The Stranger Journal #7: Thesis

Thesis

Through the motif of smoking, which helps transition the reader from a distant protagonist to a more emotional protagonist, Camus reveals that one is able to adapt in any unfamiliar situation.

The Stranger Journal #6: Meursault's conclusion

At the end of the novel, Meursault comes to the coclusion that it does not matter how long one lives or what one does throughout his or her life, everyone is privileged to at least have a life. The reader can see Meursault's appreciation of life when he says, "Maman used to say that you can always find something to be happy about. In my prison, when the sky turned red and a new day slipped into my cell, I found she was right" (Camus 113). He especially realizes how precious his life is when he is faced with death. Before he was this close to meeting his demise, he had not found any meaning in day to day activities. However, because he is now sentenced to death, it allows him to see how much his life actually meant to him.

Yes, Camus does want the reader to come to the same conclusion. Through Meursault's epiphany, the reader can also appreciate the things that make life important. It allows the reader to see that when it comes down to death, life as a whole can actually have meaning.

The Stranger Journal #5: Two Parts

Camus creates two parts to the novel to differentiate between Meursault's willingness to express his emotions. It allows us to see a different side of the protagonist and allows us to become less distant from a character that we once were quite detached from.

One parallel idea occurs when Meursault is listening to the director answer questions during the trial. "...with such a triumphant look in my direction that for the first time in years I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me" (Camus 90). This brings the reader back to Meursault's reluctance to showing emotion. We can see this reluctance when he refers to the urge to cry as "stupid". He is not willing to allow the people around him to see his true feelings. Through this, Camus accomplishes that even though he is not willing to display his emotions, he acknowledges that he cares about others' opinions of him. Because of this, the reader can better connect because we can emotionally attach ourselves to him and feel less distant from the protagonist.

Another parallel idea occurs when the judge asks Meursault to state his motives for the crime. "Fumbling a little with my words and realizing how ridiculous I sounded, I blurted out that it was because of the sun" (Camus 103). The motif of the sun is continued throughout both parts of the books. This shows the reader that Meursault has a hard time expressing his reaction to the crime. Camus is able to accomplish communicating Meursault's feelings through the motif of the sun because every time he is in an uncomfortable situation, he mentions how the sun affects him. In the first part, the sun communicates Meursault's feelings for him, but in the second part, he is able to come out and say it himself.

The Stranger Journal #4: Meursault's changes

A lawyer comes to the prison to begin asking Meursault questions about his case. When Meursault says, "What I can say for certain is that I would rather Maman hadn't died" (Camus 65), it shows a change in Meursault's personality. In part one, Meursault was not as in touch with his feelings and did not express them the way he does in part two. He acknowledges that he does have feelings regarding his mother's death in part two, where in part he kept to himself and made the reader wonder whether or not he really cared.

The lawyer continues to ask Meursault questions to help develop his case and Meursault mentions that he "started to breathe more freely" (Camus 70). This takes his personality from routine and contained to more relaxed. This shows the reader that Meursault changes the way he feels about the situations in his life and is going about them in a less detached way.

Meursault is not allowed to have his tie, shoelaces, belt or cigarettes while in prison and it was initially quite difficult for him to become acclimated to. However, when he says, "Later on I realized that that too was part of the punishment. But by then I had gotten used to not smoking and it wasn't a punishment anymore" (Camus 78), it shows his completely altered mind-set. In part one, he is stuck on his routine including always smoking his cigarettes. Because he is now in the prison, he is forced to come out of his comfort zone and break his routine. This shows the reader that Meursault is able to become something he was not originally in part one.

The Stranger Journal #3: Motifs

"I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I wasn't dissatisfied with mine here at all" (Camus 41).

This quote contributes to the motif of sticking to a routine. Camus creates this motif to show that the protagonist does not feel any need to expand his horizons in life. It will continue to create this distance between the reader and the character because it prevents the reader from having new experiences with Meursault.

