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!
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18 comments:
In our class discussion we discussed many topics, but the topic that I chose was the lack of emotion that Meursault has for everything that is happening in his life. When Nikky was speaking during the discussion she said that Mausault had no emotions towards the beating that Raymond gave his girlfriend for cheating on him. In the book it states; “First we heard a women’s shrill voice and then Raymond saying, ‘you used, you used me. I’ll teach you to use me.’ There were some thuds and then the women screamed, but in such a terrifying way that the landing immediately filled with people. Marie and I went to see, too. The woman is shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to go =find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like the cops……” (Page 35-36) In this quote it shows how Meusault being ignorant and self-centered with himself. The quote states that “Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything.” this evidence shows readers that he doesn’t care about anyone else, and that he has no feelings towards abuse of another human being like himself. The second reason is another evident example that shows how Meusault is emotionless by how he doesn’t care about the situation with Raymond and his mistress and also the emotion of the weaker sex which in this case is Raymond’s girlfriend. When Jesse volunteered in the discussion he read something that was interesting, saying that Raymond asked Meusault what he thought about the situation which him and his girlfriend but Meusault didn’t have any emotion towards his response to Raymond. But before going to the fact that Meusault doesn’t care about the situation, Mausault also talks about what he would do to Raymond’s girlfriend. “I’d Smack her around a little, but nice-like, you might say. She’d scream a little. I’d close the shutter and it always ended the same way. But this time it’s for real. And if you ask me, she still hasn’t gotten what she has coming.” (Page 31) In this quote Meusault gives his own opinion on what he would do to Raymond’s girlfriend. This shows how much emotion he has for society if he would do that to a women or human being. In the quote it says “I’d Smack her around a little, but nice-like…” in my opinion when slapping someone you can never be nice like, this also shows how much discrimination towards women in this novel. Throughout the beginning of the novel it shows how sex plays a major role in the novel because Men beats on the lower class but this also relates to Meusault, because he doesn’t care about these things. Evidence that Meusault had no thoughts or emotion towards the situation that Raymond is when Raymond talks about writing his girlfriend a letter but Meusault had no response. “Since I didn’t say anything, he asked if I’d mind doing it right then and I said no. Now in this quote Meusault shows viewers that he doesn’t care about anybody else’s life. All Meusault cares about is himself and nothing for anybody nor friends, nor family and etc. When in the passage says “I didn’t say anything” puts an image into readers mind that he can’t possibly have any answers for Raymond since he kept quiet.
In the novel “The Stranger” by, Albert Camu has many different purposes that he tries to explain to you threw the eyes of the antagonist, Monsieur Meursault and the effects and techniques he has one them. I want to talk about something Aline said about how Meursault seem to notice his own flaws, but he doesn’t seem to care about anyone else’s flaws, which also could make him look a tad selfish, well because he basically is selfish. The next thing was something Anh said about the physical need that Meursault had for everything. For example, with Maria, he likes kissing her and talking about how beautiful she looks and so on, all the physical features like from this quote “I helped her onto a float and as I did, I brushed against her breasts. Pg 19”
He picks up all those physical type things, but when it comes to emotional or caring he doesn’t seem to really care about it, like from this quote that Nicky talked about “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. Pg 35” Meursault seems to state anything that is on his mind, weather it is blunt or a jester, he says what ever he believes to be true, with no regards to how someone might act or If it would even save his life, like this quote right here “He asked me if he could say that day I had held back my natural feelings. I said “No, because it’s not true.” He gave me strange look, as if he found me slightly disgusting. He told me in an almost snide way that in any the director and the staff of the home would be called as witnesses and that “things could get very nasty” for me. Pg 65” This shows how Meursault will stick to his way no matter what, even if lying would save his life, he’d rather just tell the truth and accept the consequences that where to go to him.
I believe Meursault is myopic with the way he views people and situations that happen, which is his downfall, because if he wasn’t so myopic he would have been able to save himself from death, and maybe even save himself from killing another human being.
