due date: Friday, November 16th, 2:30 p.m.
Grading Criteria: See Open Response
40 points: Quality of Response, Use of Evidence, Analysis of Evidence, & Conventions
Directions: 1. Directly respond to something someone said in class. It helps to start with something like "When Blank was speaking, he (or she) mentioned that (paraphrase or quote extensively from your notes). . ." and then continue the dialogue in writing. Again, I am looking for depth with these posts (and they should probably be 300-500 words). Make sure to include page numbers. SAY SOMETHING NEW!
Period 1 post here Period 1 post here Period 1 post here
20 comments:
According to Casey, Meursault showed a lack of emotion. It constantly seemed as though nothing affected him, and he definitely displayed a lack of actual grieving of his mother's death, and spent most of his appropriate grieving time with Marie. I found it to be rather odd that even when confronted about his mother by Marie, he still showed a complete lack of sadness over his mother.
This passage is taken from the part of the book in which Meursault's mother had just died, and the funeral had taken place only the day before. In this passage, Meursault and Marie and at the pool, and he had basically forgotten about his mothers death.
"Once we were dressed, she seemed very surprised to see I was wearing a black tie and she asked me if I was in mourning. I told her Maman had died. She wanted to know how long ago, so I said, 'Yesterday.' She gave a little start but didn't say anything. I felt like telling her it wasn't my fault, but I stopped myself because I remembered I'd already said that to my boss. It didn't mean anything. Besides, you always feel a little guilty." (pg. 20)
As you can see from that excerpt, Meursault feels absolutely no emotion over the death of his mother. In fact, the only remorse he feels is over the feelings of Marie. And even then, he just gives up immediately after just thinking about trying to make her feel better.
When Mr. Gallagher and Judith speaks during the class discussion, Mr. Gallagher states that when Meursault goes for a swim after his mother just died, he meets a girl named Marie. “In the water I ran into Marie Cardona…” (P. 19) The girl Marie symbolizes his “new mother” because he meets her in the water which symbolizes “the womb” of a pregnant woman. She symbolizes his new mother because she is almost like the beginning point of his rebirth since his real mother died. When his mom died he hasn’t shown any sympathy towards which should be a devastating part of someone’s life. “I felt like telling her it wasn’t my fault…” (P. 20) I think that’s true because as of from what we know so far in the novel, he’s very self-centered and takes whatever he can take just like a baby. After Judith comments on what Mr. Gallagher had to say by indicating that his body might be all grown, but his mind is his baby state. They way he thinks and how he decides to act is very childish and immature. I’m sure that’s true because he makes decisions that would only benefit him. Judith also says that his main reason for being with Marie is so that his mind is off his mother’s death. To connect what Mr. Gallagher and Judith said is that Marie is like Meursault’s savior from his old life to start a new and better one. Also I want to comment on what Casey had to say on how he can only focus on his surroundings. “I had a hard time getting up…Besides, you always feel a little guilty” (P. 19) Casey said Meursault is narrow minded and that he only wants to go out instead of mourn for his mother. This again shows that he is self-centered and just wants to make himself happy by any means.
When Judith was speaking in the class discussion she mentioned how Meursault felling to his mother funeral his feeling represent a serious challenge to the moral of the society in which he lives . The title of the book the Stranger is grief symbolic, because what had happen at the funeral show that Meursault doesn‘t care about anyone feeling , but his self. On this quote happen on his mother funeral “She was crying softly, steadily, in little sobs. I thought she’d never stop (pg 10).” This passage is showing how Meursault doesn’t care about anyone feeling, but his own feeling, because when his mother friend was cry Meursault want the lady to stop cry. This show how Meursault don’t care about anyone feeling but his own feeling, and how he doesn’t care about his mother funeral. On this passage is taken from the part of the book in which Meursault's mother had just death, and the funeral had taken place only the day before, and on this passage is showing how Meursault show his feeling to his mother dead. “On the dock, while we were drying ourselves off, she said, “I’m darker than you. I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies that evening. Pg 20).” This quote also show how Meursault doesn’t care about his mother dead because after he went to his mother funeral, he want to go to the movies, this sound like he want to party after his mother dead and nothing bothers him, not care goes to dinner with Maria this show how he want to celebrate his mother funeral. This show how Meursault don’t care about anyone feeling, because he just want to have fun with Maria, and he also want to replace his mother detachment to Maria this way he can be able to move on to with his life. Marie symbolizes his “new mother” because he meets her in the water and she is also taking place for Meursault mother. Maria symbolizes his new mother because she is taking place for his mother and this is the beginning of his rebirth since his real mother died.
