Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The Stranger...

"Maman died today or yesturday

or maybe, I don't know. I got a way.

telegram from home: "Mother

deceased. Funeral tomorrow.

Faithfully yours" That doesn't

mean anything. Maybe it was

yesturday" (pg. 3)





Camus begins this novel in an interestig way. The first paragraph in this novel explains Meursault's knowledge of his mother's death. Meursault was not aware of the specifics of his mother's death. All he knew was the fact that she died. I find it a bit shocking as to how he was reacting. In a blunt manner he declares the death of his mother. This sets up the character of Meursault for the reader. At the begining the reader senses Meursault's character as being straight forward and honest. He also shows indifference making him seem to have no feelings in a sense, because he didn't seem hurt by his mother's death. In my opinion the first few pages of a novel tells a alot about the author and how he/she wants the novel to be perceived. Camus' choice to begin the novel in that manner caused me to quickly infer that Meursault (the narrator) was a very emotionless character from the way he reacted to his mother's death. Also the words Camus choices, and sentence structure played a huge role. Meursault's short sentences made his character seem dull and "feeling-less". So Camus' choices in the beginning of the novel caused me to quickly see how he wanted the main character to be understood.

1 comment:

Laurie's MY name said...

I chose to add this journal entry for many reasons. i really enjoyed this book, it made me realize a lot of things. The plot of this story is very interesting. Meursault's character is really blunt and I loved that about him. It also made him cold hearted but it was interesting to see the way he spoke about certain things. This part in this novel is a key element to his character. That is why I chose this DJ.