From what Miranda said in class about the women who sat down to eat a meal with Meursault, I agree with what Miranda said about Meursault being kind of a mirror of that women, doing that same thing, just coming in and eating, completely ignoring the people around, getting the tip ready from the beginning of the meal and marking off radio programs, all doing this in a robot fashion. Meursault does some what of the same thing, goes to work, eats at Celeste’s and goes home and does it all over again, and then sometimes he hangs out with Maria or some other friends. His emotions are a lot like a robot as well, with the short one-worded responses like “No”, “Yes” ECT. He just seems to be a very dull and selfish person and I think Camu didn’t want us to like his character, but maybe to pity him and to learn to better ourselves because he do a lot of things similar to what Meursault, and to show us what he does is to learn from what we do, which is why he is an example and why we shouldn’t ignore a message as deep as this.
In out class discussion Jessi mentioned how Raymond asks Meursault if he could help him write a letter to his girlfriend but Meursault decides to do it himself and it reflects on Anhs’ comment. Meursault felt how Raymond felt, “He asked me if I thought she was cheating on him, and it seemed to me she was; if I thought she should be punished and what I would do in his place, and I said you cant ever be sure, but I understood his wanting to punish her. I drank a little more wine. He lit a cigarette and let me in on what he was thinking about doing. He wanted to write her a letter.” (pg.32) Raymond wanted to write a letter to his girlfriend to make her feel bad for what she’s done to him. Raymond wanted to write something “with a punch and also something’s in it to make her sorry for what she’s done. But Meursault stayed quiet so Raymond had asked him if he would mind doing it and Meursault said no. This comes to Anhs comment and he said Meursault does different things than other people, Others do things for a reason but Meursault doesn’t have any reason to do it he just wants to do it. I agree on what Jessi and Anh said because Meursault doesn’t care about anyone else but him. But something confuses me about him on how he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to write anything bad to Raymond’s girlfriend but he is willing to write it just to please Raymond. Also Meursault likes to speak his mind so he just wrote what went through his head. So I think that the author of this book Albert Camus is trying to show us that Meursault is a person that just speaks whatever goes through his head. After Meursault read what he wrote to Raymond he was happy with it and shook Meursault’s hand and said “that men always understand each other.” (pg.33) I find that funny because Raymond doesn’t really know what Meursault understand or thinks. I think that Meursault likes Marie only because she is pretty to him. Or maybe Meursault didn’t realize he lost his mother and didn’t get a chance to tell her things or do things that would make her feel happy. This is probably why Meursault is the way he is now because of that, so now Meursault has Marie and I’m guessing that he could change by loving her how he couldn’t love his mother. I think the author Camus already set the road for Meursault but Meursault walks into a different direction and ends up in jail by killing a Arab. Just before Meursault can change his life and the way he lived he did something wrong and ended up in jail waiting to be beheaded for the crime he had committed. So the author Albert Camus changes the character Meursault from being a emotionless person to a person with emotions at the end of the book.
When Nada was speaking, she pinpointed facts regarding Meursault’s guilt on his mother’s death, taken into relation with Salamano’s missing dog. She brings up how he “thought of Maman” (39) after he finished talking to Salamano into solutions of finding his dog back. It seems to me that the conversation between Meursault and Salamano about the dog triggered a flashback between Maman and Meursault. Nada mentioned that after seeing Salamano cry about his dog, Meursault seemed to stress out when he is reminded of Maman’s death.
When many speakers, such as Anh and Aline, say that he has no emotions for one another, it is not necessarily true. Based on Nada’s point of view, I agree that Meursault does have feelings towards others because Meursault had a flashback of his mother’s death. When Mr. G mentioned that smoking helps stress and depression, it seems to me that Meursault showed emotions for Maman when she was buried. This relates to Salamano’s sadness of his dog because he emotionally regrets for torturing and abusing the dog. All Salamano ever did was blame the dog for his own problems, not himself. He feels stressed, unhappy, and depressed towards his loss of his dog, just like how Maman feels about his mother’s death. They are both characters related in terms of their feelings for one another and the kind of problems that they were both in when they lost something precious, which many people tend to experience.
