Saint Jean 1
Charles Saint Jean
Ryan Gallagher
12 CP, Period 1
11 January 2011
Life Is Unfair: An Analysis of Camus’ The Stranger
Things that happened in the past in life has no meaning,however they can affect our life
in a certain way.Sometimes they can make us act differently toward the society.In fact,there was
a war going on in France. And it happens that there were a lot of violence in France during this
period of time. “With 6 percent of the French population made up of foreigners, many
thousands of immigrants were also active in the struggle.” ( Allan Par 5) A lot of immigrants
were involved in the War. Albert Camus illustrates this view in The Stranger through Meursault
how he reacts differently towards others and his lack of emotion througout the novel.
In the passage when Salamano goes to his room and cries after he loses his dog. Albert
Camus suggests that in life some people care about animal as much as human, because once the
dog is missing he got worried. He also suggests that people can easily change in life.
When the passage begins, Raymond tries to make him feel better y telling him that the dog is
coming back .The second sentence, it represents a proof to Salamano that his dog might come
back. A little further in this section, Salamano starts to predict what could happen to the dog.
For example, from the part when Salamano loses his dog.He said,”But they’ll take him away
from me,don’t you see?If only somebody would take him in.But that’s impossible.-everybody’s
disgusted by his scabs.The police will get him for sure.”(Camus p39) He starts to ask himself
some questions.
Saint Jean 2
In the next section, Raymond tries to give him some advice about where he could go to
look for the dog. Instead of listening he got mad.That shows how Salamano is a kind of person
that doesn’t like to take advices from people and he always want to do stuff on his own.
Finally, Raymond keeps kind of giving him the same idea that makes the passage repetitive. It
makes the text slowly. And the last sentence of the passage Salamano goes to his room and
cries. That action symbolizes death and separation. It’s like to him the dog is dead. He’s
desperate. The idea of this passage is important because it shows that the relationship between
animal and human is really important and valuable.This idea is interesting because compare to
Salmano when he hears that his mom is dead he doesn’t even care like it is not a big deal.Their
reactions are completely different from two different situation.
Although Salamano is a person who cares about others even his dog.Meursault is a man
who is clearly in opposition to his society. He is indifferent, apathetic.He acts completely to
others in a starnge way.
In the passage part 2 chap 5 when for the first time Mersault thinks about Marie that she
stops writing or visiting him. Albert Camus suggests that people are selfish. Albert Camus also
suggests that life has no meaning because we all going to disappear one day or another. He
suggests that by describing himself as a condemned person and others have an identical ending
which is death.
When the passage begins, the author describes how he actually feels during that day. In the
second sentence, he mentions the word “blood” when he says “I could feel the steady pulse of
my blood circulating inside me.”( Camus p215)The word blood refers to life. It symbolizes
freedom, family relationship.
Saint Jean 3
From the part when Meursault’s in the prison and feel lonely ,he thinks about Marie and
starts to ask himself some questions.That evening,”[he] thinks about it and tell [himself] that
maybe she had gotten tired of being the girlfriend of a condemned man.”(Camus p115) Now
Marie symbolizes the selfishness of human being. It means when human being don’t have any
expectations to live or see someone they forget about them. Most of the time people do not
really care .That kind of refers back to what being said when Meursault’s maman died. He did
not cry at all, like it does not mean anything to him.Meursault kind of feels that Marie thinks the
same way as he does and that is just the way human being are.
At the end of the section, he said “that seems perfectly normal to me, I understand very
well that people would forget me when I die.”(p115)By this sentence, he shows that people only
care about others when they are alive but once they die they forget about them. He’s trying to
say that life has no meaning because one day we all going to die.
In this passage the author just wants to show the selfishness of human being and the
effects that death has on human being. It makes them becomes selfish.
Therefore it exists different kind of people in life.Life has no meaning because no matter
what we all going to die one day or another and once we die no one will remember us . That is
the philosophy that Albert Camus is trying to point out.Human being only care about people
when they are present physically.However, once they disappear or die.They are no longer
valuable in the eyes of human being.
