Written Assignment: How did Meursault transition in characterization from the beginning of the book to the end of the book?
Camus’ novel The Stranger offers a view of someone’s indifference from society. Through the interactions and relationships Camus puts Meursault though, displays Meursault's transition in characterization, going on to show how he is indifferent from society. Ultimately furthering his development from indifferent, to realizing he has a place within society. There is an emphasis placed on Meursault’s indifference from society through the shift in the book on how he interacts with people in the beginning of the book to how he interacts with people in the second half of the book.
Meursault in the beginning of the book does not have a care for anyone he interacts with. Right in the beginning of the book his mother passes away and, although most people would mourn for their mother, Meursault did not. He was not even going to go to his mother's funeral, but the people in his workplace and that knew him and found out about the news strongly encouraged him to go. When he made it to the place of his mother’s funeral he spent time where his mother’s body was being kept, but he never once requested to see her one last time. All he did was sit around and drink and smoke near her coffin. The day of his mother’s funeral Meursault was more concerned with the environment around him rather than the fact that his mother was dead, and mourn with the other people who had came to her funeral. Instead, all he had to say about the mournful day was, “...Sunday was over...and, really, nothing had changed.” (24). Another instance in the first part of the book where Meursault shows his carelessness for people, is when Marie asks...
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...st exist because they are going to die. Aside from his atheism, Meursault makes few assumptions about the nature of the world around him. However, his thinking begins to broaden once he is sentenced to death. After his encounter with the chaplain, Meursault concludes that the universe is, like him, totally indifferent to human life. Which he then goes on to decide that people’s lives have no grand meaning or importance in life. And that their actions, their comings and goings, have no effect on the world. This realization is the final result of all the events of the novel. When Meursault accepts “...the gentle indifference of the world...” (110) he finds peace with himself and with the society around him, and his shift in characterization is complete.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert, and Matthew Ward. The Stranger. New york: Vintage International, 1989. Print.
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
A man by the name of Thornton Wilder said, “We live in what is, but we find 1,000 ways not to face it,” and to me this quote is saying we live in a world full of tragedies and emotion, but always find a way to stay away from them. In, The Stranger, Meursault suffers from his mother’s death and struggles with finding happiness. This attitude sets up a theme in the story. How he avoids emotions to serious events causes Meursault to think about how a person's life isn’t really important in society. Meursault refuses to think about anything such as fate or God and only believes what he can see. He can only use logic. Whether it is his mother's death, Marie's need to prove her love, or even his killing of the Arab, nothing actually affects his emotions. This quote applies to Meursault because he is a bothered man who can never face his feelings.
In the experimental novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, he explores the concept of existentialism and the idea that humans are born into nothing and descend into nothingness after death. The novel takes place in the French colony of Algiers where the French-Algerians working-class colonists live in an urban setting where simple life pleasures are of the upmost importance in the lives of working class people like the protagonist of the novel Meursault. What is fascinating about this novel is that it opens up with a scene of perpetual misfortune for him through the death of his mother although he seems to express otherwise. The reader perceives this nonchalance as a lack of care. Maman’s death and its impact on Meursault appear in both the very beginning and very end of the two-part novel, suggesting a cyclical pattern in the structure. This cyclical pattern suggests not a change in the moral beliefs of Meursault but rather his registering society’s systems and beliefs and craft meaning in his own life despite the fact that he meets his demise in the end. Camus uses Maman’s funeral to characterise both Meursault and the society and customs created by the society Meursault lives in in order to contrast the two while at the same time reveal how while society changes, Meursault does not. Rather, Maman’s funeral becomes of unprecedented importance in Meursault’s life and allows him to find that nothing means anything in his meaningless world at the time of his death. He finds peace in that.
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).
