CAS EN 141 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Existentialism, Appeasement
1 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Stranger
Overview:
• Thought to be a reaction to world war II
• Narrator – Meursault
• The story is told solely from the perspective of Meursault (first-person)
• Idea – you live your life as yourself, subjectively, with others being unable to process this
• Things to be aware of: the fact that the story is told from a first-person view, and the fact
that this story has two parts (the crime & trial)
• The most important part of the book is the ending, in which Meursault is enlightened and
realizes several things about himself
o There is a noticeable point (at the end) where he realizes WHY his thinking is
right
• This book is about freedom and its limits
Title
• The Stranger – translated to ___ in French
• Implies that no one knows the real him (Meursault)
• Also implies Meursault does not know his true self
o Camus believes that living a free life implies that you live your life on purpose
• Goes back to the idea of how little people know what’s on the inside (while they only see
the external behavior)
o This is a major theme (of how unknown we are to others)
Things to Think About –
• Life is depicted the inside out
• The notion that there are different levels of being a stranger (Meursault is very far from
himself)
• Meursault’s change from the beginning to the end
• Irony – it is only when he is in prison when he feels free
• Weather – shows an alertness to the physical world and comparison to himself
Meursault
• Observes people on a physical level
• However, does not express a curiosity towards the feelings/inner-works of these people
• Rarely feels emotion (besides the first chapter “I felt joy in the nests”
o Nests – equivalent to his bed
o Essentially, he feels joy in going to bed
Grammar
• Meursault is not careful of his words but Camus is (seen through is grammar and dialect)
• “It occurred to me that I should eat.” or “The trigger gave.”
o This is a case of passive v. active voice
o Meursault uses a passive voice (putting himself as the receiver of the action)
o Shows the distance between himself and his life choices
find more resources at oneclass.com
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• Question: does Meursault conform to society’s norms?
o Meursault behaves as he should, as a conformist to society’s norms (seen in his
boss’s promotion and others in his neighborhood)
o HOWEVER, Meursault does not think as he should (seen in his lack of emotion)
o Has a certain freedom in his thinking, although, he does not seem to be free as to
what to do
• Meursault achieves awareness and thus achieves a freedom to choose what happens in his
life
• This is ironic, because when he has this epiphany, he is in prison and has little to no
freedom
Literary Analysis
• Meursault does not like Sundays not only because he does not have any remaining family
but also because he has no structure in his life (Sunday = a day of rest, however,
Meursault does not know how to rest)
• Spends his first two hours smoking in bed and only leaves it due to hunger (“I did not feel
like having lunch at Celeste’s like I usually do, because they would ask questions and I
don’t like that. I made myself eggs without bread because I didn’t want to go downstairs
and get some.”)
o Important to realize that he does not tell us what he wants, but what he doesn’t
want
o Tells the audience things he wants not for positive reasons but because of
negative reasons
• Visits Raymond for no particular reason
o Important to note that he says “he does not mind being friends”
o This shows Meursault does not acknowledge his own motives
• Meets Marie on the beach and makes the first move (“I let my head fall against her
stomach”)
o Shows that Meursault is unconscious of his actions when he speaks
o Denies any role in his actions or his own will (does not choose what happens to
him)
o Essentially, life happens to him
• Lives in a small-town neighborhood
o Regarded as a normal man by others (interactions with the soccer team/three girls
in the theater) who take the time to acknowledge and include him
Emotion
• Meursault expresses no emotion in the first chapter, not because he does not have
emotion but rather because he is distant from his emotions
• In the later stages of the book, he finally begins to show these, as his heart is overloaded
with the amount of emotion
• His initial lack of expression of acknowledgement of emotion changes after involvement
with other people throughout the book
• Until his realization that he may want to marry Marie, he does not express a want to
fulfill any plans
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Overview: thought to be a reaction to world war ii, narrator meursault, the story is told solely from the perspective of meursault (first-person) Title: the stranger translated to ___ in french. Irony it is only when he is in prison when he feels free. Literary analysis: meursault does not like sundays not only because he does not have any remaining family but also because he has no structure in his life (sunday = a day of rest, however, Emotion: meursault expresses no emotion in the first chapter, not because he does not have emotion but rather because he is distant from his emotions. However, goes on to say this is because he has no soul/heart and is incapable of being touched by things that would touch others (ex: his mother"s funeral) Existentialism a hyper realistic theory: 3 main beliefs, 1. the universe is a phenomenon.
