Albert Camus’ The Stranger, is told by narrarator, Meursault. Our speaker seems to be a person detached from feelings, he shows no emotion. Neither the external world in which Meursault lives nor the internal world of his thoughts and attitudes possesses any rational order. He doesn’t have reasons for doing half of the things he does. For these reasons I believe Meursault is determined, but doesn’t know it. Our protagonist and narrarator, Meursault is completely distant from his surroundings.
Significant emotional events do not even seem to effect him as they would for most people. They don’t even make a dent. He has no sentiment. His mothers death, a marriage proposal, killing a man and going to trial, all these things would significantly effect mostly anyone, except for Meursault.
This, in turn makes our protagonist an outsider of society. What kind of person doesn’t grieve when their mother dies? I think he doesn’t question much around him for reasons that he doesn’t really list. I also think that he believes in fate, secretly and does little to change it. He is one of those guys that goes day by day and lets everything come to him. He is indifferent to most things, definitely, but I think he is determined to watch life pass him by. Once he is sentenced to death, he has an epiphany.
He thinks he realizes that no one person is that important to the universe. Everything will keep moving along just as it was no matter who isn’t here tomorrow. The universe will do its job with or without humans. He decides that people’s lives have no real meaning or importance and their actions and so forth really have little to no effect on the world around us.
The Essay on The Thing From Another World
The Thing From Another World A Fun Romp Through 50's Sci-FiThe Thing from Another World (“The Thing”) has a simple but effective plot in the science fiction genre. A flying saucer crashes in the arctic and a group of military personnel return to their base with the craft's occupant frozen in a block of ice. Once free of the ice, the creature terrorizes the arctic station while the group tries ...
Our next main character is Marie Cardona. She is Meursault woman. She proposes to him but he is indifferent to the ideas of love and marriage, which doesn’t even have a negative effect on her feelings for him. In fact, it might even attract her a little more to him because of his weirdness. She is disappointed in him but loves him and still wants to marry him. She is loyal to Meursault and stands by him through out the trial.
She is not on the same level as our protagonist, obviously. She still holds onto hope in her life. She believes in an upside in things. She shows emotion. For these reasons she is not like Meursault. She can’t just be so indifferent like her lover.
They are on different mental levels and have different views of the world around them. For these reasons I believe that Marie is a free character. I think that she is a romantic. I think she goes with the flow and does what she wants. I also think this is part of the reason she likes Meursault. He doesn’t question her about what she does when he is not around (even though its because he doesn’t care).
Our final main character is Raymond Sinter. If a person like Meursault could have a friend, this is who he would be. I use the term “friend” loosely because with such and indifferent personality, a real friend would probably be hard to come by. Raymond is not like Meursault. Where Meursault is indifferent, Raymond is evil. He is partly the reason Meursault kills the Arab.
He gives him the gun from his beach house, its through himself (Raymond) that Meursault even knows who the Arab is. He has no relation to Meursault but since our protagonist is so indifferent to everything around him, this doesn’t matter. The Arab is the brother to the mistress of Raymond, there is no relation between the Arab and Meursault, but this doesn’t seem to matter. And although these two characters, Meursault and Raymond have different personalities I believe they are both determined. I think Raymond is determined because it seems to me that his life is already layed out in front of him.
The Essay on Meursault Raymond Beach Marie
Meursault is notified by mail that his mother has died, though he is not sure of the exact date. He notes that the entire funeral moved so fast and deliberately that he remembers nothing except a comment of the nurse and the image of Perez crying. Upon waking up from his 12 hour sleep, Meursault realizes that it is Saturday and that he will receive a total of four days off from work. He notices ...
He will be a miserable man who will beat the people around him, emotionally and physically and he will take advantage of them after that. I don’t see him as a moral person, but rather immoral. In conclusion, I believe that the three main characters of Albert Camus’ The Stranger are all different. They all have different views on the world around them. Meursault and Raymond are more determined, where as Marie, the woman seems to be free to me. Works Cited Albert Camus – The Stranger.
