The Stranger: Journal #6

Five Literary Questions:

1. Why does Meursault feel that his killing of the Arab was achieving happiness?

2. What does the story about the rich man contribute to the story?

3. Could the motif of companionship possibly contribute to a larger theme?

4. Could the motif of misunderstanding (by the caretaker, judge, etc.) also contribute to a larger theme?

5. Why does Camus emphasize on the color of clothing?

My answers:

1. Is the author being racist when he only refers to the Arabs by their ethnicity and not by their names? Why? (Schulte, Jarrad)
-It is possible that Camus has Meursault only refer to the Arabs by their ethnicity to help highlight the character's racist views and develop a theme regarding the irrationality that surrounds the actions of people that possess such views.


2. Does the sun have a symbolic value? If so, what? (Possibility for illumination of meaning?) (Sakaguchi, Sean)
-Yes, the sun symbolizes the illumination of meaning but it also, through it's intense heat, represents the overbearing implications that such knowledge brings.


3. Why does Camus only vaguely describe Maman was like when she seems to be such a key part in the novel? (Rosette, Kylee)
-Through Meursault, Camus only minimally describes Maman to highlight the unimportance of the dead, which goes along with his emphasis on the physical aspect of things to create a theme around the importance of living life to its fullest


4. Why does Camus set the story on the beach so often and why does he make it a place that Meursault desires to go to? (Graham, Shannon)
-Maybe Camus sets the story on the beach so often to show how the intrusion of a stranger into a familiar place can lead one to violate their own moral code.


5. What is the effect of having dialogue interspersed within the paragraphs rather than begin new paragraphs? (Kallevig, Ivan)
-The interspersion of dialog within the paragraphs helps show us that what Meursault is telling us might be unreliable.