The Stranger

A detailed Summary of The Stranger

Imagine a person with no feelings, no friends, isolated both emotionally and physically. They don't feel threatened by "normal" things, making the "normal" person threatened by him. In the book, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, we embark on a journey through the mind of an existentialist. So we meet Mersault, the main character in the book, and in my opinion, the epitome of existentialism.

Throughout reading, we have observed Mersault's self-aware behavior in many scenes of the book. One instance was at the funeral.

"Some of the women were crying. She was in the second row, hidden behind one of her companions, and I couldn't see her very well. She was crying softly, steadily in little sobs. I thought she'd never stop. The others seemed not to hear her. They sat there hunched up, gloomy and silent. They would look at the casket, or their canes or whatever else, but that was all they would look at. The woman kept on crying. It surprised me, because I didn't know who she was, I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore. But I didn't dare say anything."

Mersault doesn't seem very sympathetic to the elderly woman's feelings.

"After a while he explained, without loo

"That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her. 'So why marry me then?' She said. I explained to her that it really didn't matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said 'No.' She stopped talking for a minute and looked at me without saying anything. Then she spoke. She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved in the same way. I said, 'Sure.' Then she said she wondered if she loved me, and there was no way I could know about that."

"He was walking with great dignity, without a single wasted motion. A

few beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, but he didn't wipe them off."

"For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiance', why she had played at the beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then, 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. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself-so like a brother really-I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had to only wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution, and that they greet me with cries of hate."

Another instance in which we see Mersault exhibiting self-aware behavior was while he was watching the pallbearer and the perspiring people.

Mersault also demonstrates the "trying to be social but failing" qualities with his friend Raymond. He always seems to agree with Raymond, and I wonder whether that is to save himself from actually having to act like a human being and carry on a conversation, or if its just easier for him to agree than to have an opinion. Maybe he feels his opinion doesn't matter.

I think that the last paragraphs of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Albert Camus, Mersault Maman's, , trying social, able meaning, physical attraction, believe god love, doesn't matter, ready live, dead woman, mersault doesn't, self-aware behavior, believe god, god love,

Approximate Word count = 1736
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics