Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports The Stranger The Stranger The Stranger was originally written in French. When Stuart Gilbert translated the novel, he came across a small problem. “The title of Camus’ classic novel is difficult to render into English because the French word bears the connotations of both ‘stranger’ and ‘foreigner’ at the same time, and each of these concepts is at play in the novel.” (Mairowitz1) Finding the right translation was crucial because the title is symbolic. “The Stranger symbolizes the theme of the story.” (Mairowits1) Meusault is a stranger to society. “He is alienated by society because of his unique personality.” (Alley2) Hearing Meursault tell his story, allows the reader to experience his life first hand. Writing the novel in first person narrative allows the reader to go through Meursaults experiences. The plot is told in chronological order. It begins with Meursault discovering his mother has passed away. After the funeral, he returns to his every day life. He goes to movies, spends time with his girlfriend, goes to the beach and makes friends with his neighbor. Meursault and his neighbor, Raymond Sintes, begin spending a lot of time together. A day relaxing day at the beach turns into a blood bath. Because of a disagreement, Meursault kills an Arab. Meursault is arrested for killing an Arab. He is sent to prison and tried for murder. During the trail, Meursault’s lawyer asks him to lie. Because of his honesty, Meursault is marked as a danger to society. (Alley1) The Stranger’s setting is in the city of Algiers. Algiers is located in North Africa. The entire novel except his mothers funeral, took place in Algiers. In the novel, Meursault is the main character. He is an outsider to society. Meursault enjoys simple thing, like going to the beach, drinking and having sexual relationships. There is no right or wrong in Meursault’s mind since he never judges anything or anyone. Because Meursault does not judge other people, he does not expect others to judge him. Therefore, he will do things without considering social values or how other people might think towards him. (Alley2) One of the only people attracted to Meursault’s unique personality is Marie. Marie is Meursault’s girlfriend. Her love for Meursault remains true throughout the novel. Meusault’s life becomes very complicated after he is introduced to Raymond. Raymond is a “pimp”, who uses “violence to demonstrate his manhood.” (Alley2) Raymond’s personality creates a conflict between him and a group of Arabs. This conflict results in Meursault killing an Arab. After being sent to jail, Meursault is interviewed by the magistrate and chaplain. Both the magistrate and the chaplain “tried to change Meursault’s point of view toward God.” (Alley2) They wanted Meursault to accept God and ask Him for forgiveness; they do not succeed. During the trial, Meursault’s behavior is the prosecutor’s main focus. The prosecutor uses the improper behavior of the Meursault at his mother’s funeral to convince the jurors that he is a danger to society. (Alley2) Camus wrote the Stranger using various levels of meaning. The first is the psychological level. Since Meursault is telling the story, his inner reactions and motivations are reveled to the reader. For example, Meursault explains his reasoning for killing the Arab: “Then everything began to reel before my eyes, a fiery gust came from the sea, while the sky cracked in two, from end to end, and a great sheet of flame poured down through the rift. Every nerve in my body was a steel spring, and my grip closed on the revolver.” (Camus76) A symbolic level was also used. Meursault symbolizes an outsider, who observes life. Symbolic of this quality is the Sunday Meursault spends watching the neighborhood from his apartment window. (Drajem2) The sun also has symbolic meaning. The sun symbolizes change. On the day of his mother’s funeral, the sun flooded the landscape. His mother’s funeral was an altering experience. The day he shot the Arab, the sun shined down upon his face. Killing the Arab also altered his life. The theme can be recognized as the philosophical level: “Camus is warning us that society is often prejudice against people who are different. Instead of accepting them, we often exclude them. When we are prejudiced against someone, we will often misjudge his or her personality, nature and actions. If we already have a negative image of that person, we will expect the worst from him.” (Alley1) Camus’ writing is mostly informal. It is informal because the Stranger was written in first person narrative. Meursualts thoughts and conversations were written in informal English. “Camus was trying to reveal that our society is often prejudiced against people who are different.” (Alley1) Camus uses Meursault to illustrate how society passes judgment. Meursualt’s attitude toward life is unique. His personality traits are unlike most of society. Meursault does not care about social rules and customs. He acts and does what he wants. Since society does not understand Meursault, they find him threatening. For example, “the mortuary attendant felt strange and uncomfortable because he did not understand why Meursault was so different from the usual clients.” (Alley1) Camus put a unique twist on a very common theme. Many writers talk about a judgmental society, however Camus took a different approach. He showed how society’s judgments could affect a person’s life. Meursault was sentences to death because his behaviors were abnormal. He was not the standard citizen; therefore he was marked as a danger to society. The Stranger was a good book that everyone should read. If everyone read the Stranger, then maybe society would be less judgmental. Bibliography: Alley. Albert Camus. 10/15/2001 www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/9095/outsider Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Librairie Gallimard. C1942. Drajem, Linda. The Stranger- A Novel on a Man in Revolt. 10/15/2001 Mairowitz, David. Introducing Camus. Sysnopsis of The Stranger. 10/15/2001 www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1311/astranger.html Word Count: 928
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