due: December 20th, 2008
For this Essay on Albert Camus’ The Stranger, you need to combine two passage explications to create an original thesis.
- You need to title the paper.
- One passage needs to be from Part 1 and one passage needs to be from Part 2.
- This should be 4-6 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman.
A passage explication is an essay that takes apart the pieces of a prose passage to demonstrate how it creates meaning – its main question can be reduced to the simple idea of “What does the passage mean? What is its purpose? How does it create that meaning and achieve its purpose? How does it fit in with the rest of the text(if available)?” The creation of meaning comes through literary techniques, like simile and metaphor, through argument, through imagery, and through word choice.
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EXPLICATION PASSAGES FROM CAMUS’S THE STRANGER
In the novel The Stranger of Albert Camus, this novel is about the main character Meursault and his behaviors. This novel is called The Stranger because Meursault reactions and behaviors is so strange to others normal people in the same society. At the beginning of the novel, Meursault doesn’t care for anyone around him as well as his mother. He doesn’t how his respectful at his mother funeral and he also got the punishments as the tragic hero. He deals with his downfall by himself. At the end, nobody care for him, he still a stranger to his society.
The passage when Meursault comes to the court for the second trial, he feels dizzy and he can’t see the observer’s faces, the author suggests that Meursault won’t able to defend himself during the court. Meursault is being accused but he doesn’t realize it. He just wants to see the court going on and excited about it. Albert Camus using this passage as the turn point to set Meursault up as the tragic hero. He can’t see when he in the courtroom because at that time Meursault turned to the tragic hero.
Camus suggests that Meursault can’t see his own future. “I look around the courtroom again but I couldn’t make out a single face.” Meursault couldn’t see the people in the courtroom, because he doesn’t know who are those people and where did they come from. The only thing he knows is they come to see the process of execution. He doesn’t understand why did those people come to see his execution while they don’t pay attention to him.
Camus used the word “club” to describe the observers at the courtroom. “I noticed then that everyone was waving and exchanging greeting and talking, as if that were in a club where people are glad to find themselves among others from the same world”(84). People comes to the court not because Meursault is important to him, it is because Meursault case is one of the entertainment to them. They like to see the accusation process and excited about the out come. They “glad” to see each other again, they know each other in the court room and they have the same hobbies. Meursault likes a stranger who they don’t care because he didn’t come from the same as world as they did. Meursault also knows that he is being left of those people in the courtroom. This is related to the novel that through the whole book, Meursault still a stranger to every one. This passage of Camus creates the emotion to the reader. It makes the reader felt pity for the tragic hero which is so different at the beginning of the book. Meursault used to be a character who didn’t give any good impression to other people.
Meursault meets the reporter who is friendly, speak to him and, hope that Meursault will be fine during the court. “yet the reporter turned and spoke to me with a smile. He told me that he hoped everything would for well for me. I thanked him.”(84). The fact is the reporter doesn’t care about Meursault. All the reporter wanted is the news that come from Meursault’s case. Meursault doesn’t notice the reporter’s purposes, he even says thanks the reporter who was laughing at his innocent face. Then the reporter turned to different direction right away. This shown the unnecessary of Meursault to the reporter. The reporter said “ actually, he didn’t come because of you. But since they assigned him to cover the parricide trial, they asked him to send a dispatch about your case at the same time”. Everyone didn’t come because of Meursault, they comes for the news and entertainment from his case.
Camus uses the two passages to compare Meursault’s character. The way Camus writes the novel makes the readers have different emotions toward the main character. In part two, Camus give the reader the feeling of pity to the character Meursault through his reaction at the courtroom. But in part one, Meursault is a totally different person. He is a careless, and lack of greed and he doesn’t give any good impression to other people around him.
The passage when Meursault attends his mother funeral. Camus shows the reader how Meursault’s attitude toward his mother‘s funeral. He waited for other people to come into the funeral room. Meursault doesn’t care how people look at him, he doesn’t has any respect to his own mother. He sits there and closes his eyes. “Because I’d had my eyes closed, the whiteness of the room seemed eve brighter than before. There wasn’t a shadow anywhere in front of me, and every object, every angle and curve stood out so sharply it made my eyes hurt.” When Meursault opens his eyes, he sees the room become whiter because of the sun light shined into the room, flashed to his eyes, so he can’t see any shadow. The object angel and curve stood out sharply which like the symbol of the knife. It is related to the climax of this novel. When Meursault walks on the beach, he saw the Arab hold the knife, which reflect the sunlight to Meursault eyes. It was the motive for Meursault to kill the Arab guy.
Meursault view other people like gosh. Camus does this through describe the how the old people come into the funeral room. “There were about ten in all, and they floated into the blinding light without a sound. They sat down without a single chair creaking” those people mean nothing to Meursault. He doesn’t for anyone else, even his own mother.
When everyone sit the room, Meursault see the other people face clearly and details. At that moment, Meursault is not yet a tragic hero. He can see and understand what is happening around him. “I saw them more clearly then I had ever seen anyone, and not one detail of their faces or their clothes escapes me.” At that time, Meursault can sees everyone clearly, even their clothes and every single detail of their clothes. It is important because I sympathies opposite characteristics of Meursault throughout the novel.
Camus has use the different characteristics to apply on the main character, Meursault. The lack of greed and carelessness of Meursault leads him to his down fall. even though he is a innocent person. This novel also bring up the subject of love between mother and son. Meursault was being accused some how because he killed the Arab guy., but mostly they judged him by how did he react at his mother funeral. Camus want to make the carelessness of the son to his mother as the criminal.
