Essay About Serious Thing And Marie Cardona

The Stranger – Book Review
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In The Stranger, Albert Camus
portrays Meursault, the books narrator and main character,
as aloof, detached, and unemotional. He does not think
much about events or their consequences, nor does he
express much feeling in relationships or during emotional
times. He displays an impassiveness throughout the book in
his reactions to the people and events described in the book.
After his mothers death he sheds no tears; seems to show
no emotions. He displays limited feelings for his girlfriend,
Marie Cardona, and shows no remorse at all for killing an
Arab. His reactions to life and to people distances him from
his emotions, positive or negative, and from intimate
relationships with others, thus he is called by the books title,
“the stranger”. While this behavior can be seen as a negative
trait, there is a young woman who seems to want to have a
relationship with Meursault and a neighbor who wants
friendship. He seems content to be indifferent, possibly
protected from pain by his indifference. Meursault rarely
shows any feeling when in situations which would, for most
people, elicit strong emotions. Throughout the vigil, watching
over his mothers dead body, and at her funeral, he never
cries. He is, further, depicted enjoying a cup of coffee with
milk during the vigil, and having a smoke with a caretaker at
the nursing home in which his mother died. The following
day, after his mothers funeral, he goes to the beach and
meets a former colleague named Marie Cardona. They
swim, go to a movie, and then spend the night together.
Later in their relationship, Marie asks Meursault if he wants
to marry her. He responds that it doesn matter to him, and
if she wants to get married, he would agree. She then asks
him if he loves her. To that question he responds that he
probably doesn , and explains that marriage really isn such
a serious thing and doesn require love. This reaction is fairly
typical of Meursault as portrayed in the book. He appears
to be casual and indifferent about life events. Nothing seems
to be very significant to him. Later on in the book, after he
kills an Arab, not once does he show any remorse or guilt
for what he did. Did he really feel nothing? Camus seems to
indicate that Meursault is almost oblivious and totally
unruffled and untouched by events and people around him.
He is unwilling to lie, during his trial, about killing the Arab.
His reluctance to get involved in defending himself results in
a verdict of death by guillotine. Had Meursault been
engaged in his defense, explaining his actions, he might have
been set free. Meursaults unresponsive behavior, distant
from any apparent emotions, is probably reinforced by the
despair which he sees open and feeling individuals
experience. He observes, for example, Raymond cheated on
and hurt by a girlfriend, and sees his other neighbor,
Salamano, very depressed when he loses a dear companion,
his dog. Meursaults