"Waiting for the next course, she again took out of her bag a blue pencil and a magazine that listed the radio programs for the week" (Camus 43).

"But at the same time I noticed, at the far end of the beach and a long way from us, two Arabs in blue overalls coming in our direction" (Camus 53).

"It was covered with yellowish rocks and the whitest asphodels set against the already hard blue of the sky" (Camus 49).

The motif of the colors blue, white, red and yellow appears every time Meursault experiences something he is not completely familiar with. This may lead to the author using colors whenever Meursault is forced out of his comfort zone. The descriptions of the colors next to the ordinary protagonist is a major contrast.

"You could still hear the sound of the water and the flute deep within the silence and the heat" (Camus 56).

"And every time I felt a blast of its hot breath strike my face, I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists in my trouser pockets, and strained every nerve in order to overcome the sun and the thick drunkenness it was spilling over me" (Camus 57).

"...the rest of his body in the sun" (Camus 58).

There is a major motif of sunlight and heat so far in this story. This might lead to the reader realizing the differences between the author and the narrator. The narrator is in charge of everything he does and it is his doing that allowed him to become the person he currently is. The author might be trying to show that there is a higher power that people cannot control with this motif of sunlight and heat.

The Stranger Journal #2: Personal Philosophy

Hollyism:

· Optimism- There are positives that can be found in every situation. There is no point in wasting time concentrating on the negatives because life becomes easier when one realizes what makes him or her so lucky in an unfortunate situation.

· God is not responsible for all the events in one’s life- If something bad happens, it is not because one has done anything wrong. God does not put anyone in a bad situation, He helps guide him or her through it.

· People’s personalities are subject to change- Just because someone is a certain way at one point, does not mean that he/she will always be like that.

· Things in life are meant to be- Everything in life happens for a reason. People are always in the right place at the right time.

· Meaning to existence will eventually be found- Although there may not be a current reason for why people are living, eventually someone will come across the “meaning of life.”

· People work hard for rewards- If people know that there will be some kind of repayment for their actions, they are more likely to work hard to achieve those goals and receive that reward.

· Living in the moment is important- If people spend to much time thinking about the future, they miss out on the good things that are current and happening around them. They are too busy thinking about what will happen instead of what is happening.

The Stranger Journal #1

Summary

After Meursault receives news of his mother's death, he catches a bus to head to his mother's old people home in Morengo. He spends the evening in the mortuary below the home with his mother's casket, the caretaker and some of his Maman's friends. The caretaker then has Meursault sign some documents and he informs Meursault of the small, intimate funeral. Things quickly move from the funeral to the hearse, which took his Maman to the burial.

The next day, Meursault goes swimming with a former crush named Marie. They then decide to go see a movie that evening. The following morning after Marie leaves, Meursault finds himself to be bored and he wanders around his apartment. He finds himself people-watching from his apartment window. At the end of the day, he gets ready for the routine week ahead.

Personal Reaction

I find his apathetic behavior to be quite interesting. I do not understand how he could be so unaffected by his mother's death. He is not terribly thrown out of his usual routine after he hears new of his mother dying and I find that surprising. He finds other things more important than the bad news, which is quite out of the ordinary for normal human behavior. Most people have to spend time mourning and getting over a death in the family, but not Meursault. He just goes about his normal activities as if nothing had happened which is a bit hard for me to grasp.

Analysis

Camus is trying to distance the reader from the protagonist so the reader can better understand why Meursault is such an apathetic person. Meursault feels the nothing is really important in life and Camus wants to communicate to the world that things really are not that big of a deal through Meursault's characterization. When Meursault says, "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed," (Camus 24) it shows the reader that the death of his mother did not have that much of an impact on him. It does not really affect his usual routine which shows that it does not reveal much importance in one's life. Death is bound to happen and with it not affecting the protagonist, it makes it easier for the reader to accept.

Research

Algiers, Algeria was a site where American troops invaded Northern Africa in something called Operation Torch. In 1942, Algiers also remained under the Vichy Government, which was a term used to describe the French government.