The Stranger
Part One
In the passage where Meursault is talking to Marie about Salamano growling at his dog, Albert Camu suggests that Meursault is only interested in everything physical, nothing emotional or anything else that has another meaning, only its physical attributes. He then starts to describe some physical features about Marie, such as the pajamas that she was wearing, and how he wanted to kiss her after she asked if he loved her and said “he didn’t think so”. Even though she showed signs of being upset by what Meursault has said, he didn’t seem to care much, even though he was aware of what he has said and saw how she was effected by it, still he rather prefer physical feelings over love.
This passage is about how Meursault deals with all kinds of relationships he goes threw, such as the people he meets, certain situation he must under go and problems he must solve. One example of this is Marie, which is his love interest or someone he goes to just for his physical needs. This is saying that Meursault needs the physical contact, because it’s the only thing that interests him and if it was anything else, he wouldn’t want anything to do with it because it doesn’t interests him. One might say he uses this “Physical Contact” as an escape from something, he doesn’t want to face, or he could even be scared of confronting whatever that might be. Camu establishes his point threw Meursault and his actions. When Meursault say’s “When she laughed I wanted her again. 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. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her.” This shows how even given the opportunity for love, that he doesn’t really care much for it, and would rather be “kissing” or “wanting” Marie. Camu tells us this in forms of detail and imagery, such as when he is describing that Marie is wearing Meursault’s Pajamas with the sleeves rolled up or how the way she laughs in such a way that it made Meursault want to kiss her. Camu then resolves his point threw the actions of Meursault, like when he kissed Marie, because of the way she laughed.
Some of the literary techniques used in this passage were the imagery and detail of some of the scenes going on in this passage. Another literary technique was a simile and I have an example to go with this, “But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her”. This compares the laugher that she showed and the kiss that he gave her, which both connect to a form of emotion, which is ironic, sense Meursault doesn’t care much for emotion. This passage fits in with the rest because of its effect it has on both characters, Marie and Meursault in the rest of the novel, such as when Meursault is sent to prison for killing the Arab and Meursault wishes he could touch Marie, but can not because of the situation he put himself in. The purpose this passage severs is to show us how he feels about Marie or what he wants from her, like when he she laughs, he kept saying he wanted her the first time, and the second time he kissed her. Something about Marie’s laugh Meursault is attracted to.
Now I’m going to explain step by step what Meursault does in the passage I broke down. After Marie came over to have some lunch with Meursault, he went downstairs to get some meat. On his way back upstairs he herd Salamano growling at his dog, then he went to go tell Marie about what he herd happening. She laughed and then he started describing what she was wearing, “She was wearing a pair of my pajamas with the sleeves rolled up”. I noticed he got into detail when he was talking about it, like saying how the pajamas had rolled up sleeves, almost like he has more then one pair of pajamas, which probably means he does, sense he is describing a certain feature on the pajamas, because if he had one pair of pajamas, he would have probably said “She was wearing my pajamas” instead of “She was wearing a pair of my pajamas”, thus telling us he has more then one pair of pajamas. Marie then laughed again, and Meursault said “I wanted her again”. Not to long after, Marie then asked Meursault if he loved her. He responded with an “It doesn’t mean anything, but I don’t think so”. Marie then looked upset or “sad” as Meursault put it. His mind then focused on fixing lunch for that second, and then he noticed she laughed again, for no apparent reason, he kissed her because the way she laughed some how interested him, and possibly turned him on, which is why he would kiss her. Going back to the laughs, Meursault seem to notice this a lot with Marie, about 3 times he talked about her laugh. Marie’s first laugh was at the beginning of the passage, “I told Marie all about the old man and she laughed”. Her second laugh was the third sentence in, “When she laughed I wanted her again”. Finally, at the end of the passage, her last laugh was, “But as were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way, that I kissed her”. I think that these laughs have very important meaning for Meursault, like these laughs might symbolize joy, something he seems he has never really had, even though most the time he seems pretty content, but not necessarily happy.
In Conclusion, I think the reason why Meursault is fond of the physical tension he as with Marie, is because of the relationship it reminds him of, like a mother to son relationship, with the mother always caring, loving, doing things for the child, such as cooking, cleaning, and so on, and I think Meursault finds a motherly relationship within Marie, because when his mother died, even though he doesn’t show it, he probably does miss her and what she stood for, and he finds this relationship one has with there mother, threw Marie and this is how I believe this is an important passage in the novel.
Part Two
In the passage where Marie went to visit Meursault in prison on the account of him killing the Arab guy, Albert Camu suggests Meursault screwed up by killing this guy, because whatever he hoped to have with Marie, he now can’t because he is stuck in prison, and later finds out he isn’t getting out, but actually going to pay for his actions with his life. Meursault can’t even satisfy his craving for physical contact with Marie, because of his actions, that funny thing is, he doesn’t seem to show many signs of regret after getting to the place where he is now. Marie is sitting in front of Meursault, in-between them a gate, separating prisoner form visitor. The room they are in is crowded and surrounded by other prisoners and their visitors. In order to talk, they must yell across to each other, because of all the other visitors and prisoners doing the same. Marie attempted to start a conversation, but it ended quickly, probably because of the noise around them. After listening to a conversation going on right next to them, Marie attempted to start another conversation. Meursault then started to notice physical features Marie had, “I was looking at her as she said it and I wanted to squeeze her shoulders through her dress. I wanted to feel the thin material and I didn’t really know what else I had to hope for other then that”. This is connected to part 1, where he was talking about how he wanted Marie and kissed her because of her laugh. This scene of the passage shows the physical tension he wants, is still there, just like it was in the last passage, except the only difference is that he can’t have it this time, because of what he got himself into. He also says he didn’t really know what else he had to hope for, besides the touching, and sense it’s the closest thing to making him happy, he is actually getting a true dose of misery. Marie then says “You’ll get out and we’ll get married!” and he answers “You think so?” but only says it because he didn’t know what else to say, thus showing he still could care less about emotions.
