Comparative Literary Assignment: Dead Poet's Society/The Outider

The funeral director is the first to discuss this with him, critically stating, “You don’t have to justify yourself, my dear boy. I’ve read your mother’s file,” (Camus 4). By leaving Maman under the care of the senior home, Meursault should feel guilty for his actions since he was his mother’s “sole support” (Camus 4). However, he feels no guilt, similar to how he lacks any sentiment of sorrow during the processions. Individuals of society are conditioned to have a specific pattern of emotional responses elicited by inevitable yet critical life events. Regardless of whether genuinely affected or not, all are expected to conform to these behaviors. Thus, it is what Meursault does not do that makes his character such a prominent cause of concern in the context of the literary work. The absence of an emotional relationship with Maman develops justification as to why Meursault did not cry at her funeral, nor feel culpability for placing her in the nursing home. Camus develops the social outcast aspect of his character through these instances of defiance to social rituals. It is significant to consider how although Meursault 's preoccupations are unusual, he still runs through the motions of cultural norms. He attends the funeral, has a girlfriend, and enjoyed the companionship of his friend Raymond. The real threat of his

Being unable to effectively display his emotions ties to his mother, Meursault comes off as insensitive to his mother’s death, which leads the jury to declare him guilty of murder and sentenced to death. A man who does not even know his mother’s age mustn’t be allowed to walk around freely in

Later on he commits the crime of shooting an arab man, whom was the brother of his friends ex-partner. Yet again he showed no emotion whatsoever even after what he did. Since he had already had a bad reputation for not mourning his mother’s death, not feeling sorry for killing a man made it all worse. No one felt pity for him whatsoever, not even his lawyer who was suppose to be on his side. Meursault is considered a threat because of his lack of moral feelings www.sparknotes.com. He is found guilty and sentenced to prison, where in time he learns to accept himself, and his way of viewing life, and for the first time feels happy.

Meursault is a risk to society in view of the fact that he is emotionally indifferent from others. Meursault is detached from the world around him."I said that it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to,” says Meursault. “I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to ... I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her.” In these two quotes, this proves that Meursault doesn’t care about Marie and he doesn’t care about his mother’s death.

His unusual teaching methods makes the students take an interest in him, this leads to them discovering he was a member of the dead poet’s society. The students look up to Mr. Keating and they restart the dead poet’s society creating a space for them to think for themselves and become

Despite never knowing what Meursault looks like, the reader is given deep insight into the workings of his mind. He fails to understand deep, human emotions as other characters of the story do and, as a result, regards and describes much of what occurs in the novel from a removed standpoint. While Meursault is vilified by the prosecution for his morals, he is an amoral character, and fails to make a distinction between good and bad, or moral and immoral actions, in his mind. He changes from someone who originally feels his indifference relates to himself alone to someone with the understanding of “the general indifference of the world.” In the concluding pages of the novel Meursault is able to finally accept his inevitable death

The novel starts out with Meursault’s mother dying and him traveling to the home where she lives. Meursault settled his mother in an old person’s home because that’s where she would be the happiest. Living at home with Meursault was neither enjoyable for either of them since they did not talk. When he comes to the funeral he finds out that there were many people that cared for his mother at the home including a boyfriend. The travel to the funeral is seen as a nuisance because he has to take off from work and take a bus two kilometers from the village. The death of his mother is not an emotional time for Meursault because he has no level of bond with his mother. Not having feelings of grief is seen to others as something very strange, even monstrous to some. At the funeral, he does not wish to see his mother one last time and even has a cigarette with the caretaker in front of his mother’s coffin. The next day instead of grieving or spending time close to his mother like most people would after

When at the trial the prosecutor supposedly observed him various times once he even said that Meursault was “already a criminal at heart” (Camus 122). This statement was only made on the physical behavior Meursault was displaying on the day of his mother's funeral. When the whole trail was supposed to be about how he killed the Arab his accusers somehow kept bringing up the fact that he showed no affection towards his mother at the funeral. This show just how the society he is in and how they act is totally opposite from his point of views. Meaning that how he does things will be seen by society as uncanny and they will condemn it as wrong.

This quote was another part of the story that surprised me. I kept thinking I understood what kind of person Meursault is, yet quotes like these kept surprising me. I was sure Meursault was indifferent towards his mother and her death, but this quote makes it seem as if he misses her. It saddens me yet confusing me about who Meursault really is. Is he uncaring or simply trying to be?