From this quotation, Albert Camus is telling us that people care for someone or something that is very precious to them; even they would feel stressed out about it after. This is very important in relation to the entire novel, The Stranger, because Meursault never really cared about what happened towards his companions, including his indifference for his relationship with Marie. She asked if “marriage was a serious thing” (42), and he responded, “No” (42). In the end, he regrets his non-caring personality towards other people, before his execution, because he really did care about them in the first place. Also, he cared about Maman’s death, regardless that he was stressed about the situation that he was in. This is the effect of Albert Camus’ statement throughout the entire novel, which is showing how one really cares for someone or something, regardless of their negative feelings that occur after.
When Jess spoke about Monsieur Meursault not caring about anything I agreed with the idea of that. When Meursault heard Raymond beating his girlfriend it didn’t faze him. “Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to go find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like cops.” (Page 36) This quote is one of many examples of Monsieur Meursault lack of caring for anything. If he had emotion he would be saddened or even raged that a man would attack a woman. Charline also made a point to say that Monsieur Meursault lack emotion when she stated “When Marie asked Meursault to marry her he did not care.” The author states “that evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to.” (Page 41) To most people getting married is a scared and meaningful fulfilling experience you could ever do, but to Monsieur Meursault its nothing. He feels nothing and would go through with it as if it id nothing. “Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her.”(Page 41) Jameel stated that Monsieur Meursault doesn’t care about woman but needs them. This quote shows that he could care less about loving Marie but yet he is constantly wanting and sleeping with her. He’s most interested in fulfilling his sexual needs than his emotional which he lacks completely. All these quotes in there entirety make the same connection in the book The Stranger by Albert Camus. The connection they make is one I feel the author points out throughout the novel, Monsieur Meursault having no emotion. He feels none for his mother a point Shannon was discussing. She claimed he did mot care that his mother whom he had lived with and seen struggle her whole life up and died and he could care less. I agree with her. As the author states, “We put the cover on, but I’m supposed to unscrew the casket so you can see her.” “He was moving toward the casket when I stopped him. He said, “You don’t want to?” I answered, “No.” Monsieur Meursault does not even care to see his mother body for the last time. Her death means nothing to him. Monsieur Meursault lacks of emotions are shown throughout the novel. And a repeated highlight in the class discussion.
Throughout the majority of the discussion on Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Anh had often mentioned how Camus writes that Mersault’s reasoning of why he does certain things is that he does not a reason not to therefore he just does it. I believe that this shows that Mersault has no purpose behind any of his actions and that when he is sitting at Celestes’ and he is joined by a strange “robot-like” woman. “Her gestures were jerky and she had bright eyes in a little face like an apple. She took off her jacket, sat down, and studied the menu feverishly. She called Celeste over and ordered her who meal all at once, in a voice that was clear and fast all at the same time. While she was waiting for her first course, she opened her bag, took out a slip of paper and a pencil, added up the bill in advance, then took the exact amount, plus tip, out of a vest pocket and set it on the table in front of her… she again took out her bag a blue pencil, and a magazine that listed the radio programs for the week. One by one, and with great care, she checked off almost every program… she meticulously continued this task throughout the meal…Then she stood up, put her jacket on with the same robotlike movements, and left. I didn’t have anything to do, so I left too and followed her for a while. (page 43)” This woman shows that she has a purpose behind her actions and this is seen because she checks off the radio programs that she likes. This is because she wants to be able to watch them and know where they are. Also, since she has a purpose behind all her strange actions, when she sits with Mersault he watches her because he has no reason not to and then when she leaves, he decides to follow her. Again because he has nothing to do and he is curious about her. I think that Camus put this woman in The Stranger because he wanted to make the fact that Mersault does not have a purpose behind anything he does evident. Camus may have done this because he was alive during the period of Modernism. During this time, people had started to wonder if life had any meaning, and what was the point in life. It seems like Mersault has these ideas in his mind, only because he just doesn’t care about anything. Also, Mersault feels as though there is no reason to live and that life means nothing.
