At one time or another, all people have wished their loved ones were dead

The book was short, the sentences were short, and Meursault was destined to be short lived as well. Nevertheless, I found the book enticing and again poking at existentialism in some of the ways that Nausea did. For example in the latter half of the novel, Meursault begins having various epiphanies while he is in jail. His days start to be, "both long and short at the same time: long enough to live through, maybe, but so drawn out that they ended up flowing into one another." Our character begins to develop his own world of isolation, where he is so detached from society, that no relationship exists between the two factions. Here is where he slips into the real "existence" that he alone is part of and he begins to observe things in a different light. While he sits in the courtroom listening to the trial he suddenly is reminded that he, "hadn't tried to catch Marie's eye once during the whole trial. I hadn't forgotten about her; I'd just had too much to do." Although Meursault claims he is busy, his only business resides in his head where he is becoming
more and more separated from the "reality" that others live in.

In the last chapters of the book Meursault has an existential realization. As he waits in his cell pondering his fate, Meursault fails to understand the, "arrogant certainty" of his verdict. Our character continues to dispute the tiny details of his ruling that could have been altered to allow him to live. ("the fact that it had been decided by men who change their underwear") Yet in the end, Meursault is forced to come to the conclusion, "that from the moment it had been passed its (the verdict) consequences became as real and as serious as the wall against which I pressed the length of my body."

I am sitting in a living room 150 miles away from my copy of The Stranger so please bare with the fact that I don't have any "fancy" citations from the text.

What I loved about Camus' approach to this novel is his bare-bones style of approach in writing. He utilizes short, basic sentences that seem analogous to his main character's, Meursault, emotionally-defunct and 2 foot deep personality. Perhaps, this is what detaches him from conventional society- his lack for having any sort of ideological reasoning for anything he does. This lack of emotional response by Meursault is present throughout the novel when he visits his mother's funeral, is unaffected when his girlfriend wants to marry him, takes the side of a pimp that beats his women, and his void of any sort of feeling of remorse for murdering a human being. This void of feeling is what leads the prosecuting lawyer of Meursault's murder trial to call him a "monster" and everyone else to conclude that he is not fit for living in their society and should be executed. This is why Meursault is "The Stranger"- a person so emotionally detached that he is a stranger to most human kind.

My head hurts too much today for me to write anything very significant, but I will say I was a bit distracted by the racism and sexism in the book, and I hope we soon read a book with a main female character in it, one who shows strength and substance.

While I was generally disappointed by a completely uninspired and ill-advised pick of the Stranger, I will agree with the masturbation trainer on one thing: the style is very indicative of a crazy man (I myself did side with the moralists and conclude that he WAS crazy, or, lacking some inherent moral receptor). In the forward, which I have no idea who wrote and I vaguely remember, Camus is quoted saying he tried to write it an "American" style ala Steinbeck. I find this style to embody a well lauded literary principle: what does not get written is more powerful than what does (Literature 101). So since we get his narrative we must assume he is selective (he is, after all, a writer) and thus not entirely truthful.

Miss Elizabeth wrote:My head hurts too much today for me to write anything very significant, but I will say I was a bit distracted by the racism and sexism in the book, and I hope we soon read a book with a main female character in it, one who shows strength and substance.

Is this the Book Club or your personal whine blog. You were the one that picked Nausea!

Mr. George wrote: Is this the Book Club or your personal whine blog. You were the one that picked Nausea!

Hey hey I still enjoyed reading these books, especially Nausea, I'm just a little tired now of this first-person French-man business!

I agree with Emily about these feeble women, and on that note id like to pose a debate on the significance of Marie to Meursault. Is she a girlfriend, a wife to be, or just there to fulfill his needs…. Why does Camus have her there at all….

She is with him the day after his mother dies, and also the day he shoots the Arab. Marie is there when Raymond beats his girlfriend and laughs at Salamono’s relationship with his dog. She even testifies in his trial, but is not enough for him to turn his head and notice her. Camus places her in all these paramount events in the book, yet she seems to invoke only an indifferent feeling from Meursault.

Ideas?

Oh yes I was thinking about Marie too. She was basically a purely physical being for Meursault. On their first day together where they see each other at the beach he puts his head in her lap and then "fondles her breasts" at the movies...and then they sleep together every week after that. When he sees her he loves noticing "the firm shape of her breasts" and the dresses she's wearing to complement her golden features. Yet he does see her face in the stones of his prison cell, even though he says he fantasizes about an array of women. So maybe she is this figure he is too much of a stranger to love but when he has no life left for him, she is a source of normalcy and comfort.

As for Marie herself, I think she's a little crazy too. She's okay with marrying him even though he says he doesn't love her, and though she professes her love to him numerous times and is denied she still visits him in prison and testifies at his hearing. And this is after he has killed a man. She just seems foolish to me...not a character I can take too seriously.

This lead me to some other thoughts regarding the "morality" issue:
So one of the main points in Meursault's trial used against him was the fact that he didn't cry at his mother's funeral. Ridiculous of course, since there are many reasons why a person might not cry, yet society has made it this sort of rule that you must cry if your mother dies.
In Marie's case, then, I guess I am just imposing these societal rules on her - I suppose she can marry a man who doesn't love her, and visit a murderer in prison...But I would still use this against her if she came to me in tears after finding Meursault in bed with Raymond after murdering Salamano.

Hmm...

I agree, Marie does seem to be sort of a mindless fool. But i think shes playing her part perfectly. She obviously belongs in society; her amiable character, attractive physique, her desire to marry, her ability to stand by her man through thick and thin. Isnt this the perfect wife? the perfect woman? Nevertheless, we find ourselves disgusted in her lack of any real brain. I think this is Camus's point, that someone like Marie, who is a perfect example of a society standardized woman is not perfect at all. We, Mersault included, find no real connection with Marie to any degree. Yet perhaps someone who admires society just as much as she would absolutely cherish the woman and adore her as the perfect lover....Raymond anybody?

[quote="Miss Elizabeth"] As for Marie herself, I think she's a little crazy too. She's okay with marrying him even though he says he doesn't love her.[quote]

Marie seems so normal to me. I feel like only us romantics think anything is off here.

Ooh right, of course Luke! Marie, the perfect example of society. Oh when I said crazy before, I didn't mean really crazy in the mind, just in the sense that...well, since we never got to hear many of her thoughts, I just pictured her as this pretty lady fluttering about with a big smile glued onto an empty head.

I agree with Luke, Marie is just a symbol. Everything that she does and says is an explicit representation on the part of Camus. She is the foil to the stranger, she's not crazy, but it is crazy how familiar she is.