zBlogging the Literary Life - Period 6/7 - AP College English - 2005/2006 - Oak Park River Forest High School

A Stranger No More

This weekend, my friend told me he totally did a "Meursault."  I began to laugh, and wanted an explanation. He said like Meursault, he gave into his physical needs, causing him to give into his feelings of wanting to shower. "I wanted to shower so bad, so I did... for no reason." I find humor that Meursault is becoming apart of the exact system that he "understood and grew out of" in The Stranger. But, between my essay and the last couple weeks I'm beginning to get sick of talking about The Stranger, so I'll say one last thing about it. I think today in class, it was interesting when Mr. Heidkamp said that if you live in such an existentialistic life, how can you have relationships? Well you can't. But, as people living in today's world, we are all affect by relationships--whether it be adversely or favorably--- we are all still affected. Therefore, it is unrealistic to live an existentialistic life today-- or maybe they would just be called emo... just kidding.

Down With Existentialism

I don't know about everyone else, but personally, I hate existentialism! It seems to me that existentialists are depressed people with a grim outlook on life and I hate having to focus on this view of life. Camus needs to cheer up!

To Play Games or Not To Play Games

While in jail Mersault finds an article about the Czechoslovakian. Mersault believes that the Czechoslovakian deserved his death beacause he believes you should never play games, but at the end of the novel Mersault the magistrate stairs Mersault in the eye. Mersault believed that this was a game and believed himself to be good at the game. How is this game different then what the Czechoslovakian did?

The Formulas to Happiness and Despair

In response to one of the discussion questions....In what sense is the message of this book life-affirming?

Throughout the entire book it seamed that Meursault had no spice for life, no single reason or care in living, and that was simply why he shot the Arab.  To try and make something interesting and unique take place.  And towards the end of the book when Meursault accepted he was goign to die, I realized when he agreed to marry Marie because all he was trying to do was make the best of his situation and live life to the end with no thought of consequence.  Also when he realized why his mother had a fiance so close to death, helps us understand that his mother just wanted to experience that feeling even if her life would soon come to an end.  These things help point out that the rest of us should live life to the fullest and experience everythign we can.

What is the formula to happiness?  The cure for dispair?

Camus seems to be trying to represent happiness and dispair in this novel as connected themes.  Only after a person has accepted their own fate; that being enevitably death, can they live a "authentic" life, one filled with both ups and downs - happiness and dispair.  Dispair on the other hand will be difficult for Meursault to acheive, because in my opinion to experience dispair; which could happened through something like the death of your mother, to truly experience it you must react outwardly.  It must noticablly affect you in some way. That is part of what makes us human, our emotions. He was just so bla and emotionless to me, making him an interesting and unique character....but not one that I liked.   

Camus Ending

I have read this book once before, and that was in my French class last year.

Last year in French, we had a test at the end of the book on what we thought the ending meant.  We were given a quote, but I cannot remember what it was unfortunately.  I remember putting on my test that I thought the ending for Meursault was a way for him to express his emotions, as illustrated when he "lets loose" on the end at the priest who prayed for him.  However, after I read it in english, I realized that it was also a way for Camus to say that people should value their own beliefs and wants.

I am just wondering right now if anyone else may have understood the message at the end of the book as the same way I did on my French test.

Physical Obsessions

Throughout the novel, Meursault continually obsesses over his physical situations. He admits during one of the first meetings with his lawyer that "my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings." He blatanly uses Marie in order to satisfy some primal physical needs while remaining emotionally unattached, despite her interest, or even desire, for a meaningful relationship. Meursault repeatedly refrences the sun and the heat making him uncomfortable, leading him to find the quickest method to ease his discomfort, most notalby, the murder on the beach. (Although, I'm still confused as to how shooting the arab was the solution to the overbearing heat and sun, but whatever.) So, for a man who professes to be sure of himself and of everything else, why is he then, so obssesed with what we would call the details in life? It seems to me that Meursault needs to straighten out his priorities, becuase if he knows that nothing matters, not even love for his mother, then why should he care so much about insignificant details? But then again, it is perhaps becuase of this very realization, that nothing really matters (like Queen says), that Meursault is able to detatch himself emotionally, meaning that while he lasts on this here earth, he might as well look out for his own well being. Which leads me to another but then again, becuase couldn't this preoccupation with his physical needs be descirbed as incessentaly trying to be comfortable? And comfortable, that's a feeling isn't it? Comfortable people are content maybe even happy, and happy people don't shoot thier husbands (or Arabs), they just don't. Okay, so that last bit is a movie reference, but even still at some point, don't the boudaries between physical and mental happiness mesh? Either way, I think I've answered my own questions, which makes this blog pointless and probably a little confusing.