In our class discussion when Jameel was speaking, he mentioned how Meursault feels about the sun. I think he described it to perfection and made it very clear to understand. Jameel’s passage is on the bottom of (Page 58) and it reads "It occurred to me that all I had to do was turn around and that would be the end of it. But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back"(Page 58). It shows that Meursault seems to be annoyed by the sun a lot. He made an effort to get the sun off of him by turning his body in a direction that he thought the sun wouldn’t affect him. Another key fact that Jameel mentioned was when he talks about the sun following Meursault, this is similar to the day "maman died". I feel this is relevant because Meursault feels guilty for his mothers death, and this also symbolizes the sun beating down on him and burning him. Jameel also stated that Meursault didn’t want to give into the guilt so that’s why he chooses to move away from the sun inste ad of enduring it. While Jameel Concluded his passage he mentioned something that I had come up with and thought was true myself. He stated that the main reason for the shooting of the Arab by Meursault was basically the sun. Meursault was so irritated by the sun, and he wanted to get rid of it so bad he let his anger out on the Arab that he ran into at the spring. This can also explain why Meursault shot the Arab five times and not just once. I feel that the author Albert Camus shows this about the protagonist Monsieur Meursault in his own style. This style being how he shows the repetition of the themes throughout the novel and sticking with it. What I feel makes this quote is how Albert Camus mentions nature throughout the novel and shows it at this point in the novel. He makes it show that the sun had a major factor on the protagonist Monsieur Meursault and how it relates to the death of the Arab.
When Jameel was speaking, he mentioned that, “the sun can symbolize the guilt of Meursault after shooting the Arab.” He was the first to bring up the sun as a symbol. Before him, others speaks about the sun and the heat from the sun making Meursault do the things he does not want to do or end up regretting. Mr. Gallagher later on talks about the sun symbolizing truth. When Meursault went out for a walk, alone he sees the Arab again. Camus writes using diction to refer back to all the times the sun has been mention. “It was the same sun, the same light still shining on the same sand as before.” (58). By using the word “same” repetitively he back tracks the readers to the times the sun has appear. As before in the story, the same sun appears during this mother’s funeral. Camus continues with the idea and directly goes to say, “The sun was the same as it had been the day I buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under the skin.”(58). Camus finished the sentence with “as before.” “As before” backs up “same.” Placing these words together, they foreshadow what will happen right when Meursault meets with the Arab. What will happen is the same as before. Meursault loses control of his emotion needs, as his physical need grows greater. The physical pain the sun is causing him. Camus’ purpose is to speak about the norm. It is normal to feel pain and it is normal to care for these pains rather then caring for whether or not a person is emotionally unstable. Bringing back to what Mr. Gallagher says, “the sun is truth.” All the time Meursault is in pain, the sun is there. Camus might be suggesting to the cliché, the truth hurts. The first time the sun has hurt Meursault is after Maman’s death. While walking in the country to the burial, the sun caused uncomfortable pain for Meursault. Sun, representing truth, the truth is that Meursault did not care. He did not care from when he places Maman into the home to her death and continue not to care after her death. Second time, the truth appears that Meursault does not care that he has shot the Arab, that there is no remorse in killing a man. The point of all this is Camus wants to show that truth is the truth but because of who Meursault is, he is different and his truth is different, society will ultimately shun him.