Annotated Bibliography for Albert Camus The Stranger
Saint Jean 4
"Zineb Sidera." Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed.
Michael R. Fischbach. Detroit: Gale Group, 2008. Gale World History In Context. Web.
8 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article is about Sidera who was an immigrant; she was born in a suburb of Paris,
France, in 1963 to Algerian immigrant parents. She later moved to Britain and trained at
the Slade School of Art, the Central Saint Martin's School of Art, and the Royal College
of Art.
Important Quotes:
Similar to many other artists from Arab countries living in exile, Sidera is particularly
concerned with capturing the personal and political paradoxes and contradictions of
living within and between cultures and finds the veil a useful way to do so. In many of
her works, she examines the ways in which veiling has carried multiple meanings--from
the history and legacy of the Algerian encounter with French colonialism to its place
within individual and family life. (Par 1)
Purpose:
I think this article would be helpful to teach the stranger because it helps understand that
the life of all the immigrants isn’t the same. It depends on where people live and what
kind of person they are. Contrary to Sidera, Meursault was an apathetic person and
ended up locked up. It is important because it helps us understand how some people can
change due to a transition in life.For example, Meursault who’s from another country
and come up here and he acts different way from any other people.
King, Brett Allan. "French Labor, World War II." St. James Encyclopedia of Labor
History Worldwide. Ed. Neil Schlager. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004. 343-347.
Gale World History In Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article is about the occupation of German over France during the World War 2 and
the resistance of the labors to the occupation.
Important quotes:
As a new French army formed in French North Africa (liberated in November 1942),
internal resistance groups known as Maquis joined into a network that gained increasing
Saint Jean 5
popular support. With 6 percent of the French population made up of foreigners, many
thousands of immigrants were also active in the struggle. (Par 2)
Purpose:
This article would be helpful to teach the stranger because there were a lot of immigrants
In France during the World War 2 and Meursault was an immigrant living in
France.Those labors were not intellectual neither Mersault.And it happens that there
were a lot of violence in France during this period of time.And it happens that Meursault
kill an Arab in The Stranger. When faced with the situation on the beach with the Arab,
he states: “It then that I realized you could either shoot or not shoot,” (p56) a reaction
which shows his lack of comprehension of the possible consequences of his own was
actions.
Badiou, Alain. "Existence and death." Discourse [Detroit, MI] 24.1 (2002): 63+. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article explains the meaning of the existentialism which is what no being can be, is
assuredly nothingness.
Important quotes:
As if to say that it is pure negativity, and that, were one to attempt to inscribe it within
an ontological set-up, one would need to admit that existence is what objects to any
being which one would presume to be "its own," that it is its "surpassing," and that
therefore it is not this being; and of any being which one presumes is not "its own," one
would need to recognise that existence can be its conscious aim, in the free spoliation of
its own being, and that therefore existence is this being. Now, the only appropriate name
of that which is not being, and is what no being can be, is assuredly nothingness. (par2)
Purpose:
I think this article would be helpful to teach the stranger because Meursault the
main character seems to live in his own world, socializing with others, but apathetic
about what happens in his life. For example, when his mother died, his thoughts were,
"Mother died today. Or, maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." (p1) He did not have any
extreme feelings about her death; he just accepted it and decided that is was destined to
happen. He kept himself busy by indulging himself in materialistic comforts like
smoking, drinking. His life was full of existentialism, for he believed that life just
happened, nothing you could do would change the future, and that everything happened
for a reason.
Saint Jean 6
Source Citation
Duffy, Meghan. "Tina Howe." Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fifth Series. Ed.
Garrett Eisler. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 341.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article talks about Tina Howe who was a talented writer who consider herself to be
tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd.She is inspired by such luminaries as Jean Genet,
Eugene Ionesco.
