General
1.
The
plot in this novel is very clear and organized. You know instantly what the
climax is and the falling action. What wasn’t really clear was the inciting
incident. What I believe to be the inciting incident is when Meursault receives
news of his mother’s death and attends the funeral. “Maman died today. Or
yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home.” This triggers
everything that happens on in the story. Everyone feels sorry for Meursault, so
that is how he meets some of his friends. Towards the end this incident is even
used against him when he is being trialed at court. The Stranger was just a straight forward book with no surprises
whatsoever. Everything is told in first person, so you could only know what the
main character knew or thought. If there was any plot twist it would have to be
the climax in which Meursault shoots the Arab. This book is at realistic as it
gets. It’s like one of those movies based on a true story. If this novel had
“Based on a true story” on the cover there would be no reason to doubt it. What
happened to Meursault could happen to anyone in this world. It just has to do
with sheer bad luck. “The way I see it, it’s bad luck… It leaves you
defenseless.”-Celeste. Have you ever done something that you don’t even know
why you did it? And what you did just comes back to bite you in butt. When
people ask why you did what you did your only response is “I don’t know.”
People are taken to court for something bad they did, but don’t why they even
did it. This is exactly what happened to Meursault.
2.
What
I got out of The Stranger is what is
the point of life if we are all condemned to death. Sooner or later we die, it
could be the next second, next day, or even next year. So why do we work so
hard on our life when it can be taken away in a split second. The universe is
unfair and we are all condemned to death, so make each second count. Even
though the human life seems so meaningless you should always have hope and find
a purpose to live.
3.
The
tone of The Stranger is something
you’d not expect from a book. The tone is plain and detached. What I mean by
that is no emotion is involved. No emotion is expressed through the main
character and Meursault seems to be a dreamer, thinker, and a listener.
Meursault is not very attached to anyone or anything in the novel. When I read
a book I usually feel what the main character feels, but since the tone was
plain and detached I didn’t really feel excited, sad, or happy. I just started
thinking about what Meursault was thinking about.
·
"I got up. Raymond gave me a very firm
handshake and said that men always understand each other. I left his room,
closing the door behind me, and paused for a minute in the dark, on the
landing. The house was quiet, and a breath of dark, dank air wafted p from deep
in the stairwell. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears. I stood
there, motionless."
·
"At that time, I often thought that if I
had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at
the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to
it."
·
"It occurred to me that anyway one more
Sunday was over that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and
that, really, nothing had changed."
4.
Albert Camus uses first person narrative to tell
the story. Albert Camus tells
the story through the eyes of Meursault. This way everything that happens to
Meursault affects what or how something will be written. The novel is written
on the thoughts of Meursault and his perspective.
·
"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.”
Don’t know what his is called but
Albert shifts between present and past in his narration
·
"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 I tall 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."
The author leaves little hints
there and there that gives hints of what might happen later in the story. This
is also known as foreshadowing.
·
"In a way, they seemed to be arguing the
case as if it had nothing to do with me. Everything was happening without my
participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my
opinion."
The author uses flashback to refer
back to the past.
·
"And I can say that at the end of the
eleven months that this investigation lasted, I was almost surprised that I had
ever enjoyed anything other than those rare moments when the judge would lead
me to the door of his office, slap me on the shoulder, and say to me cordially,
'That's all for today, Monsieur Antichrist.' I would then be handed back over
to the police."
Death and observation are motifs
throughout the story.
·
"How had I not seen that there was nothing
more important than an execution, and that when you come right down to it, it
was the only thing a man could truly be interested in?"
Metaphors
are used to refer to the character in the perspective of others.
·
"They [the jury] had before them the basest
of crimes, a crime made worse than sordid by the fact that they were dealing
with a monster, a man without morals."
The story is told in the point of
view of the main character himself enriching the story. Allows for the reader
to enter the character’s mind.
·
"At that time, I often thought that if I
had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at
the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to
it."
A huge literary element used is
stream of consciousness. This whole book is pretty much using this element. Much
of the novel is describing the protagonist’s thoughts.
·
"In a way, they seemed to be arguing the
case as if it had nothing to do with me. Everything was happening without my
participation. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my
opinion."
Personification is slightly used to make
connection between things.
·
"'I am on your side. But you have no way of
knowing it, because our heart is blind.'"
Symbolism is slightly used to
relate one subject to another.
·
The courtroom represents where society attempts
to make sense of the universe without order. The judge is the moral umpire and
the jury are representatives that cast their judgments upon the accused.
Characterization
1.
Indirect characterization:
·
"She was wearing a pair of my pajamas with
the sleeves rolled up. When she laughed I wanted her again. 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. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent
reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her."
Albert Camus doesn’t seem to use direct
characterization. Meursault mainly gives his indifferent opinion on a character
but that doesn’t lead to direct characterization. Since this whole novel is
about Meursault the author focuses characterization on him. Albert Camus uses
indirect characterization because he wants you to get to know Meursault little
by little rather than serving him on a plate and saying “here you go”. This
allows for the reader to develop their own thoughts on him and what they think
of him and his views.
2. Albert Camus’s diction and
syntax stay the same throughout the novel even when focusing on the main
character. Most of the novel is focused on the main character so the diction
and syntax is structured in a way that his told from his point of view. To me
the diction and syntax seem mostly philosophical in a way because the author is
talking about death and the value of life.
3. The protagonist is static and
flat. Meursault is simply observing and reflecting on those observations. There’s
no adventure or quest that would make him change his views. There is no change
in him from the beginning of the novel to the end. He is a flat character
because he seems to have only on personality throughout the novel. He is for
the most part detached and indifferent.
4. After reading the book I definitely came away
feeling like a met a person. I felt like a met a person because the book took
you deep into the mind of the protagonist when he was being sentenced to death.
Just getting into his mind made you really feel like you knew the guy.
·
"I would rather not have upset him, but I
couldn't see any reason to change my life. Looking back on it, I wasn't
unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I
had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really
mattered."