Meursault in the book tries to overcome his emotional indifference within himself. One example shows Meursault emotional indifference against Marie. In this quote, “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” The quote explains how Meursault doesn’t really think about the consequences of other people’s emotions. When he said in the quote it didn’t mean anything to him, it shows he believes human life and emotions are meaningless. He also says I didn’t think so, showing he struggles to comprehend and make his own interpretations on human emotions from Marie and other people. Another example shown is Meursault against his mother’s funeral. In this quote ‘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 also shows Meursault idea of human life is meaningless. This shows that Meursault believes it doesn’t really matter if his mother died, he’s probably implying that his mother was dying soon...
It is true that Meursault was different from the rest of society. However, he changes throughout the trial and eventually becomes an existentialist hero. This is because he finds meaning in life. It is ironic, though, that he learns to appreciate life after his is effectively over. His apathetic approach to life is made clear from the first page: “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” This foreshadows his approach to everything else in the book. His indifference to Maman’s death contrast’s significantly to Salamano’s distress at losing his dog. Many of the characters in this book also function to highlight his qualities through contrast.
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.
...immediately gives an impression of a lack of emotion towards the demise of his mother. This lack of emotion highlights the existentialist ideal that we all die, so it doesn't matter what life we have while we are alive. We simply exist, as did Meursault. It becomes apparent, as the novella unfolds, that Meursault has acquired an animal like indifference towards society. His interactions with his neighbour Raymond are an example of his indifferences. It never dawns upon Meursault that society does not condone his interactions with the pimp, avoided by his community. Meursault simply acts to fill his time. Being a single man, he has a lot of time to fill, and finds the weekends passing particularly slowly.
... 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.
During the first half of the novel, we see many examples of Meursault’s freedom and how he exercises it. He does what he wants, when he wants to with no regard to how he affects the people around him. Meursault lives his life with no restrictions. He is his own boss. Relaxed and free.
When people deal with a death, they grieve by crying or showing some type of sad emotion. But in the novel, the main character, Meursault does not show any emotion to his mother’s death. Meursault was not moral but he was not immoral either. It is because he lacks any emotional feelings. He is detached from the world and he is seen by society as an outcast because of the way he acts. Meursault’s personality can be described as dull and very boring. Meursault lives an average life, but one important factor in the story is that he does not seem to express his emotions. Some of his character traits could label Meursault as an existentialist because he does not care about anything except physical things. When his mother died many other people were crying but all Meursault worried about was the heat. He is very honest as well and he does not try to cover up the fact tha...
Finally, it can be asserted that the suffering of Meursault is a result of his disbelief in God. As he does not believe in God, he cannot find out any meaning in his life. Consequently, he is aware of the fact that no matter what choices he makes, the ultimate result is death. To him there is no life after death, so he has neither any fear for punishment nor any hope for reward.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.
Meursault is a fairly average individual who is distinctive more in his apathy and passive pessimism than in anything else. He rarely talks because he generally has nothing to say, and he does what is requested of him because he feels that resisting commands is more of a bother than it is worth. Meursault never did anything notable or distinctive in his life: a fact which makes the events of the book all the more intriguing.
Camus writes in a simple, direct, and uncomplicated style. The choice of language serves well to convey the thoughts of Meursault. The story is told in the first person and traces the development of the narrator's attitude toward himself and the rest of the world. Through this sort of simple grammatical structure, Camus gives the reader the opportunity to become part of the awareness of Meursault. In Part I, what Meursault decides to mention are just concrete facts. He describes objects and people, but makes no attempt to analyze them. Since he makes no effort to analyze things around him, that job is given to the reader. The reader therefore creates his own meaning for Meursault's actions. When he is forced to confront his past and reflect on his experiences, he attempts to understand the reasons for existence. At first, Meursault makes references to his inability to understand what's happening around him, but often what he tells us seems the result of his own indifference or detachment. He is frequently inattentive to his surroundings. His mind wanders in the middle of conversations. Rarely does he make judgments or express opinions about what he or other characters are doing. Meursault walks through life largely unaware of the effect of his actions on others.