When Anh brought up the idea that Mersault has not emotion and only did things that affected him physically. He brought up no passage since he came up with the theory in response to another persons topic. I thought Anh brought up a very good point, which Mersault only goes for physical intensity and never inquires about emotion. I agree that Mersault is the type of character that only asks and thinks only of physical attraction and only of himself. Mersault never thinks on how thing could effect anyone else emotionally he only thinks in the “why not?” type of thinking. One passage that exemplifies this type of behavior is on page 36, “The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to find a policeman, but I told her I don’t like cops.” Mersault not only thinks of himself but does it when a woman is getting beaten, just because he doesn’t “like cops”. Before this actual event happens in the book Mersault becomes friends with Raymond and even rights a letter to for him to Raymond’s girlfriend that insults her and does this because he has nothing else to do. Even after Raymond told Mersault what he was going to do to her “he’d go to bed with her and ‘right at the last minute’ he’d spit in her face and throw her out” (pg 36), he still wrote the letter and only because he had nothing else to do and didn’t care.
Mersault never feels quilt over his actions against the girl who might have not been cheating in the first place and never mentions it again. Why would Albert Camus create a character that only thinks of himself? I believe Camus made this character to show what his view on life is, that people only think of themselves, that you should stray away from this type of behavior and show what it really looks like. Camus also expresses his view on what love shouldn’t be, getting married just because you can if you don’t love the person. Camus has created a book full of what shouldn’t be and what you shouldn’t do; to see what true narcissism looks like and what it does to the people around the narcissist who he expressed through Mersault.
Heather MacGregor
Per: 2
11-15-07
When Ahn was speaking he mentioned that Mersualt is repetitive. He explained this to us by using an example. The passage is about Salamano and when he beats his dog. Raymond and Mersualt both witness this. Raymond finds it disgusting and asks Mersault what he thinks. In this passage Mersault says “I found what he had to say interesting. Besides I don’t have any reason not to talk to him.” (p.28) He says this about Raymond and why he talks with him. Many times in the book Mersault is repetitive about why he does things. Everyone went on to discuss how Mersault does things because he has no reason not to, not because he wants to. This is very true. Mersault usually does things not because he wants or had to but he mostly looks at it like why not? This says a lot about Mersault character and why Camus chose to make him that way. Mersault is a laid back guy who does not find many things disturbing. He deals with life as it comes and does not show very much emotion. He is a guy with very little of an opinion and keeps many things to himself. Many of the class expressed the feeling that Mersault did not care about the death of his own mother because the day after he was out swimming. In many ways I think Mersault very much cares about the death of his mother. Even though Mersault does not cry and is out the next day I think her death is not a very big of a shock to him. Mersault knew she was older and he did not see her very much as it is because she was in a nursing home. Even when she did live with him they didn’t talk very much anyway because they had nothing to say to each other. Just because he didn’t cry and was out the next day does not mean a thing. I bet there are many people who have had a family member that they were once close with but grew apart die and when it happened they were at a loss of tears. I think that this happens to many people just because someone does not show grieve doesn’t mean it’s not there. Mersault feels guilty for his mother’s death which also says something about his character. A few times in the book Mersault goes on to explain to people how it is not his fault. “I felt like telling her it wasn’t my fault, but stopped myself because I remembered that I’d already said that to my boss.” (p.20) for some unknown reason Mersault feels like the death of his mother is his fault. Mersault feels guilty about the death of his mother as if putting her in the nursing home had killed her. Camus made Mersaults character like this because it fits in with the book. In the beginning he is laid back and has no emotions. At first after he kills a man he shows no emotion no guilt but eventually he realizes what he has done emotions start to reveal themselves. Mersault is not a bad guy and unlike many of my classmates I do not think he is selfish either. He may not show emotion or feel bad about certain things but that means nothing. Just because he doesn’t feel bad for a dog or a women he barely knows that doesn’t make him a bad guy.
