In the novel The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, Meursault, who works in an office, and Raymond, who says he works in a warehouse, end up getting involved with a few atrocious incidents. The main character, Meursault, is foiled by his friend and neighbor Raymond. A foil is someone who gives contrast to another. These two have many similarities and even some differences that enhance one another.
Meursault and Raymond have some similarities that make it easy for them to get along with each other. One correlation they share is their thoughtlessness. Raymond doesn’t think before he does, and Meursault doesn’t think before he speaks. In the book, Raymond does a few things that he should have thought twice about before doing. For example, “...he’d go to bed with her and, just when she was ‘properly primed up,’ he’d spit in her face and throw her out of the room” (Chapter 3; Part 1). This was a plan that needed more thinking and would most
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One characteristic they do not share is honesty. In The Stranger, Meursault is always honest and he never lies about anything. “He doesn't see the need to lie about things in order to conform with society's morals.” In the text, Marie asks Meursault if he wants to get married then he honestly says, “I explained that it had no importance really, but, if it would give her pleasure, we could get married right away” (Chapter 5; Part 1). On the other hand, Raymond is not always honest, he has no problem with lying to get him out of trouble. In the text, he says “I’m not tight,” Raymond explained. “Only when I see you standing there and looking at me, I can’t help trembling.” This was a lie because he was not afraid of cops. With one being honest and the other not so much, they enhance each other more. “Sketchy, insincere, and thoughtless, Raymond provides great contrast to Meursault’s introspective nature and honest (albeit callous) character
Walter Cunningham and Robert Peck are similar because they are both polite. The kids come from families and neighboorhoods where their elders must be respected. For example, in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Walter is asked questions by Miss Carlonie he always ends his response with m'am, the same way Robert Peck does. When Robert goes to the town's Clerk Office he responds to the women attending him with a yup but corrects himself as says yes'm. This is something similar for both of the kids because it shows
These two character do share some traits though. Roger was a old slightly deformed with one shoulder higher than the other and would walk with a hunch. To top it off he wasn’t exactly the best looking man or Hesters type. Amos was chubby, short and Schmuck person. These two men were not exactly the perfect man, but
After only a few days of trial, the jury in The Stranger declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by guillotine in the town square. The trial and its verdict are one of the important parts of the novel, as Albert Camus uses them as a metaphor to summarize the two main tenets of absurdism. Camus uses the trial and persecution of Meursault to express his belief that the justice system is flawed because of his absurdist ideals that truth does not exist, and human life is precious. In order to reform the justice system, Albert Camus believes that capital punishment needs to be abolished.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.
In literature, foil characters are used to bring out the distinctive qualities of another character by contrasting with them. In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Marie Cardona plays the role of a foil character as she brings out Meursault 's emotional characteristics. When she told him that she loved him and asked if he loved her, Meursault responded: "I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her" (41). Through Marie, it is clear that Meursault is emotionally detached and doesn 't care about his relationships with others.
If someone goes up to a devout person, and says that there is no such thing as god, that devote person, of course would be threatened. The devout person is threatened because he believes that without god, there is nothing. If there is nothing, that devout person’s life would not be in existence. After reading The Stranger, by Albert Camus, one wonders why Meursault, the main character, is so threatening to the Chaplain and the Magistrate. Meursault threatens the Chaplain and the Magistrate, with his beliefs.
Although Meursault is the title character and narrator of Albert Camus’ short novel The Stranger, he is also a somewhat flat character. His apparent indifferent demeanor may be a convenience to Camus, who mainly wanted to display his ideas of absurdism. And as a flat character, Meursault is not fully delineated: he lacks deep thought and significant change. His purpose is that of a first-person narrator whose actions embody the absurd, even before he has any awareness of the fact. Since Meursault is embodied absurdism, it is not necessary that he be hyperaware of his thoughts and intentions. His truth has already been built into his character by the
Meursault is truthful to himself and others throughout The Stranger. Unlike most, he doesn’t feel it necessary to lie in order to make others feel better. He is truthful, regardless of whether or not the truth may hurt. For example, in chapter four Marie asked Meursault if he loved her. Instead of lying to her or giving a vague answer Meursault told her that he probably didn’t love her, but it wasn’t important anyway.
In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions to things like his mother’s death, Marie’s love, and the man he killed. Most people in his town, along with the reader at first, are not able to reason out his actions but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light.
The Stranger by Albert Camus was published in 1942. The setting of the novel is Algiers where Camus spent his youth in poverty. In many ways the main character, Meursault, is a typical Algerian youth. Like them, and like Camus himself, Meursault was in love with the sun and the sea. His life is devoted to appreciating physical sensations. He seems so devoid of emotion. Something in Meursault's character has appealed primarily to readers since the book's publication. Is he an absurd anti-hero? Is he a moral monster? Is he a rebel against a conventional morality? Critics and readers alike have disputed a variety of approaches to Meursault. I believe he is the embryo
distant at his mother’s funeral and he was distant with Marie and he was distant with the
In The Stranger, Albert Camus allows the main character to tell the story in order to give the reader an experience of his own. Obviously, with a novel also comes language, which Camus incorporates cleverly as a way to indirectly illustrate Meursault’s thoughts about certain situations. Although the novel represents a postmodern setting, the author shifts the overall meaning. In The Stranger, Camus applies a unique literary style as a power that deflects blame from Meursault, the antiheroic character. In order to disclaim the fault of Meursault, Camus incorporates several instances in which he leaves a greater sense of authority to nonliving objects, while further drawing attention away from the main character. Based on the implication of
In The Stranger, Albert Camus writes about a detached yet normal man, Meursault, who encounters unusual situations that evidently leads to his demise. From cover to cover, it was established by the author that Meursault had an unusual way of thinking and that he was continuously revealing his peculiar perspective on life and death. Throughout the novel, Meursault is reminded of death and continues to be judged by everyone in the society that he lives in, for instance, when he was put on trial for shooting an Arab man. Camus writes about the main character by describing his absurdist mindset. It is through the focus of funeral scene, however, that Camus is able to formulate the values of the character and the society in which they live in. This scene was able to reveal Meursault’s perspective on life as well as death.
Different books, despite different storylines, may still address similar themes. What similarities of themes did you find in your paired texts, and how are they obvious in the character's behaviour?
Raymond Cattell was one of the pioneer trait theorists. He was a strong advocate of the trait approach to human personality. As trait theorists, Raymond Cattell and Hans Eysenck, their primary interest is in the measurement of traits or the patterns/habits of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. He followed the footsteps of psychologist Gordon Allport but differed from Allport’s belief that the human personality is composed of several hundred personality traits. Cattell believed in a defined range traits and that each person has a bit of each of these defined traits in their personality. When one understands those “ranges” of traits, we can understand someone fully and then predict how they will respond/behave in any situation. Hans