During the class discussion on Albert Camus The stranger there were many ideas introduced into our minds about the significance and deeper meaning of this tragic novel. During this intellectual many main ideas were introduced on what was the topic or topics of the story such as death and detachment and textual evidence was provided to back these ideas. These two ideas were brought up to show Mersault finds life insignificant and there was evidence to prove this idea “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”(page 24). this This passage relates to another idea of the meaning of this story which is existence. during this discussion mr.gallagher brought up the idea that existence is the topic that albert camus is trying to convay to the reader.what is existence? and why is anything important if we dont exist. why does anybody when this topic was being introduced it brought a new into my mind. that this story on the surface is about a strange man who finds life about insignifancant and doesnt have emotions to his mothers recent death and to the relationships with the people he has with throughout the story. but i as the reader begins to analyze the story more in depth it becomes quite clear that "The Stranger " is about how the theory on existence and the normality cannot cononside with each other. they will begin to clash and this story is a perfect example of this. In our society the topic on existence is looked upon because it clashes with the idea of “God” and a all divine power. This story shows that people in our mostly agree with the idea of god and how people who don’t believe in existence such mersault are seemed to be monsters in some way for not believing in a greater power.
In our discussion on Camus‘ The Stranger, we discussed how the sun is important plays an important role in this novel. In our discussion, Doug mentions that the sun represents the rising climax of the novel. In the novel, Meursalt says, “ All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear flying up from the knife in front of me. The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes. That’s when everything began to reel….I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I’d been happy. Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodge without leaving a trace.” (Meursalt 59). The image of the sun appears when Meursalt shoots the Arab. In the novel, the sun is a reoccurring image. The sun appears from chapter one to chapter six. The sun seems to be provoking Meursalt. Every time the sun appears, Meursalt is affected by the heat or its sunlight. In the novel, Meursalt says, “Evenings in that part of the country must have been a kind of sad relief. But the sun is bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive” (Meursalt 14). Meursalt imagines the country side as a sad landscape during the evenings. But since it was sunny and hot, Meursalt believes that the sun’s heat makes the landscape a cruel environment. The sun is like Meursalt’s weakness. Everytime the sun appears, Meursalt’s concentration is affected by the sun’s heat. The heat causes Meursalt to doze off. The sun takes on more affect on Meursalt. The heat from the sun affects Meursalt even more as the novel goes on. The sun affects Meursalt more than Maman’s death. This shows that Meursalt is more concerned about the sun than Maman’s death.
When Casey was speaking, she mentioned that Meursault is a self-centered person which is an excellent point. Through out the whole book, Camus creates Meursault as a person who is totally indifferent towards the surroundings. “I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies that evening….She came back to my place.”(pg.20) that’s what he has done on the next day of the funeral. That should be a moment for grieving rather than making a date, going to a comedy, and having sex…for a normal person. He seems to have no emotions on everything around him. I think Camus demonstrates his philosophy through Meursault’s reaction towards Maman’s death. The world and human existence seems to have no rational meaning and purpose in the world. Meursault views Maman’s death as a really normal thing as human will eventually die anyhow. That’s why he doesn’t feel sad about that. Another example that shows the indifference of Meursault towards the world is what Thanh mentioned. She said that Meursault doesn’t want anything with the evidence of denying the chance of going to Paris. “A little later my boss sent for me…I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered.”(pg.40) those two passages also show that Meurault does not care anything around him, even human lives.
