This week I had the opportunity to read a short but great Novel called The Stranger (L’Étranger). What an amazing read, though it had me wishing Sartre had written a fiction novel (I stand corrected by the all knowing internet that he has in fact written at least one fiction novel). Meursault seemed to be a relatable guy with his disdain for the cops. I laughed inside several times at his conversations. His indifference to marrying Marie and his honesty in telling her he would have married any girl who asked him. Overall I found him to be a compelling character and I was rather surprised that many students in class found him to be such a detestable guy.
Seeing his reaction to the death of his mother was not all that strange, though I now realize that this is the point of the character. He is a stranger. To me he is perfectly understandable. Meursault’s rant about death in the end of the book was brilliant. Knowing his belief system I can understand that to him his mother’s death was just another inevitable thing that would have happened in his life regardless of his actions. Being that he wasn’t religious, his mother’s body was just a lifeless body, so he didn’t understand the need to see it before the burial.
Seeing his reaction to the death of his mother was not all that strange, though I now realize that this is the point of the character. He is a stranger. To me he is perfectly understandable. Meursault’s rant about death in the end of the book was brilliant. Knowing his belief system I can understand that to him his mother’s death was just another inevitable thing that would have happened in his life regardless of his actions. Being that he wasn’t religious, his mother’s body was just a lifeless body, so he didn’t understand the need to see it before the burial.
I will have to disagree with those who claim he had no emotions or empathy. For one, he asks Raymond to hand him the gun while approaching the Arab so Raymond doesn’t carelessly shoot the Arab. Another reason is that Meursault continues to bring up his mother throughout the book, and mentions things she used to teach him. One of these teachings that his mother passed on to him was that one could get used to any situation after a while. This teaching is put into action when Meursault spends time in jail, he quickly becomes used to it. He also mentions that “Maman used to say that you can always find something to be happy about” (Camus, 113). I believe that the fact Meursault continues to bring up the memory of his mother is enough to show that he truly cared for her. It is simply because he doesn’t talk as much about his emotions as normal members of society that the others get the impression that he never cared for her.
Lastly i’d like to mention the trial. This was the most absurd sequence in the book in my opinion. As Meursault himself noted, the trial almost seemed as if it wasn’t even about him, because he was hardly taking a part in it. The lawyer and the prosecutor took precedent, with the lawyer even going as far as referring to Mersault in the first person. “I killed a man” said Meursault’s attorney. Minor incidents of the way Meursault acted at his mother’s funeral were the basis of the prosecution’s attacks against him.
When the prosecutor asks Monsieur Perèz if he’d seen Meursault cry at the funeral, Perèz says “No.” When asked by Meursault’s attorney if he had seen Meursault not cry he again answers “No.” This leads Meursault’s lawyer to conclude about the nature of this trial that “Everything is true, and nothing is true” (Camus, 91).
Why was Meursault given such a rough sentence? It seemed to be more for his indifference to the world than for the crime he committed. To him, it seemed like a simple case, he shot a man. Meursault now realizes how insane it is that these men will now have control over the rest of his earthly existence. For what? Because he doesn’t feel it necessary to look at his mother’s body? Because he chooses to smoke and drink coffee at his mother’s funeral service? Because he enjoyed his life the day after his mother’s burial with a woman he was attracted to? Or is it because he shot an Arab as the sun shined a painful light in to his eyes?
It seems to me the crime he is being punished for is indifference.
I think Meursault’s response to Maria was awesome you cannot blame him for dishonesty! I do think indifference for the most part can be a good thing in the respect that one is just taking life as it comes. Yet I also can see it as problem if in fact never making a decision is a lack of one fulfilling one’s own desires. Say I’m asked if by someone what I want to eat now really it doesn’t bother me but if the two options are pizza and chicken and I really want pizza but say it doesn’t matter to me…am I hurting myself? I don’t know just a thought…
ReplyDeleteI do think I agree for the most part on Meursault’s view about death; it’s going to happen! And regardless of his religious views or not I think him not understanding why he needs to see his mother’s body before its burial is acceptable. Even if I was religious I’m not 100 % sure I’d want to see or have the need to my mother’s body before its burial. Maybe I don’t even fully understand the need as well! Seems like it would be better in my mind to remember the dead as best you can when they were still living and not haunt yourself with that image! Then again maybe that’s just selfish, then again maybe that’s just society?
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteI liked the views that you presented in your post, in particular I enjoyed the insight into how Meursault did in fact care for his mother. However, I have to say that I'm on the other side of the fence when it comes to liking or agreeing with Meursault in the first portion of the book. There are plenty of things that I could talk about but I'd like to touch on the trial portion of The Stranger.
The entirety of the trial was not concerned with whether or not Meursault was guilty of murder, that much he made readily apparent before the trial even began in his interviews with the magistrate. In my opinion, a majority of people forgot about this fact and simply assume the entirety of the trial was about his mother and not his murder. After Meursault himself admitted the main focus of the trial on his mother makes perfect sense. While trying to determine the severity of his sentence, determining the character of the defendant makes perfect sense. The prosecutor defines him as a man lacking moral character who might commit worse crimes without such a severe and definite sentence. While it does seem a little absurd trying Meursault for the death of his mother, contextually it does make sense at least to me.
To close off this post, I didn't necessarily think he was being tried for indifference. Instead, I think that he was being tried for an admitted and intentional murder. Being that he couldn't provide good reason for his intentions and actions, the prosecutor and jury had to deduce them on their own.
-Patrick J.