The Stranger
This book demonstrates how society judges individuals for doing something that is not the usual way to do things. Meursault displays many of these abnormal personality traits. He is not an emotional person and has a laid back attitude. Unfortunately people pass judgement on him because he does things and see things differently than most people do. He does not show emotion at his mother?s funeral, does not tell his girlfriend he loves her, and does not tell his neighbor that he should not beat his dog. To most of us it may seem pretty common to cry at a funeral or to tell a significant other that we love them or to say ?Does that dog really deserve to be yelled at like that?, but Meursault has a different way of thinking. This scares people. Society thinks that everything should be the same. Meursault challenges the everyday normal issues of society by being a strong believer of his own actions. He is not a religious person, which is almost uncommon and is presented that way in the book. This book has many conflicts ranging from love to religion to freedom. The only part of Meursault?s life that may be considered common is that he is an individual who works in an office and relaxes with is off time.
In addition to the townspeople judging Meursault because he sent his mother away, the townspeople continue to dislike him because he showed lack of emotion during her funeral. Which, again, goes back to the way people perceive an individual should live their life. In society crying is associated with a funeral, so therefore it is considered unusual, especially if a parent passes on, that an individual not cry during this period of time. The people of Algiers believe that since Meursault showed no emotions during his mother?s funeral he was a cold heartless man and showed no respect for his mother. This is another point that the prosecutors will try to stress during the trial. In conclusion, this book basically demonstrates how society is closed to open-minded to the unknown, which is still true of today?s society. In addition, it shows how people feel secure in groups and how these groups take precedence over anyone else. Furthermore, it shows that, ?we?, society do not except diversity in a country that stresses freedom. The power of authority is shown more in the trial against Meursault. Meursault is on trail for murdering Raymond?s ex-girlfriends brother. Meursault is not the one who is showing the power of authority, although the townspeople think otherwise. Meursault was trying to look out for Raymond?s interests and instead ended hurting himself. While the men were walking on the beach the came across the Arab and Raymond started fighting with them. Meursault knew that Raymond had a gun and told Raymond to give it to him and if things got bad he would use it. This is where Meursault made his mistake. In trying to do something good for Raymond, a guy he hardly knew, he ended up hurting himself. While Raymond did not end up using the gun, this gave Meursault opportunity to use it. The judicial system definitely showed it authority of power during Meursault?s trial. The prosecution would bring up all of Meursault?s past history on what he perceived was a careless individual. How he sent his mother away and then showed no emotions at her funeral. This would end up hurting the trial the most. The jury was ignorant to Meursault?s personality. Unfortunately as in society today and in this trial, the jury associated his past behaviors a
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Approximate Word count = 1522
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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