I believe this passage is about how Meursault screwed up his chance to be with Marie or his friends, or to be free for a matter of fact. He could be with Marie, getting married, making her happy, and getting all the physical attention he wants, most likely making him happy, yet by killing the Arab, he took that all away from himself. Marie being a fine example of all the things he looses after committing this crime, even if it wasn’t premeditated, this is basically saying all chance he ever had, is no gone. Camu establishes his point threw Marie. She is basically everything Meursault wants and cares about, and just like the gate that is separating them, so is his own actions that is separating him from her and everything else he cares about. Just like part 1, he establishes this threw detail and imagery, such as when he is talking about wanting to squeeze her shoulders or feel the thin material. Camu then resolves the point threw Marie, who tries to make things sound better by telling him he’ll get and that they will get married, but most likely he knows he wont, just from the lack of having something to say.
Some of the literary techniques used here are imagery, just like part 1 and foreshadowing, “I wanted to feel the thin material and I didn’t really know what else I had to hope for other then that”. This is hitting that Meursault’s future didn’t look good, like he had nothing else to look forward to in the future, which was true, because at the time he didn’t know if he was still going to stay in prison for a little while or for the rest of his life of if he was going to die or not, but ultimately we all know he die’s because of what he has done, an eye for an eye is how this could be looked at. This passage fits in perfect with the text around it, because it shows us that what he wants now, what he is seeing now (which would be Marie) he will never be able to have that again, because of the killing of the Arab guy, and it affects his future and his life from here on out in the rest of the text. The purpose that this passage serves is to teach a lesson, and that lesson is, when you have something good and life and you take it for grated, don’t do something to mess that up, because then you realize how much you where grateful for that style you lived, even if you took it for grated and you don’t get second chances or you can’t reverse time.
I will now explain the step by step process of what happened in this passage that I broke down. After Marie shouted to Meursault about Raymond giving his regards, he got distracted by the people around him, only to come back to focusing on Marie again, noticing what she was wearing, and that he wanted to “Squeeze her shoulders through her dress”. He didn’t really know what else to hope for besides that. Because of him knowing what he did, he knew things where going to be bad from there on out, but e did have hope, but it wasn’t enough. He then realized that was when Marie meant and noticed she continued smiling; probably hoping she could help Meursault feel better, because of where he was and all, but didn’t really help much anyways. He then went back to look focusing back on the “Sparkle on her teeth and the little fold of her eyes”. Marie thought she could symbolize some kind of hope for him, but since Meursault doesn’t see things like that it wouldn’t of helped him, even though Marie does love Meursault, even if he doesn’t love her back and she wants to do everything she can to help him in some way, because I can imagine she feels pretty helpless not being able to do anything for the one she loves, so all she can really do is wish him well and have hope. Marie then shouts “You’ll get out of her and we’ll get married!” and Meursault answers with “You think so?” and then tells us that he only said it because there was nothing much else to say. Now I think the responses that Meursault has “You think so” has to do with the mother-son relationship topic I talked about in passage one, with the mother being in place for Marie and the son, being Meursault where the mother takes care of the son, telling him she loves him and everything will be okay, and that is basically what Marie is doing right here, while Meursault has a childish way of responding to it, like as a kid would respond to the mother saying everything is going to be okay.
In Conclusion, I think this passage is important in the novel because it shows us form how things where good for him in part 1 to how he lost everything and now it’s all bad, which is part 2 of the essay. This passage is important because it shows how he had everything he wanted, and took it for granted like it was all going to be the same tomorrow, and then he puts himself in a situation where that all changes, and his life is even on the line because of the actions he took. So basically this showed us not to take things for granted because if you mess it up, there is not going to be another chance to change things, unlike Meursault, and this is how I think this is important passage in the novel.
Nicke Falaise
Period 2
12/18/07
Passage Explication Assignment – CAMUS
In The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays Monsieur Meursault, the narrator and the protagonist of the novel, as an individual who does not express much feeling in relationships or during emotional situations. Then the character Monsieur Meursault finds a better and more caring version of him within himself. He became a person who feels emotion and has a conscious
Monsieur Meursault doesn’t think much about events or their consequences. He demonstrates no emotion over his mother’s death. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I do not know. I got a telegram from the home.” (Part 1, Chapter 1, pg. 3)
He hears of his mother death and from the tone the author Albert Camus tries to create is it is as if Meursault doesn’t even care about his mother’s death and is not even faced by it.
"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." (Part 1, Chapter 2, pg. 24)
It appears again in this passage taken from The Stranger the uncharismatic tone of Meursault the author is trying to express is seen through the eyes of the reader. Camus put these expressions of symbolism within these passages to give the reader a picture of Monsieur Meursault character in there minds. When Monsieur Meursault reacts this way in these few life changing events he shows no emotion whatsoever making the reader hate him. Later when continuing to read the novel the reader then sees a change in Monsieur Meursault character which is the key point I believe the author, Albert Camus wanted to make. He wanted to take this heartless character that is unlikable to the reader and then change the characters prospective on life. He gives and teaches the reader that very lesson. It teaches them to look outside of misery and heartlessness and see a light for a change to understanding and faith.
"On my way out, I was even going to shake his [the policeman's] hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man." (Part 2, Chapter 1, pg. 64)
This is the first time the author Albert Camus gives the character Monsieur Meursault any hint of remorse for the killing of the Arab. He even gives Monsieur Meursault the courteous to think of someone other than himself, the police man. He did so by making Monsieur Meursault think no to even shake an officers hand that been sitting through his trial. Monsieur Meursault is embarrassed and Camus wants the reader to see that.
"And the more I thought about it, the more I dug out my memory things I had overlooked or forgotten. I realized then that a man who had lived only one day could easily live for a hundred years in prison. He would have enough memories to keep him from being bored. In a way, it was an advantage." (Part 2, Chapter 2, pg. 79)
Here expressed in this quote Monsieur Meursault is at a realization that he can have some sort of hope in this prison cell he is subjected to by looking back upon his memories. Camus gives Monsieur Meursault hope. He gives Monsieur Meursault hope to caring on in this low state that he has to endure. This is a way Albert Camus gives Monsieur Meursault emotion.
"...for the first time in years, I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me." (Part 2, Chapter 3, pg. 90)
In this part of the novel Monsieur Meursault has a surprising urge to cry. At this point in the novel Meursault has made a very progressive amount of change within is character. Camus has expressed this in the novel slowly but surly. In my opinion it is to bring the reader to get the something back that they can take from themselves.
"As if that blind rage has washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, I that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much life myself - so like a brother, really - I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." Part 2, (Chapter 5, pg. 122-3)
These are the final sentences closing the book the author Albert Camus leaves the reader with the impression that Monsieur Meursault has done a complete change in his character. He’s become more open and filled with emotions to the great predicament that he is in. When Monsieur Meursault states that he has opened himself to the gentle indifference of the world that’s when a drastic change from emotionless human being to human being with emotion is made. When he states “I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” I felt that Camus was giving the reading the complete journey I into the mind of the character Monsieur Meursault from all the small transitions to the greatest transition of all.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays Monsieur Meursault, the narrator and the protagonist of the novel, as an individual who does not express much feeling in relationships or during emotional situations. Then the character Monsieur Meursault finds a better and more caring version of him within himself. He became a person who feels emotion and has a conscious. Through these passages taken from the novel that is seen.
the stranger
There have been situation in life where humans have conflict with nature or when she causes their lives to into a different direction. In the book The Stranger Camus creates a theme of human verses nature by displaying Meursault’s conflict with the sun. The sun brings discomfort and stress to Meursault that it leads him to difficult positions.
In the passage when Meursault is at the beach with the sun burning him and irritating him, then he sees the Arab and decides to approach him, when he approaches close enough the Arab attacks but at that same instant the sweat drips into his eyes and is blinded all due to the sun. He pulls out a gun and kills the Arab with 1 shot and fire 4 more out of anger. Camus suggests that the sun overburdens Meursault and causes him to encounter difficult positions. Camus displays this idea through the use of the sun when it is in conjunction with Meursault.
In the beginning of the passage Meursault says “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.” Meursault claims that he should have turn away and left but could not because the sun and its heat on the beach was pushing him forward into a difficult position of conflict with the Arab. There is this imagery of the whole beach under the burning sun that Camus uses and for Meursault he is overburden by the sun covering the whole beach that he has no choice but to go where it’s pushing him, into conflict and if he resists it, there will more burden on him. This is Camus display of the sun overburdening Meursault and how it causes him to encounter difficult positions.
Next, Meursault says “the sun was starting to burn my cheeks and I could feel drops of sweat gathering in my eyebrows. 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.” when the sun burns Meursault, he feels pain and he can’t bare it, that is how Camus displays the sun overburdening Meursault. And when he decides to move forward because of the sun, that is how Camus displays that the sun causes him to encounter difficult positions because he is moving toward conflict with the Arab.
Then when Meursault approaches the Arab, the Arab draws a knife out to prepare to attack and at the same instant Meursault is blinded by sweat that drips into his eyes, now remember the sweat is due to the sun, so the Arab attacked and slashed his eyelashes and stabbed his eyes and all Meursault could do was take out the gun and fire thus killing the Arab. So the sun overburdens Meursault because it creates the sweat that drips into his eyes which almost kills him. The sun causes him to encounter a difficult position that is about to be his death but luckily he escapes by help from his gun, and put him in another difficult position which is murder.
In the previous passage Meursault kills the Arab and claims that it is because of the sun that he does it, because it keeps pushing him forward to the Arab and he since he can not bare the sun anymore he goes forward to the Arab as the sun commands and ends killing the Arab. After he is taken to jail for killing the Arab, in jail Meursault waits for the day of his trail and then on that day the sun comes back and hunts him there too, it causes him discomfort and stress that he even tells the court that it was due to the sun that he murdered the Arab, the court just laughs at him saying it is nonsense. Thus Meursault finds him self in a difficult position again. But then when the sun starts to leave Meursault starts to calm down.
In the passage when Meursault mentions the sun getting low outside and the place not being hot any more while he is waiting for the decision of the judge and the jury. Then he looks at the robot woman, and she reminds him of Marie, so he looks at Marie and she smiles to him but his heart feels nothing, Camus suggests that Meursault is not overburdened any more due to the heat of the sun. Camus displays this idea through a tone change because in this passage the tone is calm while in the previous passages the tone was stressful and uncomfortable.
When the passage begins Camus displays a tone change through Meursault saying “meanwhile, the sun was getting low outside and it wasn’t hot anymore. I sensed the sweetness of the evening coming on.” Meursault hates the sun because the sun’s heat always cause discomfort for him, so when he is being questioned in court, he is irritated by the sun and the heat that he can not focus, he does not even notice his friends. But when the sun starts to leave and the heat leaves and goes he is able to focus better, he becomes calm, which indicated a tone change created by Camus.
