Preview

Critique: Passage from the Stranger by Albert Camus:

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1292 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critique: Passage from the Stranger by Albert Camus:
Critique: Passage from The Stranger by Albert Camus:
At the same instant the sweat in my eyebrows dripped down over my eyelids all at once and covered them with a warm, thick film. My eyes were blinded behind the curtain of tears and salt. All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear flying up from the knife in front of me. The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes. That's when everything began to reel. The sea carried up a thick, fiery breath. It seemed to me as if the sky split open from one end to the other to rain down fire. My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there, in that noise, sharp and deafening at the same time, is where it all started. I shook off the sweat and sun. I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I'd been happy. Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness.

Critique :

This passage has been selected for the commentary, because it exemplifies Albert Camus' writing style and use of literary devices to convey his ideas. The brilliant descriptive writing also allows for extensive thought from the reader into the novel.
In this passage from the novel The Stranger, the writer Albert Camus vividly describes the main character Meursault as his fate takes him toward killing another man. The passage takes place while Meursault, his friend Raymond, and his mistress Marie are at the beach for the day. Meursault's friend Raymond had previously started a fight with an Arabic man who had issues with Raymond's treatment of his sister. Seemingly with no explanation, Meursault leaves the beach house and wanders upon the Arabic man once again and this time shoots him. At this point, Part One is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Meursault's Exile

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Camus wrote in a simple and one-on-one style that gave the reader the chance to become a part of the awareness…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Albert Camus creates a paradoxical situation in The Stranger that seamlessly meshes pleasure with disquietude. Meursault’s moral development solidifies his “strangerhood” in society, but that realization solidifies his moral development. However, this epiphanic moment, while transformative to one’s view of the novel, only reveals itself after several other moments of disquietude.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Albert Camus Meaning

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages

    (Camus)” Camus believed in the absurd but also in the fact that it was others decided in how they live, not society or even his own beliefs. Throughout The Stranger Camus revels in the beauty of human consciousness and individuality. Without Camus’ commentary people might still believe in an ideal world, a utopia, which would really be a…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As humans, we generally seek other entities to make ourselves complete, or 'fulfilled'. What is sought after varies from the individual, as some seek money, others fame, yet most people seek companionship. The Stranger by Albert Camus challenges this commonplace ideology that humans need emotion based relationships for completeness. Through the character Meursault and his exchanges with others, over encompassing themes such as the importance of emotions, and relevance of human life are challenged; whereas the counter argument of significance of the physical world is brought up.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault is a man who is indifferent to major events in his life which would deserve a "proper" reaction according to society. Also, the decisions he makes in his life are done carelessly and without a second thought about whether what he is doing is good or bad. As a result, Meursault is a stranger to society because of how differently his view on life is based on how he approaches certain aspects of life. Eventually, death is what connects Meursault to the society he was estranged from.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Camus is a famous French author who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. Camus has many famous novels including Le Mythe de Sisyphe, La Peste, La Chute, L’Exil et La Royaume, and L’Etrange or The Stranger. The Stranger is a short novel written in 1942 that details the life of a man named Meursault. The novel follows Meursault as he develops and changes according to dramatic events in his life. The novel shows the changes in his characteristics before any events, after he kills a man and is put in jail, and after he is sentenced to death.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (Camus 122-3). He felt as if he was ready to live again just like Maman before she had passed away. Meursault is an absurd hero at the end because he accepted death, passing the Absurd Walls and into the absurd freedom, where one can experience life to the fullest.…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story, “The Stranger”, by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, does not think like most people. When his neighbor Raymond questions his opinion on Salamano a dog beater and how he beats his dog, Meursault does not think much. Meursault says to raymond “no” (camus 28). Meursault is very neutral and does not really judge people. On the other hand, most people are like Raymond. Raymond said that, “Salamano's acts are pitiful” (Camus 27). The thing with Raymond though, Raymond beats women. It is ironic that Raymond is fine with beating women, but beating a dog is unrighteous. On another note, Camus the author might have put Salomano in the story to continue the pattern of showing how Meursault has no emotion. Another reason, Camus…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stranger Essay

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: Camus, Albert, and Matthew Ward. The Stranger. New York, NY: Vintage International, 1989. Print.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger, Camus shows his inherent absurdist perspective of life through commentary and actions Meursault displays as a result of symbolic use through the heat, sun, and dreams. These symbols dominate Meursaults consciousness controlling him through torment from the inescapable presence the sun and heat governs, causing him to act in ways deemed iniquitous to society. Each symbol opposes its usual description of warmth, comfort, or beauty and instead reflects upon Meursaults awareness of the sensate world to avoid the emotional and social constructs that present him.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Meursault faced a lot of things like an existentialist. For example, he was ready to accept his consequence after he shot the Arab. He also was ready for death, knowing it is inevitable. Some existential themes include freewill, controlling your own fate, accepting your fate, and taking responsibility for your own actions. These themes are all present in The Stranger. It was the freewill that led him to shooting the Arab, because he was in total control. He chose his fate, accepted the consequences, and took responsibility for what he did. For example, he realized he was going to die, and accepted…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stranger by Albert Camus was centered on the character Meursault. He is a very strange character due to the fact that he hated change but then didn’t mind change in the end. “I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.” The question is, does he change at all, how does he change to a dynamic character, why does he change, also when does he change?…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Textual Support: In The Stranger, Camus exposes the inhibition that religion, love, and society create against man through dialogue, symbolism, and tone. Amid Meursault’s trial, Céleste is called to testify about Meursault’s character. “He said, ‘The way I see it, it’s [the murder] bad luck is. It leaves you defenseless… He was about to go on, but the judge told him that that would be all and thanked him… he stated he had more to say” (Camus 89). When Céleste provides an answer that the judge does not deem appropriate, he is quickly asked to stop speaking. Society expects Céleste to condemn Meursault’s actions and try to seem as disconnected from him as possible. Camus use of inner dialogue develops character, and outer dialogue when Meursault…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Albert Camus' The Guest is about a schoolteacher named Daru that lives by himself in a schoolhouse out on a plateau somewhere in France. Daru is given the responsibility of transporting an Arab prisoner to a nearby city to face judgment. Daru was to have none of it. He wanted to lead his simple, uninterrupted life and be left out of the war that was evidently looming. Unfortunately for Daru, this was not an option for him and the man named Balducci left the prisoner at the schoolhouse despite Daru's objection.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Albert Camus’ Nobel Prize winning piece of work, The Stranger, he presents to his readers one of the most confusing and “strangest” character in the history of literature, Meursault. Meursault lives in a town called Algiers, and there, he gets himself into an unavoidable series of events that will lead up to his unfortunate end. Albert Camus does a wonderful job of weaving hints and traces of significant symbols and references to other famous works of literature to build the atmosphere and the intensity of the novel. In Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the Foster mentions that one way to create immense depth and relationship between people, objects, and feelings in literature can be done by using various references…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays