Quotes:
Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.”
- This quote opens the novel. It is a quote by our narrator, Meursault. This shows us one of the primary qualities about Meursault, his apathy and detachment from emotion. He spends more time on insignificant things about the telegram, such as what day exactly she died. He does not show any remorse or sadness over the death of his mother. The sentence, “That doesn’t mean anything”, can be indicative about his confusion about what day she died, or about his lack of caring about his mother’s death. This sentence is up for interpretation as to what
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He said, "You don’t want to?" I answered, "no." He was quiet, and I was embarrassed because I felt I shouldn’t have said that.”
- Meursault and the doorkeeper have this conversation. Meursault feels embarrassment knowing that his detachment and lack of interest in seeing his mother’s body is not considered socially acceptable.
She said, “If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.” She was right. There was no way out.”
- The nurse at the home where his mother had been living says this to the old man who is part of the funeral procession. The sentence, “There was no way out”, is a reference to the futility of human existence and of life. Meursault accepts that death is inevitable. He believes you cannot escape that fate. Meursault is saying here that either the man will die of a heatstroke or of a cold and it’s up to him to accept which way he will die, as he cannot escape that fate.
“A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think
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And yet none of his certainties was worth one hair of a woman 's head. He wasn 't even sure he was alive, because he was living like a dead man. Whereas it looked as if I was the one who 'd come up emptyhanded. But I was sure about me, about everything, surer than he could ever be, sure of my life and sure of the death I had waiting for me. Yes, that was all I had. But at least I had as much of a hold on it as it had on me. I had been right, I was still right, I was always right. I had lived my life one way and I could just as well have lived it another. I had done this and I hadn 't done that. I hadn 't done this thing but I had done another. And so? It was as if I had waited all this time for this moment and for the first light of this dawn to be vindicated.”
- Meursault has come to the epiphany that although the chaplain had God and Christianity, he actually had nothing but false hope. He believed that the chaplain was living a lie and was not living at all, but actually dead. He believed that relying on an afterlife, kept people from truly living, like he had been doing and like his mother had. He felt peace and comfort knowing that he had lived his life the best and only way he knew how, and to him it was the right way, regardless of what society thought about him or his
He, however, seemed question his presence because the death of his mom or even from the absence of his father—the fairly dynamic that every child should have (both parents present). In chapter two Meursault found himself alone in his apartment as Marie had left for work earlier that morning. In this section he explains that, “After lunch I was a little bored and I wandered around the apartment” (21). In this quote, Meursault demonstrates just how meaningless is life is. To have nothing more to do with his time than walk around his apartment shows that Meursault is questioning his place in this world. He is a man with virtually only two friends—Raymond and Marie—and a neighbor that he associates with on occasion about his dog. As he wanders the apartment he explains that he lives, “in just one room now” (21), one that he literally put his dining table in so that he could eat in his room. This quote symbolizes his loneliness as a person. Not only is the apartment too big for him, the world is too, and his is basically alone in both. For some reason—maybe a tragedy or trauma that he faced in earlier years—Meursault has closed himself off from the world and does not express love for anyone or anything. In fact, Meursault made a statement about the death of his mother saying that, “at one time or another, all normal people have wished their loved ones were dead" (65). At this point in the story, I think that Meursault may not have had the best family dynamic. He does not speak of anyone else but Maman, and mentions a father that he does not know. So, he may not feel like he belongs or does not know how to. He also explains that, “it was one of Maman’s ideas, and she often repeated it, that after a while you could get used to anything” (77). This quote could explain the fact that Meursault is closed off—he has gotten so used to not having anyone around that truly cares for him (his
In Part I, Meursault is spending the night next to his mother's coffin at a sort of pre-funeral vigil. With him are several old people who were friends of his mother at the home in which she had been living at the time of her death. Meursault has the strange feeling that he can see all of their faces really clearly, that he can observe every detail of their clothing and that they will be indelibly impr...
This passage is set before Meursault’s execution with the chaplain entering the scene, and telling Meursault that his “heart is blind”, leading to Meursault to yell and delve into his rant, and moment of consciousness. The passage has a calm in the beginning as if Meursault catches his breath from yelling previously, and he starts to reassure himself that he is not wrong for expressing his views as it went against the public’s religious beliefs, and states that this moment was so important to him that it was if his life was merely leading up to it. Why this particular scene is important to Meursault is that this is an instance where he successfully detaches himself from the world, and begins to deconstruct the world’s ideals as his rant shifts on to focusing on how nothing in life mattered. Meursault describes his gripes with the chaplain’s words as he explains his reasoning as to why the concept of a god is flawed as Meursault saw that everyone was inherently the same, with equal privileges just how often people could express them separated them. The passage continues with Meursault arguing that everyone would be faced with judgment or punishment one day, and explains why his own situation was not significant as it was no different. After that explanation the passage ends with Meursault posing the concept of everything in the world being equal both in wrongdoing and life in general, evident in his example of saying “Sala¬mano's dog was worth just as much as his wife.” Although the passage shows Meursault challenging the ethics and morals that the world around him follows, it does have instances like the end in which we see that the rant is still expression of Meursault's complex emotions, as it is unclear whether it is fear or a...
Meursault shows very little love or sorrow at the fact of his mother's death. A normal man would feel pain and regret for not being by her side while Meursault does not even care much about the date she passed away. Immediately on the first page in the novel, we confront the situation where Meursault's mother dies, and he does not care about it. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (3). Meursault does not bother to call back and find information about his mother. Meursault shows no emotion or care for his mother because he sends her away for someone else to take care of her. During the last years of an elder person's life, they are invited to stay with the family in order to become closer with one another. Meursault could care less as he shows no sign of pain, and goes off to do something else. He resembles a figure where an issue as important as death does come as a priority. "We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw" (Lines 1-4).
However, upon deciding to kill a man, he quickly learns that his previous unconcern will not diminish the consequences for his deed. Put to death, Meursault remains stagnant on his opinion of justice, refusing to ever consider that justice possesses any worth. Upon receiving a visit from a chaplain hours before his execution, he merely uttered “I had been right, I was still right, I was always right” (Camus 121) Meursault did not understand why the chaplain wanted to force him to turn to God and gain a moral sense about life. Thus he simply reiterated the motto that he lived by: an apathetic, self-absorbed idea that nothing in life means anything. Meursault’s continual refusal to accept the moral standards of the world prohibited him from every truly finding a true sense of
That evening, he took part in his mother’s vigil at the retirement home and the following day a funeral took place. During each of the religious ceremonies, Meursault displays little to no remorse. Throughout the vigil he smokes a cig, drinks some coffee the director gave him, and falls asleep a number of times. At the funeral service in the nearby village he displays a very inconvenienced, burdened disposition. He talks of his annoyance with the scorching sun and focuses more on the funeral attendants, than showing remorse for his dead mother.
In The Stranger the chaplain is sent to Meursault before he is faced with his death sentence to have him repent for his sins and change his religious beliefs, in other words, covert him to Christianity. However Meursault stands strong and tells him that he has nothing to repent, for he has not sinned. He does not belief in God and he believes that he is already receiving his punishment, there is no afterlife or higher judgment in Meursaults? beliefs. The chaplain is able to change Meursault?s mind, when he mentions ?how even the hardest of criminals stare at something at one pointing their lives and imagine a divine face in it? (Stranger, p.121). Although Meursault does not see a divine face he sees the face of Marie. This marks the turning point of Meursault?s life, for he starts to care for life something he has never done before. He is now aggravated to know that is going to die and cannot accept that which explains his rage with the priest.
Meursault then runs into a neighbour named Raymond who convinces Meursault to write letters to his ex-mistress to lure her back to him. Meursault ends up killing Raymond’s mistress’s brother, The Arab, Meursault is then thrown in jail. The lawyer seems disgusted at the fact the Meursault shows no remorse toward his victim and sentences him to death by beheading. Then one day the Chaplain comes to visit Meursault to try to change his atheist views, Meursault becomes enraged and finally accepts that human existence holds no greater
... mother, he does not react in a way most people do. He does not cry but instead accepts what has happened and realizes that he can not change it. He goes back and does physical things he would do on a normal day. When the caretaker offers him coffee, he accepts it, he smokes a cigarette and has sex with a woman he just met. Meursault also does not lie to escape death. He refuses to conform to society and lie. He would rather be seen as an outsider than do something that he does not believe in. Finally, Meursault, will not believe in G-d or Christianity just because it is the only thing to turn to before he is put to death. When Meursault decides not to cry at his mother’s funeral, he accepts himself as an outsider. When he is considered an outsider, it does not matter if he is guilty or innocent; at the end of the day he guilty just for being different.
The novel opens with Meursault having just learned that his mother has died. His reaction to her death is far from typical, and he simply says, “Maman died today, or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” As he prepares to leave town to attend the funeral, he expresses a sort of general discomfort. This discomfort can be seen in his extremely uncomfortable conversation with his boss, in which Meursault simply tells his boss, “it’s not my fault.” Meursault also wishes that the funeral were already over so that, “the case would be closed, and everything will have a more official feel to it.”
Meursault, an unemotional, a moral, sensory-orientated character at the beginning of the book, turns into an emotional, happy man who understands the "meaninglessness" and absurdity of life by the end of the book. Meursault realizes that the universe is indifferent to man's life and this realization makes him happy. He realizes that there is no God and that the old codes of religious authoritarianism are not enough to suffice man's spiritual needs. One has to create one's won meaning in an absurd, meaningless world.
...everyone is surrounded by death. Camus explains that life isn’t about what is not envisioned, but it’s about what is evident. Meursault’s feeling of apathy is directly related to his conviction that life lacks necessary order and meaning, “As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope…I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world,” as he awaits his impending death, he finally recognizes that life is the most complex entity in the universe and one only has one life to live, so live it wisely (122). In the end, Meursault changed spiritually because he didn’t concentrate as much on the physical world because while he was in prison, he thought about life’s gifts and (although still atheist) realizes that faith in yourself and life is very important. There is also some irony here; he finally realizes the meaning of live just as he awaits his death.
Attention to the trial sequence will reveal that the key elements of the conviction had little to do with the actual crime Meursault had committed, but rather the "unspeakable atrocities" he had committed while in mourning of his mother's death, which consisted of smoking a cigarette, drinking a cup of coffee, and failing to cry or appear sufficiently distraught. Indeed, the deformed misconception of moral truth which the jury [society] seeks is based on a detached, objective observation of right or wrong, thereby misrepresenting the ideals of justice by failing to recognize that personal freedom and choice are "...the essence of individual existence and the deciding factor of one's morality.2" The execution of Meursault at the close of the novel symbolically brings
The moment Meursault found out, he said, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the home says: Your mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Deep sympathy. Which leaves matter doubtful, it could have been yesterday” (Camus 1). A reaction like this is unlikely to occur in anybody that is put in this situation. Existentialists immediately start to analyze existence instead of embracing it. Another quote is, “What unites the existentialists, besides the problems of meaning and existence with which they all wrestled, is a series of themes and concerns that informed their discussion of these issues” (Panza & Gale 28). By describing the mind of an existentialist, it supports the argument that Meursault portrayed the characteristics of an existentialist because that is how he would think about life as a whole. Also, while Meursault was talking with the chaplain, he said in reply to the chaplain, “I however didn’t want to be helped, and I hadn’t had time to work up interest for something that didn’t interest me” (Camus 72). That is a very weird response to have after you are informed about the wonders of God; but that is how Meursault did due to his existentialism like thoughts. Throughout The Stranger Meursault lost his own meaning in life while trying to examine every little aspect of it. Characteristics like that are often associated with those of an
Meursault is distant from set plans, ambitions, desires, love, and emotions in general. He has a difficult time with emotions such as regret and compassion. The reader sees the nature of his personality in the first few lines of the novel: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." When he hears of the death of his mother through a telegram, he is unattached, and can be considered uncaring.