On the other hand, Meursault may want to replace Maman by Marie. As Mr Gallagher said, Marie is another name of Mary, who is the most well-known mother in the world. “In the water I ran into Marie Cardona… I caught up with her, put my arm around her waist, and we swam together.”(Pg.19-20) they meet in the water and float and swim, just like the condition before the baby born. In the same event, Camus also points out one of the characteristics, actualistic. Meursault just talks about the interactions between Marie and him and Marie’s physical appearance. He says nothing about Marie’s personality. This shows the importance he places on the physical aspects of existence rather than the internal factor.
Camus creates Meursault as a self-centered and actualistic person. From his personality and his reactions towards Maman’s death, Camus expresses his philosophy of there is no rational purpose or meaning for human existence.
When Judith was speaking in the class discussion she mentioned how Mrs. Masson had cried when she seen Raymond had got injured in the fight with the Arabs on the beach and how Marie was pale in the face and mad that they got into a fight Raymond had got cut in the face and in the arm and Masson had brang him to the doctors because he had a big gash and blood was everywhere and how Meursault didn’t care he was acting like his friend didn’t get hurt or anything in the fight and he started to smoke a cigarette and look out at the sea.
“Look out, he’s got a knife!” But Raymond‘s arm had already been cut open and his mouth slashed. They started backing off slowly, without taking their eyes off us, keeping us at bay with the knife. When they thought they were far enough away, they took off running as fast as they could while we stood there motionless in the sun and Raymond clutched at his arm dripping with blood.
But every time he tried to talk the blood bubbled in his mouth. Once there, Raymond said that they were only flesh wounds and that he could make it to the doctor’s. He left with Masson and I stayed to explain to the women what had happened. Madame Masson was crying and Marie was very pale. I didn’t like having to explain to them, so I just shut up, smoked a cigarette, and looked at the sea. {Pg.54}
My opinion about Judith’s comment’s about the book “The Stranger” is I think that it’s a good summary or example for the book to explain how Meursault is as a character in the book. The purpose of Camus was to show the readers that don’t start anything with people if they didn’t even start with you and back of if you know there is danger around. The effect that Camus is using is the tone because he expresses his feelings there a character.
When Casey was speaking during the first class discussion on chapters two and three, she mentioned that Meursault is self-centered and care free. She says that “nothing bothers him…” I utterly agree with Casey because Meursault shows no sign of pain or sadness that his mother died. He meets a girl named Marie Cardona at a beach the day after his mother’s funeral and he shows no pain of grieving over his mother’s death. He takes Marie to the movies and seems to want to celebrate instead of grieving. He shows no sign of aching. “I caught the streetcar to go to the public beach down at the harbor…In the water I ran into Marie Cardona; a former typist in our office whom I’d had a thing for at the time. She did to, I think…I helped her onto a float and as I did, I brushed against her breasts. I was still in the water when she was already lying flat on her stomach on the float. She turned toward me. Her hair was in her eyes and she was laughing. I hoisted myself up next to her. It was nice, and, sort of joking around, I let head fall back and rest on her stomach…I asked her if she wanted to go the movies that evening…Toward the end of the show, I gave her a kiss, but not a good one. She came back to my place…” 18-19
This quote shows how Meursault is self-fish, self-centered, and carefree. He seems not to care that his mother died and all he wants to do is think about him-self. He meets Marie, who used to work at the office he works at; and is attracted by her. He is turned on by her looks and he wants to take her out to the movies. He shows no sign of having losing a loved one.
During the first class discussion, Mr. Gallagher said that Marie symboliclie represents his mother. He may be in a way trying to replace his mother with Marie. The water in the beach represents the womb and Marie lying flat on her stomach and Meursault lying on her shows that he is wanting his mother and wanting attention from a women. This imagery that is gives the reader the picture of a baby in his mother’s belly and the mother demonstrating love for her child. The name Marie is derived from think Virgin Mary.
I think Meursault lacks attention and that is why he is such a stranger and an outcast in society. He doesn’t think like others and I think that is because he doesn’t care and wants to be different. It’s as if he doesn’t want to conform to society and because of this, he is considered an existentialist, an introvert, an anti-socialist, and a loner. He doesn’t care about life and finds no meaning to life. He isolates him-self from the world. He’s shy, quite, and lives inside his own mind. It’s as if the world doesn’t exist to him and he finds no meaning to life. He’s against human interactions; and it’s not in his nature to interact with others and show his emotions towards people. It’s part of his personality. “She asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” 35 This quote really shows Meursault’s personality and how he shows his emotions towards others. Marie at this point is his girlfriend and he answers her question honestly. His honesty shows his ignorance. I also think he doesn’t know the full meaning of the word. I think he doesn’t love her because he doesn’t find meaning in human life. I also think that Meursault’s lack of grief at his mother’s funeral represent a serious challenge to the morals of the society in which Meursault lives; and because of this, society categorized him as an outsider. He doesn’t think like everyone else. Camus’ writing technique relates to the way Meursault thinks because it is different, weird, unexpected, and out of the normal norms. His writing style shows what kind of a person Meursault is and how he sees the world. Camus uses great imagery to emphasize and demonstrate how Meursault feels and how he thinks. Camus’ writing style and techniques imamates Meursault’s mind and how it functions with the rest of his society.
I think Camus’ purpose is to have us as the reader to find Meursault a little strange. He wants the reader to find Meursault weird and spontaneous. His actions are unpredictable and this is what keeps the reader interested and also makes the book appealing to the readers. Meursault’s way of thinking and his actions keeps the book fascinating.
When Judith was talking about the climax of the story, when Meursault finishes shooting the Arab, she mentions how the scene pretty much happened with little or no emotion from Meursault. The protagonist killed a man and basically felt nothing, finding it was just an everyday event. Killing a man is considered very morally disturbing to almost everyman. I find this very interesting due to the fact that Camus’ philosophy was Existentialism. Existentialism is a early 1900s developed philosophy on how life came to a halt and became without meaning. People were destroying cities and turning to lives of many into meaningless dust. Camus viewed this philosophy in a positive way. In the book Meursault is portrayed in an existentialism point of view, but Camus added a twist to this. “The sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Maman” pg 58, this is the passage right before the killing of the Arab man. Although Meursault was holding a gun and getting ready to shoot a man, he still was remembering the past, and his mom. I believe Camus is trying to show us regardless of we look at life, there are moments when you will actually remember, miss, and love. Meursault also meets Marie, who he is very fond of. Her name is very interesting because Maria was also a famous mother. Meursault spends time with Marie perhaps because he lost a women in his life that left a part of him. To fill his craving he meets Marie and Meursault attracted to her perhaps by the missing of Maman. Meursault was always remembering Maman in some way. Many writers of the time period felt life didn’t have a purpose, but Camus wrote the stranger to look that way but add some points of life that are still important to humans.
When Mr. Gallagher was speaking, he mentioned that “Camus tries to connect to Greek mythology in the stranger”. He continued on mentioning that “ in Greek mythology the sun is a symbol of truth”. So through out the book I noticed that Meursault would in many occasions complain about the sun and how hot it was. This could be the fact that Meursault could not handle the truth. In the beginning of the novel his mother Maman passed away but he seems to be more bothered by the fact that “It was very hot”(p.3). Also the fact that he could not recall when his mother died when it was very recent. I found this fact to be very strange the emotional state of this man had to suggest that he was not functioning well. The characteristics of Meursault came out quite clear throughout the book he shows no sorrow for his mothers passing, he was more worried about the heat than his mother. When he shot the Arab what seemed to motivate him was the heat. Meusault said “it occurred to me that all I had to do was turn around and that would be the end of it”(p.58). So it was obvious that he was conscious of the fact that he had an option to go back but something was throbbing him forward into to killing the Arab. ”throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back”(p.58) Meursault once again was being pressured by the sun, or you can say the “truth”. So in this intense scene he goes back and ties in the memories of his mothers funeral and how the sun was the same that day. So he continued on forward knowing that the sun would not leave him but instead burn even more in tense. He continues on against his conscious “I knew that it was stupid”(p.59), so when he got closer the Arab drew his knife. It is interesting to note that in this moment of the book the sunlight reflects even more intense than ever before “The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead”(p.59). To me the fact that the sun was cutting into his forehead suggested to me that the truth was affecting his conscious. The sun throughout the book brings out the flaws in Meursault. The sun was influenced in the killing of the Arab, when he first meet up with Marie showing his need fore his mother. The sun in this book could be related back to Greek mythology in which it represents the truth. The truth is that he feels guilty for what happened to his mother and the sun reflects on him bring out his flaws.
Camus in The Stranger shows Mersault as a strange selfish guy who has no feeling to things and worries more about him self then any one else. It seems as if he has no control for his self and the death of Mamam affects him in several ways but he shows no sympathy or affection towards it. I think this lady Marie is a substitute for Mersault because its strange how Mamam dies and he finds this girl right away and he supposedly likes her a lot and she catches his eyes and he enjoys every second they spend together. “I told her Mamam had died. She wanted to know how long ago, so I said “Yesterday”………….you always feels a little guilty” (pg. 20). Mersault has in his mind of what’s wrong and what’s right but he makes an impression of a careless man who shows no signs of emotions. In chapter 6 the sun keeps coming up it can be a very important part to his life since he surrounds his life around the sun. I’m not sure if the sun makes him think negatively. “The sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Mamam, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me, and like then, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under the skin. It was this burning, which I couldn’t stand anymore, that made me move forward” (pg.58-59). In this quote he makes it seem as if the sun is going to push him into doing wrong which he did when he killed the Arab and the showing of his ignorance leads to the murder. Anything involved with the sun bothers him even the day Sunday and again it relates to the sun. Also the sun might give him a connection to his mom and that’s probably why he gets so nervous, sweaty, and all warm inside. I think that he maybe thinking in his mind that the sun is his mom’s soul and it’s her watching him and murdering can be his getaway out this feeling.
S.L.D on Camus, the stranger
When Juliet say the family and the society are relate to Meursault, and Meursault
Is kind of guy that like outside of the world. To me the title of the book the stranger is let people know what is the outfit of he, Meursault the outsider of the world, the mankind, or the society. She picks a paragraph “the women cry……anyone” (p.10) and it can show he doesn’t care about his mother or he has no feeling about his mother at all. To me he is a type of people that don’t care anyone or anything if isn’t happened on him, is make him look like a cold blood human, in the being of the book. Casey pick "Once we were dressed, she seemed very surprised to see I was wearing a black tie and she asked me if I was in mourning. I told her Maman had died. She wanted to know how long ago, so I said, 'Yesterday.' She gave a little start but didn't say anything. I felt like telling her it wasn't my fault, but I stopped myself because I remembered I'd already said that to my boss. It didn't mean anything. Besides, you always feel a little guilty." (pg. 20) is like he doesn’t like his mother and doesn’t matter she is alive or not. After his mother die he was looking or going out with a woman name Marie, her name mean merrier. It like his need the love form mother or he has Oedipus complex he loves his mother and tries to get her, maybe that why he found Marie to by his girlfriend. In this paragraph “In the water I ran into Marie Cardona…” (P. 19) Henry says he found a new mother and this paragraph symbolizes his “new mother” because he meets her in the water which symbolizes “the womb” of a pregnant woman. I think it is true in outside the people seen him don’t care anything or anyone, in the day before doing the laptop Mr. G say the idea of the book and the philosophy that is in this book I think Camus he wrote this book is to try to let people know are we exist or not but to me, can say we exist in this world or can say we don’t exist in this world. And this is the ideal that I get out form the book.
