Monday, January 6, 2020

Changes in Reader Opinion on Meursault Throughout Albert...

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions to things like his mother’s death, Marie’s love, and the man he killed. Most people in his town, along with the reader at first, are not able to reason out his actions but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light. The novel starts out with Meursault getting a telegram saying that his mother had died. He takes time off work to go to her funeral and completely fail to show the emotion that the reader expects to see of a son towards his recently passed mother. First and foremost, when he arrives, the coffin is†¦show more content†¦The chaplain comes to see Meursault against Meursault’s own wishes and the chaplain tells him that he should turn to God for comfort in his final days. Meursault does not believe in God and he tells this to the chaplain. The chaplain seems so sure about everything in life and about everything that will happen but to Meursault, the only certainty is that everybody dies. If it does not happen today, it will happen tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. Life is indifferent to everybody and nothing in it is important unless the person makes it important. There are no pre-set values that everyone must believe in when they are born. The choices a person makes are what define him because existence precedes essence. If someone chooses to value love, then it is important to him or her and he or she should care about it. If someone chooses to believe in God, then He is only important to him or her and only he or she should care about Him. The reason that he did not cry at his mother’s funeral is because he does not believe that this is the appropriate reaction since everybody dies at one point or another. The reason that he said that he probably does not love Marie an d that it is not important, is because he does not have love as one of his values; therefore, he should not care about that emotion. Finally, the reason he did not show remorse for killing the Arab is because he did not feel that emotion. What Meursault does value is the truth. HeShow MoreRelatedThe Stranger by Camus1492 Words   |  6 PagesChristine Walsh Mr. Adams Period 7 AP Language Composition September 17, 2012 â€Å"Everything is true and nothing is true!†: Meursault’s Plague with Human Absurdity in Camus’s The Stranger In accordance with natural human behavior, we feel as though for every action there is a reaction, as well as a reason. We vie to inject logic inside our world because to accept the idea that there is not rationale for anything, including our own existence, is unthinkable. This idea that we unawarely manufactureRead MoreSummary Of The Stranger By Albert Camus1039 Words   |  5 PagesMy silent sustained reading book is The Stranger written by Albert Camus. It was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1946. Even though the story was written eight decades ago, the message Camus was trying to convey is still pliable to current day. The novel starts off with the narrator, Guy Meursault, just receiving news of his mother’s passing and her funeral that takes place the following day. Meursault shows no signs of remorse over losing his own mother and even refuses to look at his ownRead MoreCrime and Punishment vs. The Stranger1438 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the novels Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Stranger by Albert Camus, sun, heat, and light play a significant role in the development and understanding of the novel and the characters in it. Upon the initial reading of The Stranger, the reader may have a general acknowledgment of a relationship between the novel’s protagonist, Mersault, and the sun and heat, either proceeding or following one of the novels significant events. What is harder to understand on the first readRead MoreHow to Accept Death in The Stranger by Albert Camus2492 Words   |  10 Pagesthat every person must deal with at least once in their life. The idea of how to accept death can be different for every person. No one deals with death in the same way. Many award winning novels like, The Stranger and Tuesdays With Morrie have a common theme of how to accept death and the changes that come along with it. Many Emily Dickinson poems also have a common theme of accepting death. All of these literary works have a common theme, but the theme is portrayed very differently. The charactersRead MoreStranger2325 Words   |  10 PagesDiscussion Questions for The Stranger (1946); translated by Matthew Ward, 1988. Part One Chapter 1. 1. How does Camus set up Meursaults personality -- how does Meursault respond to others conversation, to ordinary social situations, and to the death of his mother? 2. On page 10, Meursault says that at the viewing of his mother, he felt as if the elderly people there were judging him. Offer a conjecture about why he might have had that feeling. (It is worth paying attention to such references to

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