The Stranger Essay
Vy Tran Mr. Ledesma English Period 2 12/31/2012
The Stranger: The Essay In the philosophical novel “The Stranger”, written by Albert Camus, the story ended with Meursault’s last thoughts. He thinks, “For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). The question is: Why does Meursault hope for this? Why does Camus end the novel at this point? And who is the “Stranger” and why? “The Stranger” ends with Meursault’s doubtless refusal to renounce his actions. He continues to not show any guilt or remorse for killing the Arab or for showing sympathy over his mother’s death. Pertaining to his mother’s death and how she chose to take in a fiancé late in her life, he says, “So close to death. Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too” (Camus 122). This basically means that no one had the right to cry over his mother’s death because she was ready to live her life all over again. He has always lived out of touch with everything, and in death, he wouldn’t have to conform to standards to be accepted by the world he disagrees completely with. His last thoughts could be his expression of the freedom he found in death. Another way to look at it is that, throughout the book, Meursault would express his hatred for humanity’s culture of mourning and think of it as crazy. He is adverse towards people who torture themselves over someone else’s death.
The Stranger: The Essay In the philosophical novel “The Stranger”, written by Albert Camus, the story ended with Meursault’s last thoughts. He thinks, “For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). The question is: Why does Meursault hope for this? Why does Camus end the novel at this point? And who is the “Stranger” and why? “The Stranger” ends with Meursault’s doubtless refusal to renounce his actions. He continues to not show any guilt or remorse for killing the Arab or for showing sympathy over his mother’s death. Pertaining to his mother’s death and how she chose to take in a fiancé late in her life, he says, “So close to death. Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too” (Camus 122). This basically means that no one had the right to cry over his mother’s death because she was ready to live her life all over again. He has always lived out of touch with everything, and in death, he wouldn’t have to conform to standards to be accepted by the world he disagrees completely with. His last thoughts could be his expression of the freedom he found in death. Another way to look at it is that, throughout the book, Meursault would express his hatred for humanity’s culture of mourning and think of it as crazy. He is adverse towards people who torture themselves over someone else’s death.
Cited: Camus, Albert, and Matthew Ward. The Stranger. New York, NY: Vintage International, 1989. Print.