The Stranger By Albert Camus
Hannah Howell
AP Literature
4/26/13
Disappointment and Death
Scholar Ignace Feuerlicht states, “Camus holds that man is an eternal stranger to himself, that he cannot grasp and define his self or integrate its different aspects.” 1 Meursault is a stranger to society and himself in many ways and the ambiguity of the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus highlights his departure from an existence driven by expectation and ambition. Meursault floats through life without ambition because he does not view the threat or presence of death as enough motivation to live a meaningful life, attempting to protect himself from the surprises or expectations he may not meet or like. Meursault changes his outlook on living as he is forced to contemplate …show more content…
While telling his story to the lawyer, Meursault says, “I felt the urge to reassure him that I was like everybody else, just like everybody else.” (p 66) He does not want to be a stranger to society, but rather to appease everyone so they will not question or inspect his actions, which he fears may …show more content…
Even Meursault observes the similarities saying, “ It was the same sun as the day I had buried Mother and, like then, I had a great pain in the forehead where all the veins were beating together under the skin.” (p 79) Conroy states the similarities saying, “The sun, the sweat, the pulsation, the fatigue, the coloring, the tears, and death are deja vu; they resuscitate for Meursault the experience of his mother 's funeral and the emotions he was then feeling.”5 The events being so similar in a physical sense allows them to mirror the other emotionally as well. The final link between the two events is the presence of death. These similarities force Meursault to again remember his other experience with death, that he has so strongly repressed, and for those pent up emotions to resurface. As he heats up on the beach, those same emotions resurface and bring death to the forefront of his mind causing a reaction, or the first shot of the
AP Literature
4/26/13
Disappointment and Death
Scholar Ignace Feuerlicht states, “Camus holds that man is an eternal stranger to himself, that he cannot grasp and define his self or integrate its different aspects.” 1 Meursault is a stranger to society and himself in many ways and the ambiguity of the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus highlights his departure from an existence driven by expectation and ambition. Meursault floats through life without ambition because he does not view the threat or presence of death as enough motivation to live a meaningful life, attempting to protect himself from the surprises or expectations he may not meet or like. Meursault changes his outlook on living as he is forced to contemplate …show more content…
While telling his story to the lawyer, Meursault says, “I felt the urge to reassure him that I was like everybody else, just like everybody else.” (p 66) He does not want to be a stranger to society, but rather to appease everyone so they will not question or inspect his actions, which he fears may …show more content…
Even Meursault observes the similarities saying, “ It was the same sun as the day I had buried Mother and, like then, I had a great pain in the forehead where all the veins were beating together under the skin.” (p 79) Conroy states the similarities saying, “The sun, the sweat, the pulsation, the fatigue, the coloring, the tears, and death are deja vu; they resuscitate for Meursault the experience of his mother 's funeral and the emotions he was then feeling.”5 The events being so similar in a physical sense allows them to mirror the other emotionally as well. The final link between the two events is the presence of death. These similarities force Meursault to again remember his other experience with death, that he has so strongly repressed, and for those pent up emotions to resurface. As he heats up on the beach, those same emotions resurface and bring death to the forefront of his mind causing a reaction, or the first shot of the