When Kenny was speaking, he mentioned that “death is a major topic.” He mentioned how death keeps coming up in the novel and referred to Maman and Salamano’s dog. He stated that according to Mersault, death is insignificant. Kenny talked about how death doesn’t bother Mersault, unlike any other human being. In the opening of the novel “Maman died today Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know,” the reader realizes that Mersault is not bothered by death. Mersault’s ignorance about the actual date his mother died shows that they weren’t close to each other and also that he doesn’t care about his mother’s death. Mersault seems to only care about his physical well being and his physical environment. Everything else is insignificant to him, including his mother’s death. In part one of “The Stranger”, Mersault has an indifferent attitude towards others and anything else. When Marie asks Mersault whether he loves her or not, he answers indifferently. “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so. She looked sad.” (Page 35) According to Mersault, love is unimportant and doesn’t mean anything. After he replied Marie, he realized how bad she felt but still didn’t do anything to make her feel better. I think Albert Camus also shows Mersault’s indifferent attitude with the use of Salamano and his dog. Salamano’s dog disappeared away from him and he was concerned and felt so sad that he cried. Salamano’s concern about his dog shows Mersault’s indifferent attitude in a way that when his mother dies, Mersault isn’t concerned at all and yet Salamano is concerned about his dog’s death. Mersault’s indifferent attitude is also displayed when he refuses to call the cops when Raymond is beating up his girl. “The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her… She asked me to go find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like cops.” (Page 36) Mersault doesn’t react in a positive way to help the girl. He is too concerned with his physical well being that he acts like nothing wrong is happening. Therefore, I agree with Kenny’s statement about death’s insignificance to Mersault because of his indifferent attitude towards everything else except for his physical well being and physical environment.
In the Student Lead Discussion on Camus, “The Stranger,” Ryan states that he believes that Meursault has autism. He doesn’t specifically state this from a passage in the book but more along the lines of, in general so I chose a passage that relates to why Mersault could infact have autism. “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make and difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved he. I answered the same way as I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her. ‘So why marry me, then?’ she said. I explained to her that it didn’t really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes.” Page 41-42.
I agree with Ryan because when a person has autism, they lack the understanding toward other people’s emotions. This seems to be the problem in which Mersault is having. Her he has this beautiful woman who, its obvious to tell, loves him. It seems to me though that he’s with her more for lust and not so much for love. For example, on page 35, Mersault says, “When she laughed I wanted her again. A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her that it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” This proves that he’s physically attracted to her but not emotionally. This shows his carelessness towards other peoples emotions. Here, Marie stands saying that she loves him and asking if he loves her back and he upsets her by say, “I don’t think so.” He doesn’t understand the feelings that Marie is having but is only caring for himself in the sense of “getting some.”
Throughout the book he doesn’t seem to show much emotion toward anyone. He’s not a mean person in the sense of going out of his way to make someone feel bad about them selves, no. He’ll listen to peoples problems and maybe from time to time give a little ‘common sense’ advice. He lacks the idea of what people really feel. When Raymond tells Mersault that he beat his girlfriend because, on a hunch, he feels his girlfriend is cheating on him, Mersault doesn’t think anything wrong with it, in fact, he helps Raymond to set up a plot to get back at Ray’s girl.
I do believe that Mersault may have Autism because he’s not a stupid man, he just doesn’t really care for anyone but himself. Even when his mother died, he didn’t even bother to shed a tear. In fact he grew angry with some of the people who knew his mother and cried at her funeral. I look at Mersault as a ‘Lives life as it comes’ kind of guy. He doesn’t plan ahead or dwell on the past or future, just lives in the moment. This is his tragic flaw, because he lives for the moment, he did not hesitate to kill the Arab which indubitably gets him killed.
