Preview

Meursault In Albert Camus A Stranger

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
390 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Meursault In Albert Camus A Stranger
The sun continues being Meursault’s enemy and friend. Meursault spends time with Marie in the beach relaxing, having fun with her. The first time Meursault encountered Marie, he laid his head back and rested it on her stomach under the sun. They floated on ocean until the sun got too hot. The beach was relaxing perfect amount of sun and water, although later in the novel the peaceful beach becomes joyless. Raymond invited Meursault and Marie to spend Sunday at a friend's little beach house, near Algiers. There Meursault played in the water with Marie, “swimming smoothly and breathing easily.” (Camus 51). He told Masson, Raymond’s friend and owner of the beach house, it was nice, referring to him laying on his stomach on the sand with his face on …show more content…
The mood of the beach changed when Meursault took the gun from Raymond and said he would shoot “if the other [Arab] moves in, or if he draws his knife…” (Camus 56). The extreme heat burning on Meursault’s back pressured him causing for Meursault to finally crack. As Meursault was walking toward the spring, he kept an we on the Arab making sure he does not move or draws his knife. The sun was burning on his cheek and all the veins on Meursault’s forehead were throbbing under the skin. Meursault cannot stand the burning of the sun anymore so he moves forward. “...[He] wouldn’t get the sun off [himself] by stepping forward.” (Camus 59). Meursault continues to realize that he cannot escape the sun’s heat. The blindness of the bright light comes back affecting Meursault's actions. The Arab drew his knife, gelding it up to Meursault in the sun. The Arab uses the knife to reflect a light to Meursault’s forehead causing sweat to drop down over his eyelids all at once blinding Meursault. Meursault being blinded and heat still burning, pressuring on his back, Meursault pulls the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The ironic devices are used to further highlight the idea that Meursault doesn't belong in society. There's a part in the story that is considered to be situational irony, in the story Salamano quotes “I hope the dogs don't bark tonight. I always think it’s mine”. This is situational irony since one wouldn't expect for Salamano to miss his dog since he basically abuses it. The reason why this is important is because it show the humane side of Salamano something that Meursault doesn’t seem to be. That further shows that Meursault is so different from the rest of society. There is dramatic ironic when the court is in session, “Come now is my client on trial for burying his mother or for killing a man”. This is dramatic Irony because the reader…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sun beams down, its smoldering rays spread to all they can reach. In the distance there stands a man, Monsieur Meursault, his hand in his pocket clenching the trigger of a gun. He stands there, watching another man along the beach, the Arab, anticipating him to make a move. And at the sight of seeing the Arab move, Meursault raises the gun and shoots -- hesitates a moment more then, fires four more shots at the now still body.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Meursault is sentenced to death by guillotine. He awaits everyday waiting for the footsteps of the men to come and execute him. During this time Meursault has done much thinking and begins to think to himself that death is inevitable. This realization of death’s inevitability constitutes Meursault’s triumph over society. Expressing remorse over his crime would implicitly acknowledge the murder as wrong, and Meursault’s punishment as justified. The chaplain tries to come to him and speak to him about God, but he still is unwillingly to accept that there is a God.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory 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
  • Good Essays

    This story further adds to the theme of absurdism throughout the novel because there was no reason for the son to die such as there was no reason for the Arab to die. During Meursault’s trial, there is an attempt to create a reason for his crime despite there not being one. Unlike the philosophy of absurdism, the court believes in reason and order which leads to the establishment of a cause for Meursault’s crime even if it is false. Once Meursault is sentenced to death, he realizes that he no longer has the choice between life and death that all humans are given in life. He instead has death as his only “choice”. Through this, he sees that there is no difference between dying from execution and dying in the future from a different cause. Meursault then accepts that the world is as indifferent as he is to people and finds peace in this realization.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The only difference is, Meursault’s attempt to integrate himself into European culture is also the action that defined him as an outsider. During an encounter with an ‘Arab’, Meursault “fired four times at the motionless body... and it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” (Camus, 59). At that time in Algeria, racial tensions are high among the French and the ‘Arabs’. To try to fit in, Meursault tries to enforce the racial superiority of the French when he shoots the ‘Arab’. In his world, killing the ‘Arab’ would help him fit in, but instead he knew it did not work. He states he ‘knocked’ at the ‘door of unhappiness’ implying that he was now on the outside and his actions would disappoint whoever was inside. The house symbolizes the European divide, with Meursault being on the outside of the house looking in. Although his intentions were to assimilate, Algerian citizens saw his actions as too extreme, casting him as the…