We discussed many topics in our class, most people are thought Meursault was an unfelt and lack of emotion person. Yes, I agree too. But I want to use a quote to prove why I am agreeing, too, when Nikky was speaking, she mentioned that the last passage in the bottom in the chapter 4, “First we heard a woman’s shrill voice and then Raymond saying, “You used me, you used me. I’ll teach you to use me.” There were some thuds and the woman screamed, but in such a terrifying way that the landing immediately filled with people. Marie and I went to see, too. The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to go find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like cops. One showed up anyway with the tenant from the third flood, who’s a plumber. The cop knocked…” (Pages 35-36) in this passage, we can see how Meursault is, the author used this quote to describe Meursault was a feelingless and doesn‘t care everything happening around him. Although, his neighbor some terrible happens, he still doesn’t care about it or to help them. Like in “The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to go find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like cops.” I know he was not because he doesn’t like policeman, so he didn’t find policeman to come to help them, because he thought this is not his business, it doesn’t have relation about him, so he didn’t care what they happening over there. This quote also to tell us, Meursault was an unfelt person. Also, I wanted to talk about the other example the author used in the beginning of the book, it is in chapter 1, “Just then the caretaker came in behind me. He must have been running. He stuttered a little. “We put the cover on, but I’m supposed to unscrew the casket so you can see her.” He was moving toward the casket when I stopped him. He said, “You don’t want to?” I answered, “No.” He was quiet, and I was embarrassed because I felt I shouldn’t have said that. He looked at me and then asked, “Why not?” but without criticizing, as if he just wanted to know. I said, “I don’t know.” He started twirling his moustache, and then…” (Pages 6-7) in this quote “He stuttered a little. “We put the cover on, but I’m supposed to unscrew the casket so you can see her.” He was moving toward the casket when I stopped him. He said, “You don’t want to?” I answered, “No.” He was quiet, and I was embarrassed because I felt I shouldn’t have said that.” It shows he was an unfelt person. Although his mother die, he still didn’t upset or crying for his mother and he didn’t want to see his mother, too. Actually, most people, when they know their dear person die, they usually crying or upset, or still want to talk to them or see them. But Meursault was so weird, he didn’t cry and upset, he still live in his life after his mother. Also, the author used many examples to describe Meursault in the book; to pop out how Meursault is is in the book. He makes readers know nobody wants to be Meursault in their life.
In class we discussed “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. We touched upon many different topics and everyone had something interesting to say. For our discussion of chapter 6 Diana commented about Mersault and how he is always smoking and Marie and the way he is described. On pg. 47 it reads “I had a hard time waking up on Sunday, and Marie had to call me and shake me. We didn’t eat anything because we wanted to get to the beach early. I felt completely drained and I had a slight headache. My cigarette tasted bitter. Marie made fun of me because, she said, I had a “funeral face.” She had put on a white linen dress and let her hair down. I told her she was beautiful and she laughed with delight.” I think it is interesting that Mersault thoughts are so simple. It shows that his needs are “simple” and that explains why his needs are physical. The two things he usually describes, Marie and his cigarette are physical needs he thrives on because they soothe him physically. Emotionally he does not feel and that’s why his physical needs are dominant. Right before the passage on pg. 47 the end of chapter 5 talks about Salamano and his dog then Salamano mentions Maman to Mersualt. Then right at the beginning of chapter 6 Mersault wakes up with a “funeral face”, smoking a cigarette, and describing Marie’s physical features. Mersault replaces Maman with Marie. He needs that “mother figure” in his life. Just as Salamano tries to replace his wife with his dog and Raymond who did not care emotionally about his ex-girlfriend still had sexual feelings for her. The men in this book thrive on their physical needs. Emotionally, Mersault is not there. He only seems to concentrate on the physical. Events in the book that disgust other characters do not even faze him.
