Albert Camus 'The Stranger'
The Stranger Reading Journal Essay
In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the story is told in a first person point of view from Monsieur Meursault as the narrator. For a more obvious reason, the book is told in his point of view because he is the main character, but there are multiple other possibilities for why Camus did so. The book is a memory of what happened leading up to his execution, which is why it needed to be in first person point of view. Camus did this because there are a lot of things we could see from Meursault’s perspective that we couldn’t from the third person point of view, which led to the book’s theme. Since it is all a recollection of the events leading up to his execution, we get to see inside Monsieur Meursault’s head find his true feelings …show more content…
about things, better characterizing him.
Monsieur Meursault had little to no feelings whatsoever; the only time he actually shared feelings other than that of indifference was when he wanted to complain about something. Everything he did was always just because he could; nothing mattered to him. “But I hesitated, because I didn’t know if I could do it with Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn’t matter” (Camus 8). He thought about not dishonoring his deceased mother by having a smoke right in front of her casket, then decided it didn’t matter. Everything was meaningless to him, he just went through life doing exactly what he wanted because nothing mattered anyway. He didn’t even care when he found out his mother died, he was just very choppy and to the point. “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). Monsieur Meursault was to the point and very dry about the fact that his mother had died either that day or the day before, like he felt it was bound to happen eventually so why does it matter when. Meursault’s feelings and actions line up perfectly with those of an existentialist; being confused about when exactly his mother died then deciding it was meaningless anyway. He never felt like anyone’s actions were actually meaningful, everything just happens until you die. His thought everything was very one side or the other, it didn’t matter which one, you just had to pick. “That was how they’d been wired: it was all or nothing” (9). This is how he saw everyday in his life, either you could see everything as important and go about worrying about what was going to happen, or not care about anything and just live a life. Either way it all ended the same way, coming down to nothing. His existential point of view was an important aspect of the book because Camus was trying to display that not everything in life needs a meaning, sometimes things just happen for the sake of it happening and life goes on. And that everyday could be your last day, so why dwell on the meaning of things when nothing really matters anyway.
In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the story is told in a first person point of view from Monsieur Meursault as the narrator. For a more obvious reason, the book is told in his point of view because he is the main character, but there are multiple other possibilities for why Camus did so. The book is a memory of what happened leading up to his execution, which is why it needed to be in first person point of view. Camus did this because there are a lot of things we could see from Meursault’s perspective that we couldn’t from the third person point of view, which led to the book’s theme. Since it is all a recollection of the events leading up to his execution, we get to see inside Monsieur Meursault’s head find his true feelings …show more content…
about things, better characterizing him.
Monsieur Meursault had little to no feelings whatsoever; the only time he actually shared feelings other than that of indifference was when he wanted to complain about something. Everything he did was always just because he could; nothing mattered to him. “But I hesitated, because I didn’t know if I could do it with Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn’t matter” (Camus 8). He thought about not dishonoring his deceased mother by having a smoke right in front of her casket, then decided it didn’t matter. Everything was meaningless to him, he just went through life doing exactly what he wanted because nothing mattered anyway. He didn’t even care when he found out his mother died, he was just very choppy and to the point. “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). Monsieur Meursault was to the point and very dry about the fact that his mother had died either that day or the day before, like he felt it was bound to happen eventually so why does it matter when. Meursault’s feelings and actions line up perfectly with those of an existentialist; being confused about when exactly his mother died then deciding it was meaningless anyway. He never felt like anyone’s actions were actually meaningful, everything just happens until you die. His thought everything was very one side or the other, it didn’t matter which one, you just had to pick. “That was how they’d been wired: it was all or nothing” (9). This is how he saw everyday in his life, either you could see everything as important and go about worrying about what was going to happen, or not care about anything and just live a life. Either way it all ended the same way, coming down to nothing. His existential point of view was an important aspect of the book because Camus was trying to display that not everything in life needs a meaning, sometimes things just happen for the sake of it happening and life goes on. And that everyday could be your last day, so why dwell on the meaning of things when nothing really matters anyway.