Brittany Anselmo
Ryan Gallagher
English 12 CP
6 Dec. 2010
The Stranger
Albert Camus, in the story The Stranger overall is showing how people can be ignorant towards this and how people are given options at one time or another and they sometime don’t bother with them, but when they need those options there not there anymore. In the book, the narrator and protagonist Meursalt, takes what he has for granted basically. He has everything but doesn’t really care for it, he’s ignorant to things in his life. Meursalt was given many chances to care about people but he chose not to care. When Meursalt ends up in jail everything is taken away from him and he then realizes that he took things for granted, and starts to show some kind of emotion for things he never cared about.
In the passage when Monsieur Meursalt is having a conversation wit Marie, Marie had asked if he would marry her and he gave her and I don’t care type of attitude. In "The Stranger", Albert Camus shows how Meursalt has no feelings towards anything and is ignorant towards the feelings anyone shares with him, by showing this he also shows how this effects the relationships Meursalt has with people. This is all shown by the way Camus has Meursalt talk.
"Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way i had last time, that it didn't man anything but that I probably didn't love her." Monsieur Meursalt hangs out with Marie as much as he can, they're always at the beach together, and he's showing affection towards her. Marie is letting Meursalt know she cares about him and he doesn't give it in return. He's showing this I don't care attitude when he says that. Not caring about her feelings when he so bluntly says "it didn't mean anything but that i probably didn't love her." He doesn't care.
A little more into the passage, Marie asks Meursalt if he would marry another girl if had asked and he said "sure". By that one word he is showing he could care less if Marie wants to get married or not. Asking someone to get married is a big deal. Meursalt just blows if off like its nothing. He's being really ignorant, you can't just marry someone and just do it because you have a what ever feeling about the situation.
"I didn't say anything, because I didn't have anything to add, so she took my arm with a smile and she wanted to marry me." Marie just expressed to Meursalt her feelings and he has nothing to say. I find that odd. In a relationship both people need to show they care and love another, but they also need to be able to talk. Meursalt and Marie's relationship is like a one person thing. She's giving and expressing her feelings and Meursalt has nothing to add or say. He can't be in a relationship and act that way. He shouldn't be in one if he doesn't know how to act.
Meursalt puts up and act. He doesn't care about anything; he has no emotions towards anything. When acting like this he's going to ruin everything with the people he has a relationship with. In order to be able to talk to people he needs to express how he feels and be able to listen and give feedback to what others say.
"Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way i had last time, that it didn't man anything but that I probably didn't love her." Monsieur Meursalt hangs out with Marie as much as he can, they're always at the beach together, and he's showing affection towards her. Marie is letting Meursalt know she cares about him and he doesn't give it in return. He's showing this I don't care attitude when he says that. Not caring about her feelings when he so bluntly says "it didn't mean anything but that i probably didn't love her." He doesn't care.
A little more into the passage, Marie asks Meursalt if he would marry another girl if had asked and he said "sure". By that one word he is showing he could care less if Marie wants to get married or not. Asking someone to get married is a big deal. Meursalt just blows if off like its nothing. He's being really ignorant, you can't just marry someone and just do it because you have a what ever feeling about the situation.
"I didn't say anything, because I didn't have anything to add, so she took my arm with a smile and she wanted to marry me." Marie just expressed to Meursalt her feelings and he has nothing to say. I find that odd. In a relationship both people need to show they care and love another, but they also need to be able to talk. Meursalt and Marie's relationship is like a one person thing. She's giving and expressing her feelings and Meursalt has nothing to add or say. He can't be in a relationship and act that way. He shouldn't be in one if he doesn't know how to act.
Meursalt puts up and act. He doesn't care about anything; he has no emotions towards anything. When acting like this he's going to ruin everything with the people he has a relationship with. In order to be able to talk to people he needs to express how he feels and be able to listen and give feedback to what others say.
In the passage on page 117 to 118 in part two, Meursalt it’s being preached abo9ut god and feels if he’s guilty then he’s guilty. He refers to his cell in this passage as well, which symbolizes his trial. Albert Camus is trying to show the reader that when your mind sets to something, it stays set to that one thing. Camus is also saying that when you have something to say then you should just say it.
The chaplain is trying to convince Meursalt that yeah he might be sentence but he should have faith in got, so he can receive forgiveness. Meursalt was asked “how [he would] face [the] terrifying ordeal.” (117) Meursalt would “face it exactly as [he is] now.” (117) If a human is going to die…should it really matter when they do? Meursalt does not think it does. Chaplain asks Meursalt if “[he has any] hope at all? And [does he] really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?” (117) and he answered “yes.” (117) Meursalt honestly doesn’t believe in all the religious things the chaplain is preaching. The chaplain can’t change Meursalt’s mind. Once you believe something. It’s what you believe.
Throughout Meursalt’s court case he was kind of forced to believe that he didn’t care about his mom because he didn’t cry at her funeral, he was forced to believe that he was guilty in the way they had decided, he was forced to believe that he didn’t have a say when it came to his like, and that he didn’t have a soul. While being forced to believe all this, he eventually did. The minute Meursalt showed any type of emotion towards something it was shut down before really ever being heard.
In the passage on page 118, Meursalt says how the jail cell didn’t have many options. The jail cell symbolizes the court room, in both places there wasn’t really an option Meursalt had over the two. Obviously there isn’t going to be a lot of room in the jail cell, but in the court room Meursalt didn’t have a say in anything, no options. He was said to be guilty and there was no if, ands, or buts about it. It’s a little ironic how he goes from the jail to court, back to jail and court again. Both places he doesn’t have really have a say.
In general the author is showing the reader how Meursalt didn’t have much options, and we he did when it come down to god, and not willing to believe. Meursalt has the choice to not believe in all the faith talk that the chaplain is trying to put in his head, but he should have been given the chance to stick up for himself in court when he felt like he wanted to say something.
All in all, Albert Camus, shows the reader Meursalt's ways in the book "The Strangers". He shows us how Meursalt goes from this emotionless human being to someone that soon realizes he for once wants to have say in his life. Meursalt knows why he does things the way he does so no person can actually really tellhin he doesn't careabout anything because they can't see inside his head.
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