The Stranger in the Stranger

Well, my couple of days has lasted 21days. Hope this doesn't become a habit.

This story is composed of 4 parts, Meursault’s mother’s death, Meursault killing an Arab, Meursault’s trial and Meursault’s sentence to death.

As I said in my last post I thought the main character and narrator, Meursault, was strange. Very strange. This man is totally detached from the world around him. His mother’s death doesn't faze him nor the love and proposal from his girlfriend, Marie. He is totally detached at his trial and comes to peace with his death sentence. He shows as much emotion as a rock. He doesn’t care what happens around him or to him. He just goes with the flow. For example, in Part 1 Chapter 5 his girlfriend Marie asks him if he wanted to marry her.

"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. 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. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, "No." She stopped talking for a minute and looked at me without saying anything. Then she spoke. She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved in the same way. I said, "Sure."

He is totally detached from life. What ever happens happens. I didn’t see any real joy, excitement, sorrow, anger, frustration, pity, remorse, sadness or love. Though at one point he said he got bothered in Part 2 Chapter 4.

"One thing bothered me a little, though. Despite everything that was on my mind, I felt like intervening every now and then, but my lawyer kept telling me, "Just keep quiet-it won't do your case any good." In a way, they seemed to be arguing the case as if it had nothing to do with me. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion. There were times when I felt like breaking in on all of them and saying, "Wait a minute! Who's the accused here? Being the accused counts for something. And I have something to say!" But on second thought, I didn't have anything to say."

See! This man is going to the guillotine and he doesn’t have anything to say in his defense. Why? In the end, he is fascinated by the guillotine that will take his life. While in his prison cell he realizes he will be sentenced to death for killing the Arab on the beach, and he rationalizes that death is inevitable. He just hopes that, well here, I’ll let him tell you:

Actually, this would be a good book to take apart chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word by word, and explore it and its author fully. To know the book is to know the author. His likes his dislike. What he love and what he hates. Albert Camus was a socialist who opposed capital punishment. I feel there is some symbolism there if you choose to look for it.

“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.”

Maybe once I am retired and have more time.