Next, Meursault looks around the room and sees the people who are there at his trail and he realizes that everything is the same as the first day. For Meursault to realize that nothing has changed with the court, there must be a change in the tone, because before in the previous passages of this chapter while he is in court, he is stressed and irritated by the heat of the sun that he can not see everything is the same as the next, until in this passage where the tone changes due to the sun leaving and he starts to calm down and he is able to see that nothing has changed, it is all the same that he is going to be punished no matter what.
Then Meursault looks around the room again and sees the robot woman and this woman reminded him of someone important, he says “my eyes met those of the robot woman. That reminded me that I hadn’t tried to catch Marie’s eye once during the whole trail”. He looks and sees her sitting with Celeste and Raymond. She smiles at him but his heart feels nothing. There is a tone shift here because before the sun left, it was overburdening to Meursault that he was stressed and in discomfort that he did not notice his friends sitting in court with him and especially Marie; a woman he was supposed to marry. But now that the sun has left with its heat, he is able to think about Marie and his other friends Celeste and Raymond. The tone has changed but Meursault has not because he is still has the not caring personality because Marie smiles at him and he just doesn’t care that is why his heart feels nothing.
In conclusion Camus creates a theme of human verse nature and he displays it by using Meursault conflict with the sun during the scene at the beach while in confrontation with the Arab and when he is in court at his trial with the sun out bothering and torturing him that he feels discomfort and stress, then when the sun goes down and he is able to calm down. Meursault has conflict with sun maybe because his personality is murky while the sun is bright with light so making them opposites, which are dark and light.
The Stranger Explication
In the passage, when Marie talks to Meursault about marriage, the author Albert Camus suggests that marriage is not as important as society makes it seem.
When Marie proposes to Meursault, Albert Camus establishes his point by word choice. He expresses his feeling about marriage by replying with short answers. Another way, Camus establishes his point is by tone. Meursault has an attitude towards Marie when she brings up the topic of marriage. The marriage proposal connects with the topic on how Meursault disrespects women with this quote, “She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved with in the same way. I said “Sure.”” The purpose of this passage is to show the audience how Meursault feels about a serious relationship with Marie. Camus uses the word “then” to describe every single moment in the passage.
The passage begins with telling the audience the first thing that happened when Marie went to see Meursault at his apartment which is the marriage proposal. Meursault is giving Marie the choice of choosing what is going to happen because it makes no difference for him. After that, Meursault states he probably does not love Marie. Marie should get the point that marriage is not important to him but she still wants to anyway. Marie thinks marriage is a serious thing and Meursault disagrees. Meursault seems to not want Marie to be right, he always wants to disagree, or be careless. Meursault would have accepted the same proposal from another woman and that does not bother Marie. She questions if she loves him but she is still taking a risk of marriage with Meursault. Meursault talks about the job offer he got to go to Paris and Marie wants to go because she has never been there. Meursault says he’s been there and it is dirty. He looked at the negative side of a place that is supposed to be exciting and enjoyable. Camus shows this by the attitude that Meursault gave Marie when she suggests marriage. Meursault is viewed as a weirdly rude person in this passage.
There are many ways to connect this moment in the book with other parts of the book. Marie’s character somewhat changes from the beginning to the end of the book. In the beginning she is patient with Meursault’s ways and she has much hope. Towards the end when she visits Meursault in prison, it seems like she does it just because she feels obligated to since she said she would marry Meursault.
The part that connects the most is when Marie is visiting Meursault once again and again she mentions marriage. “She shouted again, “You’ll get out and we’ll get married!” I answered, “You think so?” but it was mainly just to say something.” The point Camus is trying to make is that Meursault still acts like a little kid. He needs someone to take care of him and can not make decisions for himself. He answered Marie just to say something. He doesn’t mean anything he says. This passage shows that Marie symbolizes someone who will take care of Meursault. Maybe she will replace his mother. Marie has a mother figure throughout the book, she has so much love for Meursault but he is careless. By the end, Marie visits Meursault but soon she stops. She wants to marry him but of course there is no more hope for them since Meursault is going to die. Marie held on to Meursault and kept going just like a mother would with their son. It is like when a child grows up you have to finally let them go. That is what Marie is doing in the end.
In the passage, Camus goes back and forth on ideas. The beginning is all about people shouting to each other back and forth because of the other visits going on around them. Then, Camus focuses the audience’s attention to Meursault and Marie speaking. Then again, back to everyone around Meursault. Also, Meursault would pay attention to what Marie is saying then start talking about the man next to him and the women that is next to Marie. It is a passage that jumps from one scene to the other. In the passage, Meursault’s tone shifts. When he talks about the people around him he is observant like a little kid and he wonders. But, when he talks about what Marie is saying he seems annoyed and is just listening because she is there.
Between these two passages it is seen that Meursault could care less about marriage. He acts like a little kid and Marie is like a mother. Meursault doesn’t care about marriage because it is not important to him. Society makes it seem important but its not. He is just trying to make Marie happy. Marie could symbolize society’s views. She is a regular person and lives in society; she values marriage like society does. But, in the court room she was against what society thought because she didn’t want Meursault to die. But, she had to deal with it and couldn’t say anything to defend him. This goes back to Marie also being like Meursault’s mother. Soon, your parents can’t take the blame for everything you do and can’t protect you like they have all your life. This shows that Marie had to move on with her life and forget about Meursault. It is like reality hit her in the courtroom. All of that explains Marie somewhat replacing Meursault’s mother and could also relate to how he doesn’t believe in god. Marie had hope for Meursault, basically all that he didn’t do and didn’t care about, she did and she care about. Camus made Marie’s character so the audience could see the true side of Meursault and see how Meursault reacts with others. Also, Camus could have created the character of Marie just to help Meursault throughout everything that is going on. In conclusion, both passages show how Marie represents society and Meursault keeps looking like a horrible figure to society.
