matinees had all started, I guess. The only ones left were the shopkeepers and the cats. The sky was clear but dull above the fig trees lining the street.” Throughout this chapter, Meursault doesn’t seem engaged in his surroundings and just recites what is happening around him. His sentences are brief and lifeless. From these two chapters, all that is apparent to me is that Meursault is an emotionless, uncaring character.
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