Meursault was considered an outcast in society due to his lack of emotions, “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know” (Camus, 9). Meursault’s emotional indifference towards his mother’s death is one of the downfalls that sentenced him to death. During Meursault’s murder trial, his personal life was invaded and made public. Although his mother’s death had nothing to do with the murder of the Arab, it somehow became relevant to the case. There is no right or wrong way to grieve but, society quickly came to conclusion during Meursault’s trial that he was guilty of murder. His emotional response to his mother’s death was not considered normal and therefore, he was sentenced to death. Mr. Keating was considered an outcast

Meursault’s transformation began with the death of his mother and the unexplainable guilt that came with it. Before her death Meursault had recently sent his mother to a nursing home, and in French culture this is very unusual since a family member to help is still available. Later, Meursault explains his situation to his boss and feels the need to say “It’s not my fault...I thought I shouldn’t have said that. After all, I didn’t have anything to apologize for” (Camus, 3). While asking his boss for days off for his mother’s funeral, he feels as if his boss his blaming Meursault for her death. All of this guilt started with sending her off to the home and had built up over time without him being able to make amends with his mother. The reader can tell that Meursault regrets sending his mother away by how he reflects upon their apartment. “I was a little bored and I wandered see around the apartment. It was just the right size when Maman was here. Now it's too big for me” (Camus, 21). The apartment feels empty without his mother with him, and this makes Meursault miss her and wish he hadn't sent her away. But to hide his unresolved feelings Meursault tries to blame his unhappiness on his mother. “It had been a long time since I’d been out in the country, and I could feel how much I’d enjoy going for a walk if it hadn't been for Maman” (Camus, 12). Meursault takes the very beauty of the day and blames it upon his mother that he cannot enjoy it. The day after Meursault returns home from the funeral he goes out with his friend Marie, once she finds out that Maman had died the day before Meursault gets another feeling to say it's not his fault, but justifies it. “It didn't mean anything. Besides, you always feel a little guilty” (Camus, 20). Trying to remain focused in the

Meursault’s first impression given to the reader is that of ignorance and a nonchalant behavior to indifference of life itself. He is a detached and deathly honest man who refuses to lie about himself to save his life; a simple man, whose moods are painfully dictated by the powers of Nature; and an independent man, one who will not accept God, or any of society’s formulas for happiness. In paragraph one it states, “Mother died today, or, maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.” This basically shows his emotionless attitude towards love or losing someone close, ensuring the reader of Meursault’s coldhearted vibe and carelessness for human life. The ironic situation of Meursault’s mother being dead Instead of grieving at the news of his mother’s death, he is cold, detached, and indifferent. When he receives the telegram, his primary concern if figuring out which day his mother died. The fact that he has no emotional reaction at all makes Meursault difficult to categorize. If he were happy that his mother died, he could be simply cast as immoral or a monster. But Meursault is neither happy, nor

His view on life is that everything is out of his control and he simply just moving, day in and day out. Whatever he encounters, he just goes through the motions. This goes back to the mother passing where he just moves on or his girlfriend Marie who he doesn’t seem to care for that much. He’s too calm about everything and even his murder of the arab showed his nonchalant characteristic. There wasn’t any premeditation in Meursault’s action and the fact that he even had the gun was a coincidence. He believes that since death is inevitable then what’s the point in life. He either dies for his crimes now or later and it won’t make a difference. This care free attitude gives off the impression that he has a mental illness of sorts. Back to his mother’s death, when his boss asks for his mother’s age Meursault answers with, “about sixty.” His lack of caring for other people, like Marie, extends to his own family. Nothing is valuable to him.

In addition, Meursault cannot find a solid place in society. He lives alone due to the death of his mother. Society cannot accept the manner in which Meursault addresses his mother’s death. Since he thinks that “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, [he doesn’t] know” (Camus 3), society believes that he does not care that his mother dies. Everyone judges him because he does not relate to the rest of the people. Meursault receives immense criticism at his trial concerning his murdering another man. At his trial, Meursault can “feel how much all these people [the jury] hated” (Camus 90) him. The jury does not commend him or even regard him with understanding about his mother’s death. Some people react to death without actually reacting to it; Meursault subconsciously chooses to do so but receives condemnation. Both characters experience isolation from society.

Professor John Keating was a new teacher in the school who had unorthodox methods of teaching his class. Originally, he was supposed to teach a very serious class with no fun and games, the only focus is learning and that is it. Mr. Keating was also a rebellion of this strain theory. With his unorthodox methods of teaching his class, he stressed the idea of carpe diem. This concept affects all of his students and they were to “seize the day” by setting themselves free of the order their society had imposed on them. Mr. Keating was a big influencer in Neil’s decision to pursue acting. The pressures to succeed placed on Neil by his parents and society prevent him from exploring his own individuality. He felt as if he were enclosed in a box with nowhere to go. Neil’s father had warned him that if he did not stop acting he would have