Charline C2
In our class discussion when Anh was speaking, he mentioned the theme of women being treated like dogs. Camus writes: “The police”ll get him……. They’d give the dog back to him after he paid a fee….. Then he got mad: “Pay money for that bastard-ha! He can damn well die!” And he started cursing the dog…. I asked him to come in, but he refused. He was looking down at the tips of his shoes and his scabby hands were trembling….They’re not going to take him away from me, are they Monsieur Meursault? They’ll give him back to me….” (pg. 39) This showed how the dog was treated badly because he was constantly beating and cursing at the dog. I feel that there is a connection between Salamano’s dog and the women of this book, because they both get treated the same. You can see the connection on page 44. Camus writes: “Just for something to say I asked him about his dog. He told me he’d gotten it after his wife died. He married fairly late…. He hadn’t been happy with his wife, but he’d pretty much gotten used to her. When she died he had been very lonely. (pg. 44) This shows the feeling that Monsieur Meursault has with Marie he likes her but she is annoying but he jus gets used to it because her physical make up is a substitute. Also just like the dog gets beaten the women get beaten because in the story Raymond beats on his prostitute and Salamano beats on his dog. Camus writes: “He knocked harder and after a minute the woman started crying and Raymond opened the door. He had a cigarette in his mouth ana an innocent look on his face. The girl rushed to the door and told the policeman that Raymond had hit her.” (pg. 36) This shows the connection between the women and Salamano’s dog in this story.
Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the author uses the character Meursalt to show the inner human attitude and the concealed side of human heart. Mesuralt is nearly a person without emotions, guiltless, no morals, cruel and indifferent. In the quote “The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there, in that noise, sharp and deafening at the same time, is where it all started. I shook off the sweat and sun. I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I’d been happy……” pg. 59 Meursalt murders the Arab because of his response to the glaring sun which no senseless reason and he didn’t feel any guilt and he fired four more times to make himself more comfortable. It shows the author used Meursalt to reflect is life as he contemplates his impending execution.
The purpose of Camus wrote the novel The Stranger it also relates to that time period about World War II. Camus use Algerian and the place Algeria to setting the book. The book also against the society shows what kind the life do people need. Around tightly under the society, people ignore the instruction of the interior spirit. People always want to find the true meaning of life, but they still did many absurd things like Meursalt. The Stranger tells how the society forces one to do the absurd emotions, and people seek for the freedom.
I would like to discuss about something other than how Mersault does not care for other people and how he has no emotions. I would like to compare other characters and how they can relate to each other. Mr. Gallagher on day 1 of the class discussion talked about how Mersault has no feelings about the dog being beaten by Old Salamano and how Raymond’s plan to use and beat his girlfriend. What I noticed is that the dog can be compared to the girlfriend in a way. The dog is useless to Old Salamano and the girlfriend is useless to Raymond, but the dog and the girlfriend are just there to keep them company and in some ways they still miss them. There are a few sections of the book that kind of describes this. “Excuse me, excuse me.” I asked him to come in, but he refused…… “They’re not going to take him away from me, are they, Monsieur Meursault? They’ll give him back to me. Otherwise what’s going to happen to me?”(pg. 39). Then for Raymond, “What bothered him was that he “still had sexual feelings for her.” But he wanted to punish her.”(pg.31) At one point in the class discussion Anh pointed out to me that the dog is like the girl, so in the whole book girls are treated as dogs, which goes for Marie, Raymond’s girlfriend and Maman. What I noticed is that in one part of the book it describes that after Old Salamano’s wife past away, he bought the dog. So it became a sign that the dog was to replace his wife. Then another discussion brought up was that Marie was to replace Maman, so this concludes that girls are treated as dogs. Camus’ purpose in the book was to describe how people hide there emotions but they show it in other forms. Meursault who seems as if he doesn’t care about Maman’s death, could be hiding his emotions to not bring up the subject to cause even more grief, by going out with Marie. Or how Old Salamano treats his dog so bad, maybe it’s to show his anger at the lost of his wife. Camus’ technique in writing that all in the book was good, he hid how these characters show there emotions in different ways that are confusing to us readers. The book is great as you read, then as you take a deep analysis of the book you realize that there is more to the writing, which is the characteristics of each character.
