Camus

A detailed Summary of Camus

The Stranger by Albert Camus is one of the more interesting novellas I have read recently. The first thing that struck me about the book was when I was on page 8 and I realized that everything was in the first person. I thought this was going to be a problem for me but it turned out that it was like one of those movies that have the black line across the top and bottom of the screen, at first I felt it would wreck the whole book, but after the first chapter, I did not even notice. Camus paints a man who struck me to have several of the same qualities as Melville's Bartlby The Scrivener. The main character Maursault has a sort of an aloof take on life, or it would seem. He describes his life and gives a basic setting for the story. Maursault is the type that is upset by the things in life that everyone else can deal with. Things like the sun, the heat, reflection, and other people talking are things that get under his skin. He is however not upset by things like his mother's death, his friend putting a beating on his woman, and his charge of murder.

In this way he parallels Bartelby because neither seems to care what happens to them and neither seems to be bothered by anything of magnitude. Bartelby reaches a poi

While he is in his neighbors Raymond's house he is enjoying food wine and cigarettes, this keeps him content until his neighbor keeps rattling on about his own life, Maursalt becomes discontented and yearns for him to change the subject. He shows no feeling of guilt when his neighbor Salamano looses his dog and does not offer to keep his eye out for him. He shows even less feeling when his neighbor is badly beating his girlfriend in front of him and Marie. He even helps his neighbor lure her into the trap, which was set. If he had shown any bad feelings at this point at all it was due to the fact that the beating put a damper on his lovemaking. Maursalt goes with his neighbor to the police station and lies about what happened. This gesture seals the friendship in Raymond's mind, but could really not mean less to Maursault. In his mind, being friends with the neighbor is convenient because he is introduced to some of the friends that live at the beach. This summerhouse is the place that the elements overcome Maursaul and he ends up committing the act of murder. In my opinion the crime was not committed because he hated the Arab, or he was upset Raymond was badly wounded, I think he was simply upset because the Arabs were causing a hitch in his good time and he is not the type of person that would stand for that. If something gets in his way in the past, he would either go to sleep or ignore it. The Arabs were not something he could look the other way on, he needed to address the situation at hand and he felt going to the utmost extremes to deal with the problem was the best way to deal with it. Even in jail, he shows no remorse about what he did. Maursault lives each day in jail as he would have lived it on the outside, with the exception that he does not get to indulge in the pleasures of life. Maursault adapts to the situation and takes his life one day at a time. He lives his life only in the present. Marie visits him in the beginning and tries to offer him some hope but it is to no avail because Maursau

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bartlby Scrivener, Albert Camus, lost live, completely lost live, mother's death, completely lost,

Approximate Word count = 1372
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels