Zheng 1

Xiuying Zheng

Ryan Galargher

English 12 CP

6 Dec. 2010

The stranger

Protagonist Meursault in the novel of “The Strange” seems just a guy who unaware the

society, seems the world so bored, and only knows the physical desired. Also the life in this

world seems doesn’t have any meaning to Meursault. He thought that everything that lives

must die, no matter what you do in the life, Meursault doesn’t care about the death, even in

his mother’s funeral he doesn’t cry at all, because he thought that was originally to take place.

In the passage “Meursault seemed better and talked about the bus back”, Albert Camus

suggests that not only Meursault doesn’t care about the things, also the world doesn’t care.

Camus shows this by describing the action between Meursault and Raymond, and shows

Meursault’s feeling by the actions happened. And Camus also used sunlight as a negative

force on Meursault and let us seems how cold the world is. The passage “but without taking

his eyes off his adversary, Raymond asked me, “should I let him have it?” It just a simple

sentences and could be anything in daily life, nothing special to us, but the fact is the point

that Raymond asked wasn’t a easy thing like you can have every day, It’s a people’s life, a

very serious thing to everyone who still alive in this world. Camus describe the thought that

Raymond wants to end up a people’s life in this very simple way shows us how Raymond

doesn’t care others death. It seems like this world is cold, and people hold’s no feeling about

1
 Zheng 2

others.

The passage “take him on man to man and give me your gun, if the other one moves in, or if

he draws his knife, I’ll let him have it.” Meursault wants to get the gun from Raymond not

because he wants to stop Raymond’s action of crime, but to take that action by himself. He

didn’t try to come up a good way to face this problem, all the things in Meursault and

Raymond’s head was death, no matter who take the action, the only thing they wants was to

kill the Arabs. Camus shows us how cold they were in this world. The passage “the sunlight

off Raymond’s gun as he handed it to me, but we just stood there motionless”, as if in that

moment, every evil thought in their head were coming out. And at that moment Raymond just

let Meursault to take it, he doesn’t have a thought that what would come as a result to

Meursault if he did shoot. Everything develop in a cold way as there’s nothing have to be care

about. The world and the people are cold to not care anything. Death is just a simple thing.

hings seem to be a little different after Meursault went to the prison. Meursault react his

confinement in the prison with feeling of indifference. And he didn’t have any guilt or regret

on himself for what he has done. When he was put into the prison, he got a change to think

about his past, but the past cannot satisfy Meursault physical need, only the present can

satisfy that. But once he came into the prison, the present satisfy of physical need also fail.

The time is a magical thing, as the long period passed in the prison, Meursault staring at his

reflection, and faced seriously and realized that he had been talking to himself. In prison, he is

growing to understand himself and his beliefs more and more.

In the passage “One day when the … it p80.” Author cammus suggests that people would

2
 Zheng 3

begin to find themselves which they hide it deep in their heart when they felt lonely at a long

period. Meursault as a murder stay in prison for five months, the time for him seems lost

meaning but only the words yesterday and tomorrow, but Meursault cannot control that

loneliness came to him and made him to think back what he had done. And this made

Meursault to understand more about him. At the beginning of the passage, cammus used

comparisons on Meursault thinking and tells us that Meursault was beginning to notice he

little bit. “My reflection seemed to … stern expression.” Nothing seems matter to Meursault

at the beginning of the story, and Meursault was tried to stay same and not let his own

reflection influence his mind, but no matter how Meursault tried to ignore it, the reflection

was remain serious to him., The long period silence made Meursault to grow. “I recognized it

as the same one… talking to myself.” As many quiet nights and days were passed in the

prison, Meursault seems to remember what had happened to him, and he was noticed how his

own voice was alike. Lonely bring Meursault to back to the period that has his own voice.

And it made him to go through himself one more time, and understand himself little more. No

one in this world is really has no feeling about things, only if they hide themselves to not feel

it. Cammus told us that time and lonely can stimulate oneself to find their voice, just as

Meursault understand himself more and more in the long period prison life.

Meursault was sure about one thing—death. All Meursault knows is that it is not worth his

time to worry about things as good or bad because he will die no matter what he did in the

life, so he doesn’t care about the death, and life, or any life at all. Nothing is matters to him.

He didn’t have any guilt or regret on himself for what he has done. Past cannot satisfy

3
 Zheng 4

Meursault physical need, but the present. His presents satisfy of physical need fail once he

came into the prison. And he insists his own belief.