The Stranger Seminar Prep

I think that Camus is trying to say that a life of meaning is one where one finds meaning in each moment. Throughout the book, Mersault kind of just goes on as an observer, and doesnt really care much about himself or others, almost sociopathically; he just kind of goes along with the days bring to him. Of course, he still enjoys time with others to a certain extent, but in the end it doesnt matter to him; its not going to make a difference. Even when his girlfriend asks for his hand in marriage, he just kind of shrugs it off without really caring, saying that it didnt matter whether they did or not. As the book progresses, and he realized he is going to be executed after killing a man, he starts to ponder about what really matters, and if his decisions had really led up to anything. Throughout the book, it almost seems as if Marie is slowly becoming a tether to his emotions, sort of foreshadowing the breaking down of his wall of apathy. To be honest, there are times when I wish I had a life like Mersault does, simply being an observer and watching the world go by, but at the same time, I feel most happy when I am around others, enjoying their company. I think thats why the end of the story is so sad to think about, because Mersault is just realizing that he has real friends, people who are willing to look out for him, and then suddenly hes getting his head slice clean off. Its such a sad thing to think about, and overall, its not really the kind of life I would like to live. At the same time, Mersault is able to shrug of big events in his life. That is something that I really admire about his character, and I really wish that I could be able to kind of shrug of some of lifes greater struggles, and be able to deal with them the way he does.

Existentialism Key Term

The Absurd

Page # and excerpt of the quote

That evening Marie came by to see me and asked if I wanted to marry her. I said that it didnt make any difference to me and we could if she wanted (Pg 41) What did it matter now that Marie offered her lips to a new Mersault? (Pg. 121-122)

Brief description of how this passage represents the key term

In this passage, Mersault is showing how there really isnt any purpose to anything, so really the thought of getting married a wasteful idea. Trying to add extra meaning to their relationship by adding a ring is just something that doesnt really matter to Mersault. Here, I believe Mersault is realizing that what other people thought of his actions mattered not. The world seemed to be quite pointless anyways. From an existentialist standpoint, this would be true. They believe that their core existence, and how they choose to exist, is entirely more important than that of what other people thought what they are like

Existence precedes essence

Alienation

But I think I was already far removed from that courtroom. (pg 103)

Angst/Individual Freedom and Responsibility of choice (Either of him avoiding responsibility or accepting free will or experiencing that angst in recognizing his free will.)

I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world (Pg. 122)

In this scene, it is showing how left out Mersault was being in his own case. Even his lawyer was taking place of him. In the case of existentialists, alienations is being lost in the crowd, and feeling out of your own body, in a way. I think this also counts in this passage, as, even though his trial was kind of a big deal, he almost seemed like he was so regular in it that he was, in fact, not really a part of it all. Its this idea that once his trial is over, he will go back to still being just monsieur Mersault, and nothing will really become of him Reading between the lines here, I think that Mersault is showing that he is accepting free will here. At the same time, he is noticing the pointlessness of the world. I think that in existentialism, these two things go together. When one realized the pointlessness of the world, I think they start to accept their personal responsibilities. They start to realize that, really, they had the option to start to understand their existence in this pointless, chaotic world.

Prompt: To what extent are you Mersault?

The book mentions that Mersault ended up finding out his studies were worthless. For a while, I, too, believed this. There were so many options, I was having a great amount of existential angst. I had so many options, and so many of them that were leading to something Id love to do didnt require me to care as much about my studies. Alternatively, though, I was able to find a kind of rope of fate that I could pull on and use as an anchor to continue to care about my studies.