Imoprtant quotes:
She felt a sense of compassion for the father character, Bill. She saw him as a man who
wanted to be loved and was feeling left out because of the mother/child connection. (Par
7)
Purpose:
This article would be helpful to teach the stranger because it brings the idea of the
absurdity of Meursault through the stranger. In “The Stranger”, Meursault does not
realize his absurd situation until the end of the novel. It is illustrated by his indifference
toward life and lack of emotion.”According to him, human justice was nothing and
divine justice was everthing.”
(p118).Throughout the judicial process, Albert Camus criticizes the society he lives in
and the values it holds. His philosophy is reflected in his criticism of Meursault's
indifferences towards death, the irrationality of the Arab's killing, and the consequences
of his own actions.
David Ignatow.”I close my eyes” Poetry Out Loud 13 December
Summary:
The poem is about a person who thinks that he’ve done everything right in life.And he ask
himself why can’t he live forever?
Important Quotes:
I close my eyes like a good little boy at night in bed,
as I was told to do by my mother when she lived,
Saint Jean 7
and before bed I brush my teeth and slip on my pajamas,
as I was told, and look forward to tomorrow.
I do all things required of me to make me a citizen of sterling worth.
I keep a job and come home each evening for dinner. I arrive at the
same time on the same train to give my family a sense of order.
I obey traffic signals. I am cordial to strangers, I answer my
mail promptly. I keep a balanced checking account. Why can’t I
live forever?
Purpose:
I think this poem would be helpful to teach the stranger because it kind of related to the
stranger.Meursault feels like his life is repetitive because he’s doing like the same thing
everyday.”Everything was the same as it had been the first day.” (p 105)Refer back when
he was in the prison all he could see is the sun,hear the noise from the street and being in
the same room
everyday..Also it relates to the philosophy of Albert Camus that life is unfair, and it doesn’t
mean
anything.No matter how people try to live their life, it doesn’t really mean anything
because you
will die one day or another.
Source Citation
Brosman, Catharine Savage. "Albert Camus." Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature, Part 1.
Detroit: Gale, 2007. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 329. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article is about the popularity of Albert Camus in france.His father died during the
Worl war 2 and Camus never had the chance to know him.He learned a little about him
because of his mother.
Important Quotes:
In Camus's works, fathers are often missing or shadowy; only in his unfinished
autobiographical novel Le Premier Homme (1994; translated as The First Man, 1995) does a
father appear directly and extensively. In contrast, a mother is a recurring figure throughout
Camus's work. He wrote always of his own mother with respect and devotion, often
connecting her to Algeria and the sense of home. (par7)
Saint Jean 8
Purpose:
I think this article would be helpful to teach the stranger because it helps us understand some
of the things that happened in Camus’s life in the past.And it shows how those things affect
his life and even his work.Refers to the Stranger Albert Camus doesn’t mention his father
throughout the novel because he didn’t grow up with his father,he has no idea what kind of
person his father is.I think it might be one of the reason he acts the way he acts in the novel
because he was raised by a single mother and never know who his father is.
Source Citation:
"Urban forms and colonial confrontations: Algiers under French rule." Urban History Review
26.1 (1997): 59-60. Gale World History In Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
Summary:
This article is about Algiers under the french rule.Most of the people live in the establishment of
a bidonville.A group of architect decided to house Algerians in high rises.
Important quotes:
Central to the work is the idea that the French used urban planning and architecture to defend
their Algerian possession and to assert control over the native population. Conversely, Celik
shows how architecture contributed to the success of the rebels against French rule, as Algerians
achieved independence in the early 1960s. In addition, a subtheme emphasizes the role of
women in Algerian society and the part they played in the war for Algerian independence.
Purpose:
I think this article would be helpful to teach the Stranger because it talks about how the
Algerians are rebels.It kind of relates to Meursault who is a man that wants to do thing on his
own, and not really listen to what others say.”I went with him as far as the bungalow, and as he
climbed the wooden steps, I just stood there at the bottom, my head ringin from the sun, unable
to face the effort it would take to climb the wooden staircase and face the woman again.”(P56)I
think that is important because if he listened to Raymond or talked to him before he does
something he wouldn’t kill the Arab.