When Jameel was speaking, he mentioned that the sun symbolized his guilt. The sun would follow him during changing points of his life. In The stranger by Albert Camus Monsieur Mearsault the main character of the novel states “The sun was starting to burn my cheeks, and I could feel drops of sweat gathering in my eyebrows.” page 58. This was right before he had shot the Arab four times. Monsieur Meursault only talks about the sun when there is something serious occurring or when something serious is about to happen. He only talks about the sun when his unconscious feelings are trying to come out. He fights it; it feels like the sun symbolizes his guilt burning him up inside. “The sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under my skin.” page 59. Whenever Monsieur Meursault is talking about the sun he is always talking bad about it. He is annoyed with the sun. The sun follows him like his guilt wherever he goes. It symbolizes Mearsault guilt for his mother. He has guilt of putting her in a nursing home. But he would rather move away from it and pretend it wasn’t there then to endure it. “ I knew it was stupid, that I wouldn’t get the sun off me by stepping forward. But I took a step, one step, forward. page.59. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get away from the sun but all he could do was try. He knew it was stupid to even try to get away, because there was no way out. Just like his guilt they play the same role. There is no escaping his guilt, no way out but he still try’s knowing he can’t.
When mike was speaking he talked about how on page 19 how meursault doesn’t care about his mother’s death. Shannon comments to that by saying that meaursalut feels guilty about putting her in the home, but not about the fact that he went on a date the next day after her death. I think that this contradiction could relate to what Meaursault says on page 11. In the first paragraph he says: “Finally I realized that some of the old people were sucking at the insides of their cheeks and making these weird smacking noises. They were so lost in their thoughts that they weren’t even aware of it. I even had the impression that the dead woman lying in front of them didn’t mean anything to them.” That is ironic because on page 8 he says: “…but I hesitated, because I didn’t know if I could do it with Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn’t matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked.” I think that what Shannon said and the paragraph on page 11 are connected because Meaursault seems to get upset when he sees people disrespecting his mother’s death but when it comes to him, whatever he does is ok or excused. What he did in front of his mother’s body was worse than what the elderly people were doing. What the elderly people were doing wasn’t even bad in the first place. At least they came to pay her respect, on page 5 he says: “For the first few days she was at the home she cried a lot. But that was because she wasn’t used to it. A few months later and she would have cried if she’d been taken out. She was used to it. That’s partly why I didn’t go there much this past year. And also because it took up my Sunday--not to mention the trouble of getting to the bus, buying tickets, and spending two hours traveling.” here he is basically saying that he never bothered visiting his mother because it was a waste of time. But in some way I still believe that he did feel upset about his mother’s death but it’s just that he didn’t know how to show it. He would only get flashbacks that would remind him of his mother when he would see some one upset or crying like when Salmano lost his dog, because that was something he didn’t do for her.
When mike was speaking he talked about how on page 19 how meursault doesn’t care about his mother’s death. Shannon comments to that by saying that meaursalut feels guilty about putting her in the home, but not about the fact that he went on a date the next day after her death. I think that this contradiction could relate to what Meaursault says on page 11. In the first paragraph he says: “Finally I realized that some of the old people were sucking at the insides of their cheeks and making these weird smacking noises. They were so lost in their thoughts that they weren’t even aware of it. I even had the impression that the dead woman lying in front of them didn’t mean anything to them.” That is ironic because on page 8 he says: “…but I hesitated, because I didn’t know if I could do it with Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn’t matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked.” I think that what Shannon said and the paragraph on page 11 are connected because Meaursault seems to get upset when he sees people disrespecting his mother’s death but when it comes to him, whatever he does is ok or excused. What he did in front of his mother’s body was worse than what the elderly people were doing. What the elderly people were doing wasn’t even bad in the first place. At least they came to pay her respect, on page 5 he says: “For the first few days she was at the home she cried a lot. But that was because she wasn’t used to it. A few months later and she would have cried if she’d been taken out. She was used to it. That’s partly why I didn’t go there much this past year. And also because it took up my Sunday--not to mention the trouble of getting to the bus, buying tickets, and spending two hours traveling.” here he is basically saying that he never bothered visiting his mother because it was a waste of time. But in some way I still believe that he did feel upset about his mother’s death but it’s just that he didn’t know how to show it. He would only get flashbacks that would remind him of his mother when he would see some one upset or crying like when Salmano lost his dog, because that was something he didn’t do for her.
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