When Blank was speaking, he (or she) mentioned that Meursault lacks of greed. He doesn’t care of anything even his normal life. There is a paragraph in the book tells how Meursault react when his boss offered him to work in Paris. But Meursault felt annoy because he thought his boss was going to tell him to do less talking on the phone and more work. Camus mentions this point because he wanted the reader understand that Mersault is a lazy person, he spend more time to talk on the phone rather do his work which is his responsibility. Meursault also doesn’t want to improve his poor life. He satisfies with his life, and his job. If he agrees with his boss to go to Paris, he would ha a nice house, deal with a new society. There is nothing disadvantages about that. If he is a clever person, he would think about it first and decided later. But his answer is no, right away. He doesn’t even think about it. Meursault acts like a baby. He doesn’t think of the consequences of whatever he do; just like a child who depended on the mother. He is not even care about the marriage when Marrie ask him if he wants to marry her. He look at that problem as it is not matter to him. But marriage is a really important subject for every one in their life. After they get married , they will have happy family. They will be cared and loved. Even his mother, he don’t care about her and did not know how old she is. That showed Meursault is not a good son, his responsibility is take care for his mother, who raise him. When he at the court, he had blamed the sun which was the motive for him to shoot the Arab guy. That was not really true. Because he has to know what is he doing. Not to blame something else. He was being like a kid, spoiled and also gets lost in his life.
Meursault demonstrates this sense of unawareness toward society and by this; Judith says “he demonstrates this emotionless personality as he always mentions this surroundings compared to what is actually going on at the time. Since he was lacking grief when it came to his mother passing away it also gives great depth toward how he feels toward society. Normally ordinary people would consider death as a mark of the end, but it seems as though Meursault wants to fill in the blank that has been created as fast as he can, (Marie). In my opinion it’s so that he can forget the past and continue on with a new future. Within his “new future” he finds Marie; which can mean Mary from the bible who is one of the first mothers. At the same time that Meursault is trying to play the “tough guy” act he seems to always depend on other people so that emotion is never a factor. Throughout the book, Meursault tends to find characters that are lacking confidence or the ability to do things for himself by which he finds it appoint not to help. Such as when Raymond got into a fight with his girlfriend, Meursault led him in the wrong direction tearing his love life apart. Also when it came to Salomano’s dog being in the pound, Meursault made him aware that his dog was going to be put to sleep if he wasn’t out of the pound in a couple of days. Which makes it evident that Meursault can’t help in the right ways and shows no emotion for the people hurting at the same time. He centers his life around himself and seems not to care about what happens to anyone else. Judith also mentions how Meursault is judged in court upon how he is emotionless toward his mothers death, when it had nothing to do with his trail about killing the Arab. It just goes to show that one action can lead to a whole jury being against you due to personal misinterpretations. Meursault is so unaware of his surroundings, because he really thought about what he was doing before he killed the Arab, he could have figured that everyone would accuse him due to all of his actions that lead up to this. He never seemed to care about life, so it would seem that it would be easy for him to take somebody else’s life.” I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I wasn’t dissatisfied with mine here at all.” This quote give the sense that Meursault believes in this life were everyone is what they are and can stay constant but others may change. The fact that Meursault thinks this way is almost as though he is trying to show off in front of his boss. Playing the once again “tough guy role” were as in reality Meursault is a baby.
When Judith was talking about Meursault’s emotions towards his mother in chapter 1 it shows who he is and gives a description of how he is because one of the most saddened part of someone’s life is when their mother dies and he shows no real emotion maybe he has a disease she said that, that is probably the stranger to everybody the outsider ”Soon one of the women started crying” then the caretaker leans over and says to Meursault “She was very close to your mother. She says your mother was her only friend and now she hasn’t got anyone.” (page 10) the women are crying and he is not these people that weren’t as close or maybe they were maybe he didn’t really know his mother and didn’t really know what it was like to have one so he didn’t know how to act towards a person that didn’t show him compassion as a child that should be expressed so when he say those ladies crying and what the caretaker said to him he probably asked himself why? Why aren’t I crying? Why is everyone else crying and he isn’t? It is very confusing and people reading the book would probably get mad at Meursault because they would say what kind of sick person would not mourn or be sad or angry that their mother died. So maybe Camus wanted everybody to hate him
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