Why The Stranger?

This book is very powerful and interesting.  But I am vexxed about the fact of Camus naming the book the Stranger.  I also think extentialism is very pecuilar.  If religion and family have no dominant importance or impact on one's life then what does?  According to the views of extentialist, you are suppose to make your life meaningful with something.  If that something is family and/ or religion why is it so wrong?  I guess this will be something very hard for me to understand so, to whomever elaborate in detail for those who feel as I feel.

We're All Strangers

It seems to me that all of Meursault's beliefs, those characteristic to the thoughts of an existentialist, are based upon his conclusions that everyone in the world is merely a stranger to one another. Meursault's assumptions that huamm compassion is pointless, and his suggestion that life is meaningless have developed because of his belief that man is forced to act in an unnatural manner. Further, man's actions reflect only his obligations to abide by societal norms; man is subject to the institutions that surroud him. In this sense, it is impossible for even the best of friends to develop a relationship more mature than one of perfect strangers. If society restricts us from acting true to ourselves by defining a standard code by which the "good", or normal, man lives, then why waste our energy on relationships confined by those same restrictions? We can never really know another human being on a personal, or intimate level because we must constantly monitor our behavior. Perhaps, to Meusault, man cannot be more than a stranger.-Jaime

Death is the Begining! ShecarraJ

In the Last two pages of the Stranger Meursualt sort of shows his beliefs. What he mainly says is that through life we conform to society. We do this maybe to not deal with consequences or to belong with the group. Yet when we are close to dying we act out on our whims,or secret desires we never thought of doing becuase of society. I thought this was an interesting perspective.   

Who is the Strangler?

I'll try and not write this angrily, because I just erased the one I had completed...

Who is Meurseult? I don't know exactly. I don't really like that question. I would like to answer the question, what is the stranger? Or better yet who is the stranger? Is Meurseult the stranger to the rest of the world, or is the world a stranger to Meurseult? At the finale of the Stranger, he seemed as though he had it all figured out. LIke he had the right answers. So maybe, the rest of the people in the world were strangers to him. But I feel insifficient to be answering such a question. I don't know who I am, so how could I possibly say who other people are, fictional or not. If Mr. Heidkamp had not told us anything about extestentalism, I wouldn't have come to that conclusion and, after reading others' blogs, I can confidentally say that others wouldn't have either. So maybe we're playing in to the path Camus wants to take us on, or maybe we're over analyzing and he meant for it to be a simple story. Probably not, because I hear even Dr. Suess has double meaning. So who am I? I'm the Stranger. Maybe by writing this book Camus wanted to let us all inter-reflect and realize we're the strangers to the Truth in the book, or at least of what Camus thinks the Truth is. But, believing in any theory of " the Truth" can be problematic. What makes the one you believe in right? Life is full of chaos, and random events that have no reason, like Hurricane Katrina; however, are they all that random? Or if they are just that, isn't it the randomness of life that makes it exciting? There doesn't have to be extremes to everything (and Siths deal in extremes...so that's bad ) The randomness of one event, or series of events in life, is irrelevant to the rest of life. There is a happy, gray area in between the extremes of white and black. Maybe Camus believes in his theory of life, but just his ability to choose shows me, and everyone, that they have the ability too. So Camus. That crazy cat. Whatever he was trying to say through his book, I think I might have missed it. There should be an author's note at every book, after you have class discussions, and think about themes and meanings to see who was really right. And then they can rub it in all the wrong people's faces! Yeah!  But really, Camus is crazy, or maybe a genious. But it's late, I'm tired, but I did get the early bird extra credit-- and that's the world we live in. We kinda suck...