    • 2119 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    During Meursault’s trial, the sun comes in as an attempt to circumvent societal rule that Meursault fails to understand. For instance, Meursault states,…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the stranger

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the end of Part Two, Chapter 2, Meursault, staring at his reflection in a tin plate, states that although he was trying to smile, his face “still had the same sad, stern expression” (81). He then suddenly “realized that all this time [he] had been talking to [himself]” (81). Meursault’s realization signifies his emerging self-awareness and self-consciousness, unlike previously when he lived his life with complete indifference and ignorance towards both himself and the world. In prison, he grew to understand himself, his beliefs, and begins to gain insight into the irrational universe around him. His inability to smile allows him to recognize his own emotions and that he is sad, reflecting a growth in…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While readers hope for Meursault to act, when he finally does, it is in a gruesome juxtaposition to the death Meursault would not face to the one he inflicts. In the beginning of the novel when asked if he wants to observe Maman's body, he refuses. But now, as his “eyes [are] blinded behind the curtain of tears and salt… he fired four more times at the motionless body…”(59). Readers hope this act, one of his only acts, might shake him. But once again the indifference and even the selfishness of him “knowing that [he] had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where he’d been happy” (59), causes a sense of uncomfortable regret for Meursault that he is not able to feel himself. It could be said in some way that Camus wanted to make the reader a mirror for what society expected Meursault to feel, but…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stranger Essay

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Another way to look at it is that, throughout the book, Meursault would express his hatred for humanity’s culture of mourning and think of it as crazy. He is adverse towards people who torture themselves over someone else’s death.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Albert Camus’s speech, he announces his utmost appreciation and honor for the recognition of the Nobel Prize in literature. Camus shares that “[his]work is in progress” (par 1). As young as he is he reveals how he can often come high in doubts. To regain the main focus of the speech he expresses how art has been the source of his support. He then outlines the nobility of a writer’s craft and how it can reveal insightful truths about the world.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most readers agree that Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger is an emotionless character. This character trait is beneficial to Meursault throughout the story. When Meursault is informed that his mother had died, he announces “that [his mother dying] doesn’t mean anything” (3). Most people would be filled with sorrow if they found out their mother had passed away. Meursault also has a similar reaction when Marie asks if he loved her. He told Marie that “it didn’t mean anything but that [he] probably didn’t love her” and “if she wanted to, we could get married (41). People often spend a great time trying to figure out if they love someone enough to marry them as marriage is normally viewed as an important event in one’s life. Being heartbroken…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Everybody’s life is shaped by their reputation. This is why people try to look good in the eyes of others, so they will have a good opinion. The main character in The Stranger astonishes others because he simply does not care about his reputation and what the society thinks of him. Meursault lives his life in a non-complex environment, not worrying about the events happening around him. However, this plays a trick on him in a way that people don’t understand him and conclude that he is different in a monstrous way. His reaction to his mother’s death, his decision on not marrying and incapability of believing in God stuns the public, which starts questioning…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Guest” explains the different ideals among different people, how a man’s morals could forgive or execute another man and his actions. Albert Camus depicts intriguing characteristics through his work of Daru and the Arab uncommon encounter. “The Guest” is a short story that expresses Camus’s attempt to convey the true isolation any human can feel at heart through a sense of absurdity and distress of his characters morals and how someone may truly be guilty of murder or of their own conscience.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays