1)Does Camus start the novel off with Maman's death so that we gain perspective on who Mersault is? What view of Mersault is he trying to project?
2)Why does Camus separate the book right after Mersault shots the Arabian? Is the separation supposed to symbolize a change or growth in Mersaults character?
3)Why does Camus use long sentences with pauses in the second half, instead of the abrupt ones he used in part 1? Does this reflect a change in Mersault?
4)Why did Mersault search for Marie's face among the stones of his prison wall? Why does he reference the sun in connection to her?
5)Why does Camus assign the same level of importance to everyone in Mersaults outburst to the priest? What is Camus trying to convey to his audience? Is it a reflection of Camus' personal beliefs?
COMMENTS
1)Why does Camus only refer to Saturday and Sunday and not the week days? (Bankston, 1)
Perhaps to show Mersaults indifference towards weekdays, and represent his lack of societal conformity.
2)How does Mersault's personality and world view change thoughout the book? Why do you think Camus wrote it this way? (Taylor, 3)
I believe Camus wrote the book with a change in Mersaults personality throughout parts one and two in order to express his belief that human behaviour is affected by traumatizing events.
3) If we have to look somewhere other existentialism or absurdism, how else can Meursaults indulgent and seemingly pointless lifestyle be interpreted? (Nguyen, 3)
I think his lifestyle can be interpreted as a representation of Camus' beliefs. In order for this to be true, we must conclude that Camus believes in merely physical motivations in life.
4) Why is color the main source of describing people and scenery? (Loehmann, 2)
Camus uses color to describe setting and characters in the book in order to convey the emotional intensity of said scene.
5) Is there any significance when Camus repeats Mersault's feelings of specifically, "wanting" Maria? Why does Camus not mix up the words? (Andrew, 3)
Camus does so in order to show Mersaults indifference towards emotional responses and his ulterior physical motivations.
2. Camus separates the novel into two parts to show that even though Meursault's life is so different in jail, it is really the same endless pattern of meaningless events.
ReplyDelete#4: Camus writes that Meursault searches for Marie's face among the stones because he, for the first time in his life, has a goal of happiness that he is striving for. Meursault is not an emotionless character because he feels happiness and the absence of it.
ReplyDelete1)Does Camus start the novel off with Maman's death so that we gain perspective on who Mersault is? What view of Mersault is he trying to project?
ReplyDeleteCamus starts the novel off with Maman's death to introduce Meursault as an emotionless person. He uses Maman's death as a situation in which Meursault can express his true personality.
2)Why does Camus separate the book right after Mersault shots the Arabian? Is the separation supposed to symbolize a change or growth in Mersaults character?
ReplyDeleteCamus separates the book into two parts to illustrate the consequences of decisions. Most of the characters Meursault interacts with shows up in at the trial. He helped Salamano and he testified in favor of Meursault. Meursault shoots the Arab and as a consequence he gets executed.
5. In Meursault's outburst to the priest, Camus assigns the same level of importance to everyone to show Meursault's belief that the only certain thing in life is death, and that no human can be better than another because everyone is assigned to death, which makes everyone equal in life.
ReplyDeleteCamus separates the book after he shoots the Arab to show how while he is in jail he develops and loses his indulgences and changes as a person.
ReplyDelete