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

Why is Maria from Trust So Weird?

Maria’s erratic behavior is actually quite funny because almost everything she does has no meaning.  For instance why does she sleep on the floor, tear down the wallpaper in her room, or read the dictionary? If Maria really wanted to learn new words then why did she drop out of school and begin reading the dictionary? There was no reason for her to tear down her wallpaper, she just sort of felt like it I guess. Another example is her decision not to wear her glasses because she did not want to look like a librarian.  Each of these examples prove Maria’s absurdity. There is no rational explanation for why Maria does these things, she just does them. Maria reminds me of Mersault from The Stranger. Mersault felt no emotion and did random things. When his mother died, he was completely insensitive. Maria had almost the same reaction as Mersault when her father died. She showed little or no emotion and afterwards went to the store to get beer. Maybe Mersault and Maria are both existentialists. The absurdity of Maria makes the movie very amusing, but why is Maria so weird?? What do you think?

The Big Picture

So guys, I was thinking about the movie tonight, and as I've been noticing that it's growing on me, I've also become aware that I don't think I actually know any real life existentialists.  Although I wasn't too aware of what existentialism was before this class, I was trying to think of a time in my life where I've felt like life is meaningless, and irrational, and that death is inevitable.  I don't think ever.  Has anyone though- if so, I'm not aware of it.  I never even knew what existentialism was a couple weeks ago, but now that I do, it almost makes me second guess everything.  Could these books and this movie be having a large effect on my life? Maybe not that extreme, but what they are doing is making me more aware of things, and emotions, and how certain people react to certain aspects and situations in life.  In the big picture, The Stranger, The Secret Sharer, and Trust are all making me question myself sometimes, and my emotions.  Is it wrong for me to feel totally against the ideas of existentialism?

Let's Talk About Trust

This movie is definitely weird, but I think I understand the existentialist nature of the film.  Like Camus, the director/screenwriter comments on the absurd “system” that we live in (I think that is why the movie is so weird – to show life’s absurdity).

What really interests me is the father-son pair.  The father is a complete hypocrite.  He yells at his son for quitting his job, when he clearly doesn’t have a job himself (the son comes home to find him watching TV on the couch).  The father then demands that the son clean the bathroom, even though the son had already cleaned it earlier that day.  This could represent the monotony or repetitiveness of the “system.”  When the son accidentally (I think) leaves his cigarette burning on the edge of the bath tub, the father freaks out.  The father calls the son ungrateful and suggests that the son find his own place to live, when in actuality, the father is the ungrateful one (the son is the one paying the bills). 

The father places all responsibility on the son.  He even forces himself to say “It’s my fault.”  Do we see any similarities to The Stranger (the italics are for you, Kitty J)?  In response to his mother’s death, Meursault tells his boss (and someone else), “It’s not my fault.” Marie, the other main character in the film, is blamed for her father’s death.  Unlike Meursault, she accepts total responsibility, namely because her mother (society) tells her his death is her fault. 

It is always easy for society to find a scapegoat.  The father is actually criticizing himself when he is yelling at his son.  Marie’s mother tries to find a cause for her husband’s sudden death, so she blames it on her daughter.

Yes, the movie is a little creepy, but I think it is relevant to what we are discussing now.

Outcasts

Throughout the stories that we have read I have been tossing some things around in my head. In each of these stories there is a main character or two that seem to be cast out of the social realm (mostly by choice). Yet following those outcasts there is a conflict that arises because of their status in society, not like in terms of wealth but just as those who do not need much contact. There are also people like this in our world today, some at our school who can be happier with just themselves than with others. They manage and are not followed by conflict that is pushed by society. So why would these authors make the outcasts seem like they are always in the wrong? It seems sort of strange to me.