Johanna Rodas English 12 CP
Period 1
The Explication of The Stranger
In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the passage when Meursault goes to the beach after his mother’s death and the passage when Meursault is in prison imagining himself at the beach connect, because the beach is very significant to Meursault. It shows that the beach is the place where Meursault goes to relieve from his problems that are going on in his life. The beach symbolizes peace and comfort to Meursault throughout the novel.
In the passage when Meursault goes to the beach after his mother’s death and meets Marie Cardona, the author Albert Camus suggests that Meursault doesn’t fully understand what happened to his Maman because instead of showing sadness he is more likely to go out and celebrate with friends as if something good has just happened. The purpose that the author, Albert Camus was trying to deliver was that Meursault was in search of a new mother like figure. The way Meursault was with Marie it showed that he was using her so that he wouldn’t realize the truth about his Mamans death. By Meursault lying on Marie’s stomach while they were in the water symbolizes a child in their mother’s womb. It’s a difficult meaning to grasp but if you read the passage slowly and break it down you will understand what Albert Camus was trying to symbolize. Even though Meursault just buried his mother he was going out as if nothing had happened. The author Albert Camus describes Meursault as a child because children take a while to process and understand when something wrong is going on or has happened. Meursault has more of a child’s mind then a fully grown adult’s mind that he should have. Meursault starts off by saying that “he had a hard time getting up” but his reason was because he was tired from the night before. Meursault doesn’t show that he was upset or heartbroken because of his mother’s death. Meursault’s mindset about the whole situation was: it happened it happened so what, cant change the past, which is hard to realize because the lady that gave him life had just past away. Meursault goes to the beach and sees a former typist that he knew named Marie Cardona. Meursault was flirting back and forth with Marie, but throughout it all he doesn’t show any grief towards his Maman death. It’s more like he is just going out enjoying himself with a new female he has met. Meursault was getting really close and flirtatious with Marie so much so that it may make you believe that he was only getting so close because he needed the comfort of another person on his life really fast. Meursault talks about “feeling Marie’s heart beat softly” which shows that he was connecting with her throughout his time with her at the beach. Through the good connection between Meursault and Marie, he asked her to accompany him to the movies, she agreed because there was a movie that she had wanted to see. Meursault is trying to overcome his mother’s death by doing things to avoid the situation.
In the first passage Meursault goes to the beach after his Maman death to relieve form everything that is going on at the time and meets Marie Cardona. Throughout the book I portrayed Meursault as a selfish person for not caring about the death of his mother but going to the beach and meeting Marie felt him out. I noticed that Marie and beach helped Meursault from getting down and sad, it kept him up like nothing has happened. Meursault is a very secretive man that likes to keeps his things to himself. In the second passage Meursault is in prison for killing an Arab man at his friend’s beach house. Meursault believes that he is still a free man while in prison because he imagines himself at the beach. The beach is where Meursault can be without feeling judge. Meursault can be Meursault at the beach. The beach shows that its the place where Meursault can go to when he has a lot of things going on in his life. The beach is an important place for Meursault.
In the passage when Meursault is finally realizing that his life is coming to an end and nothings going to change that, the author Albert Camus suggests that Meursault went from believing that he was a free man in jail to realizing that he was a prisoner in jail and that was the truth. The passage is about how Meursault is coming into reality noticing that being in jail is not a walk in the beach on a sunny day. Throughout the begin of Meursault sentence in jail he imagined himself walking through the beach with the sand on his feet. But shortly after a few months Meursault realized that he was a prisoner and that his walks outside of his cell depended on the officer in charge of his unit. The purpose that the author Albert Camus was trying to persuade in this passage was that Meursault was realizing that he didn’t have freedom; his freedom was taken away from him when he entered prison. Meursault didn’t like talking about his life in prison because he found it difficult to speak about, even for anyone talking about their experience in jail could be a hard and a sorrowful subject to talk about. Meursault talks about his hardest moments in jail he says, “When I was first imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man.” Being in prison you don’t want to believe that you been captured and you don’t have no say on anything that happens in your cell unit. I think that people in prison imagine that they are a free man or woman because their sentence can go by faster. In prison believing that you have freedom also helps you not become down and depressed through out their sentence in jail. The beach to Meursault was a place to be free and escape from all the situations in his life. The beach is a place of freedom for Meursault to be himself and have no worries on him. While Meursault is at the beach being himself no one can judge him and say anything negative about the type of person Meursault is throughout the different situations that happen in his life. To Meursault the sound of the waves is like a sound of peace and relief coming into his ears. The waves are a symbol of peace to Meursault. But Meursault realized that he wasn’t a free man no more because he wouldn’t be able to go walking through the beach whenever he wanted to escape his problems in life. He realized that he was a prisoner and that the only walks he would get would be daily walks in the courtyard and visits from his lawyer. Meursault was realizing that his life was a life of a prisoner. Meursault said “I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowering overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it.” Meursault sees his life as if it’s over and there’s nothing he can do about it. To compare your life to living in a trunk of a dead tree shows that you complete gave up in your life because a trunk of a dead tree is just there dead and there’s noting that it can do. Meursault talks about how he waited to see his lawyers ties because its was like another world because of the different colors and shaped and designs on the ties. Meursault spent a lot of his time in his cell thinking about different woman he had something with not only Marie but also other woman. That made Meursault time in his cell go by faster. Prison is an unfair treatment to take away your freedom. Taking away your freedom is the punishment that the jail gives their prisoners. One of the punishment that Meursault had to deal with was cigarettes because Meursault was like addicted to them and they took them away. Time by time Meursault got over his addiction and didn’t look at is a punishment anymore.
Based on the two passages you can understand how the beach means so much to Meursault. Also how Meursault can open up and relate to when he is at the beach. The beach is an important place for Meursault to be at. At the beach Meursault can feel free and it’s a place where he goes to escape from his problems. The beach is a very important place where Meursault can be himself with no one bothering or judging him.
Jalisa Freeman
English 12 CP
Passage Explication Assignment-CAMUS
In the passage when Meursault killed the Arab man, the author Albert Camus suggests that Meursault is a heartless man and does not care about his surroundings. “My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave. I knew 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 lodged without leaving a trace” {pg.59}
Meursault shows know emotion to anything that has happened to him throughout the first part of the book until he changes in the second part of the book The Stranger. Meursault shows know emotion because his mother had past away in the beginning of the book and he had know remorse to thinking everything would be fine, he didn’t care about the Arab or about his feelings towards killing the Arab man. Meursault didn’t understand what was wrong with his attitude towards people and him self until the second part of the book he opened up a little. The author shows the point by word choice because he describes how Meursault had killed the Arab with five bullets and didn’t show his feelings to anybody. Meursault’s personality basically takes over his life and brings him in the wrong direction because it makes him seem as though he is a bad person.
When meursault mentioned about the man he killed he described him as “The Arab”. Camus didn’t give the Arab a name he was just described him as the man who had got into a fight with Raymond and Meursault at the beach. Meursault blamed the killing on the sun because the sun is a symbol in the book. It is mentioned a lot throughout the book because every time the sun comes up Meursault either killed someone or always puts pressure on him and gets him into a bad mood. The sun brings back bad memories of when his mother past causing him anger and anguish.
The second part of the story Meursault starts to open up to other people around him such as his Lawyer even though he doesn’t like him that much, Marie a little because she came to see him at the jail and wants to be his wife and Celeste’ because he was a really good friend to him when his mother past also Raymond because he been there even before he had gotten into the fight. All of these characters are mentioned in the first part of the book but do not start to help him until he is in the courtroom.
In the passage when Meursault is in jail with the examining magistrate and the judge, the author Albert Camus suggests that Meursault is starting to become more open to others and is showing his emotions.
When Meursault starts to show his emotion he is in the jail cell realizing he isn’t getting out of jail. Meursault didn’t express his feelings as much as people wanted him to because he was focusing on the sun. When he started to think about his mother’s death and started to get down about it a lot because he didn’t show what he really thought about the situation. He changed only a little in part two of chapter one. The judge tells Meursault that he didn’t see anyone as hardened as him that Meursault never cried and complained as much as most of the inmates in the jail. This is showing that Meursault is still the same person as before in part two of the book. “In a low voice he said, “I have never seen a soul as hardened as yours. The criminals who have come before me have always wept at the sight of the image of suffering.” {pg.69}
Meursault’s in his jail cell looking at himself as he picks up the metal plate and tries to figure out what he looks like in it, but he starts to turn it around in circles and notices that he doesn’t look the same in the reflection on the plate. He notices that he isn’t the same person he thought he was before he entered that jail. Meursault has changed completely in part two towards the end of the book. The author shows word choice as well in this passage.
The differences between these two passages are how Meursault had changed throughout the whole book. He shows his true feelings when he is going to be put on the death sentence.
Casey Gordon
English Per.1
Explication Passage Assignment
In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Camus leaves Meursault at the end of The Stranger with this thought: “I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”(123) Camus had Meursault say this because Meursault had done something to have the people show up to his execution which they would want to see him die and they would jeer at him in hatred.
In the passage where Meursault sits in his prison cell as he waits for dawn to break and listens for the footsteps of death, Camus suggests that death is inevitable with Meursault contemplating about death. Meursault says, “…having twenty more years of life ahead of me. But I simply had to stifle…I’d be thinking in twenty years when it would all come down to the same thing anyway.”(114) Whether someone lives until he is forty or he lives until sixty, death will still conquer. It does not matter what is done during a lifetime because it will end in death. Camus repeats throughout this passage about it does not matter what one does with his life he will die along with everybody else. He compares Meursault’s life now to what his life would be like twenty years from now. Meursault concludes that its same ending but one life is more dragged out and prolonged then the other.
In the next sentence Meursault continues with, “Since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter.”(114) Camus is using rapidity to get his point across about death being inevitable. In the two passages I have just cited Camus gives Meursault an apathetic tone. Meursault understand he cannot escape death so why care if you are going to die? Why not accept it and embrace? Meursault does embrace the fact that he is going to die. Paradoxically he is happy. A normal human being would be petrified with the fact that they are going to die at this time, this date, this place and not have the ability to fulfill their life long dreams. Meursault on the other hand is completely happy and at peace with the fact the he is going to die. He now knows that his destiny is now complete: he was born, he is living, and then he will die. There is no other purpose for his life. Once he is dead, he is gone, washed away and meaningless. He would be no more than the dirt on the ground. The dirt on the ground would be more of service then Meursault would be when he is dead. But, once Meursault dies he will have a meaning. If the people greet him with the cries of hate he would have made his mark and Meursault would be remembered after his death.
