Meursault Dialectical Journal
2. Summary: Meursault, a shipping clerk living in Algiers, receives news of his mother's death. After hearing about the death of his mother, he travels to the nursing home that that he put her in after no longer being able to financially provide for the both of them. Unlike the traditional response to death by grieving for the deceased, Meursault continues on with his daily tasks as if his mother had never died. During a trip with Raymond and Marie, Meursault shoots the Arab, the brother of the mistress that cheated on Raymond, and is imprisoned. Meursault is eventually convicted and sentenced to death because of his inability to conform to the societal expectations of French Algeria in the 1940’s.
3. Characters:
Meursault- the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Meursault is a young shipping clerk who has detached himself from the world around him. He is indifferent
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Marie asks Meursault to marry her and continues to support him throughout his court trial even though he does not feel the same emotional connection.
Raymond Sintes- Meursault's neighbor who enlists his help after he believes his mistress is cheating on him. A man who takes initiative through violence, Raymond seeks revenge to punish her and the mistress's brother for the wrongdoings she has committed against him.
2 more characters
Thomas Perez- A loving elderly man who grew very close and fond of Meursault's mother at the nursing home. Thomas Perez and Madame Meursault's relationship was one of few sincere relationships that the novel illustrates and serves as an opposing view to Meursault's understanding of the world.
The Chaplain- A priest who visits Meursault throughout the trial and demands that he take comfort in God. Meursault is unwilling to accept religion and proclaims himself an atheist as he will not let religion hinder his belief that the world is
Idiocrasy: Meursault And The Sun
462 Words | 2 PagesForthwith, the sun’s treachery shows the immoral role of Meursault’s idiocrasy in killing the Arab. The sun tormented, pained, compelled, stressed, tensed and mercilessly drove him in jail. The sun then symbolizes the leading stick in this inherent absurdity of
Diction In The Stranger
932 Words | 4 PagesThrough the use of diction, Meursault perceives life is meaningless, which leads him to have the absence of strong bonding with acquaintance around him. He indicates that he lacks empathy from personal and social level. Meursault is a simple man who lives his life in a stickler type and changes annoy him. As the novel introduces Meursault mother being dead, he shows lack of concern and a burden to visit his mother for the last time. “Maman died today...
Death In Albert Camus The Stranger
854 Words | 4 PagesIt quickly becomes clear that Meursault’s tone following the death of his mother reflects his desensitized and seemingly distant state. After realizing that his mother had
Empathy And Resilience In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
1066 Words | 5 PagesBefore he heads to the guillotine a chaplain meets with him to discuss receiving a baptism in hope that Meursault may be forgiven by God and be sent to the afterlife. Meursault again refuses as he accepts his fate and doesn’t empathize with the chaplain's kind nature. Meursault is unable to show resilience in the face of difficulty of even death, he does not fight his case nor accept the probability of an afterlife. With the lack of connection and empathy he also lacks resilience. The society's inability to empathize with Meursault makes it difficult for him to be resilient, he is constantly judged by members of the nursing home and the court, which makes it difficult for him to manage on the edge of death.
Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
724 Words | 3 PagesMeursault is not an emotional person. Meursault often seems not to react to major events that happen to him. For example when his mom dies, he says, “Really, nothing had changed”(24). There is an obvious emotional disconnect. Either he was not close to his mother or her death had little to no effect on him.
Social Norms In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
1196 Words | 5 Pages(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.
Meursault's Trial
308 Words | 2 PagesFinally, Meursault is judged in the trial by with whom he associates. Marie is seen as Meursault’s “mistress” based on the testimony that she gave of meeting him the day after Maman died and going to a comedy movie made her seem of more dubious quality than she actually entailed “It took me a few minutes to understand the last part because he kept saying “his mistress” and to me she was Marie.” (Camus. 99) This exemplifies that Meursault saw Marie in one way, which was the rational way as Marie had never actually promoted any ideas of promiscuity, society views Marie in an entirely different scenario based on the circumstances of her and Meursault’s acquaintance. This shows once again the rationality of Meursault’s thinking is subverted by
Raymond Essay
238 Words | 1 PagesRaymond suspects that his mistress has been cheating on him and asks Meursault to write a letter, “ one with a punch and also some things in it to make her sorry for what she’s”. Raymond’s anger blinds him from acting rationally as he suspects that his mistress is cheating on him and he constantly beats her down.
The Importance Of Existentialism In The Stranger By Albert Camus
886 Words | 4 PagesMonsieur Meursault not only shows the lack of love and emotion though his Maman but though Marie, shooting the Arab, and being judged as a criminal through the trials. In the beginning of the book the setting is in Marengo where Maman lived and the funeral was. After the funeral Monsieur Meursault goes back to Algiers. That day he gets back he goes to the beach and he meets his friend and used to be lover Marie.
Examples Of Apathetic Demeanors In The Stranger By Albert Camus
1200 Words | 5 PagesApathetic Demeanors Many people in today’s society view psychopaths and sociopaths as ruthless serial killers who are menaces to the peace of society. Albert Camus’s novella, The Stranger, provides another look at a psychopathic and sociopathic characteristics in a person. Meursault, the protagonist in Camus’s novella, exhibits psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies; although Meursault displays both, he is more closely aligned with a sociopath which eventually leads to his execution. Meursault’s psychopathic outbursts and feelings cause him to take radical action against an innocent man and expose feelings about his mother which eventually leads to Meursault’s trial.
What Is Existentialism In The Stranger
996 Words | 4 PagesWhile the reasoning behind the murder is less prominent, it can be seen as a way for Meursault to test his emotions, or sense of care. Throughout Meursault's trial, the jury and judge tend to question him more about his mother rather than the murder, possibly picking apart his background, hoping to find logic behind why he would kill someone. “But he cut me off and urged me one last time, drawing himself up to his full height and asking me if I believed in God. I said no” (p. 69). When first questioned about the murder, the magistrate was more appalled with the fact that Meursault didn’t believe in God rather than the murder.
The Stranger
758 Words | 4 PagesHe focuses on the freedom produced through the acknowledgement that there is no existence of a divine intelligence. Preaching that “existence precedes essence”, one understands that humankind exists prior to a defined nature and one has the choice to determine what humankind ought to be (Sartre 22). Likewise, his commentary also brings to light a more promising tone in Camus’ misanthropic and disheartening novel. He explains the absurd is ultimately an inseparable part of the human condition. In the novel, Meursault is confronting the world with his strangeness as a fully conscious being.
How Are The Minor Characters Used To Convey The Theme Of Isolation
1575 Words | 7 PagesThe novel is about a man called Meursault whose mother died and he did not grieve at her funeral. In the latter part of the book, the jury used this incident to his trial, which he was convicted of murdering an Arab
Camus Vs Kafka
1613 Words | 7 PagesMeursault thinks it is perfectly normal for him to take no notice to the death. After the funeral he says, “my joy when the bus entered the nest of lights that was Algiers and I knew I was going to go to bed and sleep for twelve hours” (Camus 18). Meursault is happy to go home and sleep and does not even mourn his mother’s death. He is more interested in getting sleep on his day off than taking note of the death of his mother. In his relationship with Marie, he shows little love or adoration.
Meursault's View Of Death
779 Words | 4 PagesInstead, through his point of view, Meursault focuses on the physical aspects of the world. With such a primary emphasis on such characteristics, it reflects on Meursault’s ideology on death, a mundane occurrence that is inescapable, and life, a meaningless existence with no higher meaning. During the funeral march, he is unfazed by
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