Meursault And Marie 's Relationship

In conclusion, Marie and Meursault showed many similarities and differences in mannerism, action and emotion. This statement was easily expressed by Meursault’s mind thinking, “It occurs to me that anyway, one more Sunday, was over, Mamam was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that nothing had really

This shows just how little he cared for such matters, writing off the topic of marriage so trivially. Meursault continues on to say to the reader that “she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes.” (Camus 41-42). He justifies his lack of excitement or romance by stating that only Marie asked about, implying that he did not care for having a tight, emotional relationship with his lover, Marie. Marie plays the source of the love between them, while Meursault simply listens and enjoys in the pleasure of having her, but still feeling indifferent to her actual emotions. This downplay on their relationship and her feelings demonstrate that Meursault does not value anything of Marie below surface level and that he lacks the need for a warmer connection between them.

1. How does Camus set up Meursault's personality -- how does Meursault respond to others' conversation, to ordinary social situations, and to the death of his mother?

In Meursault’s world, no action needs reasons to explain them. The irrationality of his actions versus the need for others to justify it through moral lenses exemplifies absurdity. In Myth of Sisyphus, Camus writes, “…absurdity springs from a comparison…it bursts from a comparison between an action and the world that transcends it” (“Myth” 10). Absurdity comes when the society tries to explicate an action or an idea that’s not ‘usual’ or ‘normal.’ To Camus, however, there is no ‘normal’ and ‘usual,’ because the universe’s irrationality cannot be explained and categorized. This belief resides within Meursault’s only two active interactions with the universe: his relationship with Marie and his killing of an Arab. When Marie asks him why he wishes to marry her, he writes, “I explained to her that it didn’t really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married” (The Stranger, 41). Between marrying and not marrying Marie, there is no change and importance to Meursault’s life. In society’s effort to justify marriage, the couple is expected to love each other and the situation Meursault is

This shows just how little he cared for such matters, writing off the topic of marriage so trivially. Meursault continues on to say to the reader that “she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes.” (Camus 41-42). He justifies his lack of excitement or romance by stating that only Marie asked about, implying that he did not care for having a tight, emotional relationship with his lover, Marie. Marie plays the source of the love between them, while Meursault simply listens and enjoys in the pleasure of having her, but still feeling indifferent to her actual emotions. This downplay on their relationship and her feelings demonstrate that Meursault does not value anything of Marie below surface level and that he lacks the need for a warmer connection between them.

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.

In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, becomes drawn into a “senseless” murder that has to face the absurdity of life and because of his actions, Meursault is presented as a danger due to his lack of “morality” to society. Meursault who is not able to take control of his life but respond to what life offers him believes in the simplicity of life. He tries to understand the living through logic and objectivity, which ultimately turns futile, as he himself cannot maintain proper control over his thoughts and emotions. From the interactions between Marie, to the murder of the Arab, and the meeting with the Chaplain, Meursault overcomes his indifferent views to form an opinion about what life really means. The central theme presented by Camus is how the threat of mortality becomes a catalyst for understanding the significance of life.

Camus describes in detail the street scenes yet never does Meursault become involved in them. Meursault is distant from the messiness of plans, ambitions, desires, hatreds, even love. Marie's protestations of love only puzzle him. When she asks him if he wishes to marry her he agrees only because he sees no real reason to refuse. He helps in Raymond's nefarious schemes for equally bland reasons, and also because Raymond plies him with food, drink, and cigarettes. He is even distant from his own trial. It interests him because he has never seen a trial before.

After Maman died, Meursault met his girlfriend, Marie. She was as beautiful as he could imagine and he loved her company. As most people who possess very strong feelings for

In “The Stranger” by Camus, Meursault’s actions throughout the story can be summed up in one word, absurd.

When he returns home to Algiers, Meursault carries on with life as normal. Over dinner one evening, his neighbor Raymond tells of his desire to punish his mistress for infidelity, and asks Meursault to write a letter to the mistress for him. Meursault agrees, saying "I tried my best to please Raymond because I didn’t have any reason not to please him" (32). While Raymond is a man of questionable morals, he acts with purpose. Meursault, on the other hand, acts with mostly passive indifference, doing things simply because he doesn’t have a reason not to do them.

At one point, he declines a job offer to go to Paris. Despite the fact that he'd be able to leave colonial Algeria for Paris, which would seem like a good life choice for many, he doesn't care for the offer. Meursault said that “people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that [he] wasn't dissatisfied with [his] here at all” (41). Meursault shows himself not only be indifferent to things or people around him, but that he's also indifferent to his future as everything is the same to him. In his relationship with Marie, Meursault was indifferent to the idea of getting married to her. When asked about marriage and if he really loved Marie, he responded that “it didn't mean anything but that [he] probably didn't love her . . . that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, [they] could get married” (ibid). Here he was, saying that he didn't care if he got married. By doing this, he discarded his own ability to decide his future, and instead put it in the hands of someone else. In this respect, Meursault is also like the world, in that his future is decided by others, but unlike the world, Meursault has the ability to decide his future, but never takes the chance, because, like the world, he doesn't care.

enjoys Marie’s company. But, it seems like her enjoys her as a woman rather than as an

Meursault begins The Stranger devoid of human sympathy and emotions. He demonstrates such blank indifference in the situation when Raymond brutally beats his girlfriend. Marie “asked [Meursault] to go find a policeman, but [he] told her [he] didn 't like cops.” (Camus, 36) When encountering cruel domestic violence, he shows no feelings of sympathy or disgust. He has no motivation to act, allowing a mere dislike of police to trump his ability to end senseless conflict. Meursault also murders a man in cold blood. Not only does he whimsically allow the mere shine of sunlight to give him justification to end a man’s life, he further illustrates a lack of human emotion, calmly firing “four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace.” (Camus, 59) He remains the same blank slate, without any regret or sadness for what he has done nor fear of the consequences. Although Meursault looks human, he is clearly monstrous and lacks all emotions commonplace to people.

Imagine living with Meursault. Don’t you think it would be something you would never forget? But first, you shouldn’t forget that Meursault is a cold-hearted person. He likes to see things without any judgment/someone’s opinions. He doesn’t like to judge people nor likes to be judged by other people but he doesn’t care. Meursault is completely detached from the world. He doesn’t like to talk about emotional things. He thinks that society always finds a way to judge people and make everyone the ideal person. He doesn’t decide on what’s good and what’s bad which means that every decision that you make will affect both of your lives. At least, you don’t have to worry about the fact that he will look at what you are doing and constantly disturb