In one part of the passage Meursault speaks about staying up all night until he see the break of day. “All night long, waited patiently for the first light to show on the pane of sky.”(113) Camus uses symbolism comparing the first light on the pane of sky to Meursault’s life. Meursault stay awake all night looking in to the sky, which is dark just like death. If he here foot step before the break of day he dies. But if the day breaks, he sees a new tomorrow. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel. Meursault is surrounded by darkness but all he wishes is to see the light. Meursault also says, “ I’ve never had much of an imagination. But still I would try to picture the exact moment when the beating of my heart would no longer be going inside my head.” (112) Camus wants us to see that Meursault is ready for death. Meursault is doing something very peculiar, he imagines his heart beat stopping. He is imagining himself dying before he actually is dead. This could be a symbol of Meursault feelings at this time of the book. He now knows when and where he is going to die so now he has nothing to do with himself. He is dead to himself and to the world. He may be alive physically but he is dead mentally.
The idea of the inevitability of death in human society is important in relation to the text. Without having Meursault discovering there is no difference in dying at a young age or an older age is not different, would not have the same effect, as just someone saying you die and you cannot stop it. People may think they can escape death, but they can only escape it so many times until it catches up to them.
In The Stranger the author, Albert Camus suggests that when a person’s freedom is taken away from them itmakes them realize characteristics about themselves which they wouldn’t have noticedbefore..Camus does this by showing how Meursault’s attitude shifts from when he was a free man to when he is put to jail and faced with the reality of the death sentence.
In the passage in the first part of the novel when Meursault is having dinner at Celeste’s and a “strange little woman” sits at his table Camus sets a paradox by having Meursault find this lady strange when he is so peculiar himself. As Meursault is observing this woman he is intrigued by her actions. In the beginning of the passage she is already being described as someone who doesn’t waste time, “She called Celeste over and ordered her meal all at once, in a voice that was clear and very fast at the same time.”, and as someone who knows what she wants. While Meursault is describing her the pace seems to pick up and becomes rushed. Camus does this by using short phrases”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 down on the table in front of her.”
Meursault is taken back by all of this. Unlike himself this woman has a purpose and her life
is planned ahead. “She again took out her bag and blue pencil and a magazine that listed radio programs for the week. One by one, and with great care, she checked off almost every program.”
Throughout the novel everything in Meursault’s life happens by chance. “Then she stood up, put her jacket back on with the same robot like movements, and left.”
“I didn’t have anything to do so I left too and followed her for a while, She had positioned
herself right next to the curb and was making her way with incredible speed and assurance, never once swerving or looking around.” This is the first time in the novel that Meursault was so interested about someone that he goes out of his way to go after them.
Even though these two characters seem different they are very similar in the way that they
are both robot like, especially Meursault. He is also seen by other people as strange because of his actions. For example, the way he acted towards his mother’s death, how he killed a man for no
reason, and how his relationship with Marie is. The tone in which he talks about certain situations
he goes through in his life is very mechanical. It feels as though most of what he is describing are just facts. The woman symbolizes Meursault’s reflection and how he is a stranger to himself.
In the second part when Meursault is in the jail cell and he looks at himself with a tin plate Camus suggests that Meursault saw his true reflection. “One day when the guard told me that I’d
been in for five month, I believed it, but I didn’t understand it. For me it was one and the same unending day that was unfolding in my cell and the same thing I was trying to do.” At the jail cell his life has become one unending day. Everything that happens now in his life is planned out for him by someone else. Nothing can happen by “chance” because everything that will happen is already determined by someone else.
“That day after the guard had left I looked at myself in my tin plate My reflection seemed
to remain serious even though I was trying to smile at it. I moved the plate around in front of me.” Him turning the plate around symbolizes the one unending day that will just keep going on and on until his death. And it also symbolizes how the lives of everyone around him will still go on and eventually forget him. “I smiled and it still had the same sad, stern expression.” At that moment he realizes the seriousness of the situation he put himself into and for the same time he speaks about emotion. His expression was sad. Even with his mother’s death sadness is mentioned, so for Meursault this is all very new for him.
“It was near the end of the day, the time of day I don’t like talking about, that nameless hour when the sounds of evening would rise up from every floor of the prison in a cortege of silence.”Camus personifies silence by describing it as a funeral procession. Meursault feels as
though everything around him reminds him of his death. He realizes that there’s nothing he can do anymore to change was has been done.
“I gazed at my reflection one more time. I was still serious-and what was surprising about that, since that moment I was too?” This realization is what sparks some emotion into him and it’s the beginning of the change of character he goes through in jail. He changes from being robotic to
human. What Meursault is trying to show is that experiences a person goes through makes them realize certain aspects about themselves which they wouldn’t have known before. “Then I remembered what the nurse at Maman’s funeral said. No, there was no way out, and no one can imagine what nights in prison are like.”For example, death which is something Meursault is faced with.
These two passages relate to each other because they both go back to Meursault’s reflection and how he looks at himself as a stranger. Also it shows how his life changed from being free and full of chance to monotonous and planned out by a system created by another person. Similar to the way the robot lady planned out her life and knew what to expect from her week which is one of the thing Meursault had found strange about her. His life was thrown into a
system created by humans but that worked like a machine. No feeling involved, no freedom, just one unending day. This lady symbolizes just that. The way she carried herself and the way she acted was similar to a machine. Fast paced, decided and to the point. She had a purpose and didn’t have to ponder on what choices she should make, like when ordering the food. Everything was planned out. The robot lady is a reflection of what Meursault’s life would become. When he looks at his reflection in the mirror and he realizes what his life has turned out to be it forces him to feel and bring out the human in him.
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