Monday, January 28, 2013

The Stranger


For Mersault, the narrator in The Stranger, what his reality becomes is his choice and his choice

alone. However, what he doesn’t realize that others, like the jury and judge that decide his

execution, are really who control his life and reality. Each person’s reality is often what they want it

to be. They never seem to sacrifice their own realities for the benefit for others. For example when

in prison and thinking about Marie, Mersault believes that Marie means nothing to him and when

thinking about how his execution would effect her he reveals his selfish thoughts:

How was I to know, since apart from our two bodies, now separated, there wasn’t 
anything that kept us together or even to remind us of each other? Anyway, after that, 
remembering Marie meant nothing to me. I wasn’t interested in her dead. That seemed 
perfectly normal to me, since I understood very well that people would forget me when  
I was dead (Camus 115).

He has no ability to suspend this reality of being able to say no to questions and offers that give rise

to opportunities that could change his life because he is selfish. Marie clearly wants a future with

him— however twisted it may be and he is unable to lie to the chaplain even if it allows a glimmer

of hope for a life for Marie. He clearly believes that it is much harder to lie than to tell the truth.

However, it is interesting that while I often focus how a character’s reality is flawed, Mersault’s

reality seems to be perfect. He has a grip on what is going on in his life. But that may just be the

issue for Mersault; he is able to be logical and rational about everything in his life that he knows

whether or not evading execution is good for others or not. He wants to avoid becoming Sisyphus

in pushing the rock up the hill repeatedly. The question in the end is which is better: being able to

give meaning to others even if you don’t get any yourself or giving up because there is no meaning.