THE STRANGER #2

Life as an existentialist can be full of gaps. In Meursault’s case, this is one of the things that are very present during the novel. You see, as an existentialist, he just lets things in life pass him by and just doesn’t take any feeling, moment, or situation in, precisely because like he says, there is no reason for him to do so, making his life, after analyzing it really deeply, so much more meaningful than what it looks like from a simple overview of the story.

 One of the main, and most important examples of these gaps or things unsaid, is the way Meursault talks about his mother. The beginning of the book is about her, and her death, which makes the readers see right away how much he ignores her. And we also see that as things start happening to him, his Maman seems to appear everywhere he goes. And even though he says in many occasions that he doesn’t really care, and that he sees her death as a natural and pointless thing to mourn for, he gives us readers certain clues that suggest otherwise.   I say this taking reference on page 65, where Meursault is being asked by his lawyer whether he felt any sort of sadness during the day of Maman’s funeral. “The question caught me by surprise and it seemed to me that I would have been very embarrassed if I’d had to ask it. Nevertheless I answered that I had pretty much lost the habit of analyzing myself and that it was hard for me to tell him what he wanted to know. I probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything.”

For a person that just reads this quote, it’s very probable that the person will think of Meursault as insensitive cold hearted or greedy. But when I looked over the quote and truly analyzed what it might have meant, I understood a little more of this man’s way of being, I know that there is definitely a story behind that part of the novel. I saw there must be some gap that actually has a meaning to him, and that for some reason he is not revealing it, not even to the readers. So this is where someone like me, that actually believes that everything has a meaning, and that there are no coincidences, comes in and makes up a big melodramatic story of Meursault and his mom, loving each other without a care in the world, but after years of hard work she is getting old and his job’s salary is not enough to keep her satisfied, so they slowly start losing topics to talk about, and after a while, all they talk about are complaints about one another, they split apart. And as an act for care and compassion he puts her in a home, because what he earns is not enough to give her what she deserves. To support this absolutely fairytale-like story, I have this part of the quote as support. ‘…it was hard for me to tell him what he wanted to know…” the thing is, he doesn’t say why. He just sates the fact that it is hard for him to share that part of his past, and I can see as a reader that it brings him pain to think about it.

And that is the amazing thing about the novel. Camus leaves things unsaid, little mysteries so that the reader is forced to think more about these little stories, create things inside their heads, and that way making the process of reading the novel so much more meaningful for the reader. 

THE STRANGER #1

    Existentialism by meaning, is mainly the big question of what matters? Does anything really matter? This is something that I personally would answer like everything matters. I am one of those people that believe that there are no coincidences and that everything is happening to a person for a meaning. Camus on the other hand, writes this novel creating a character that disagrees completely with me. His character is a complete existentialist and it is proved almost in every page I have read so far. Although Camus claimed many times that he was not an existentialist, he did portray a big share of it in this novel, and what I’ve come to understand, most of his work. The main character in this novel has been showing us readers what a simple life he lives, and what argument he has for not caring about things like love or death, among other elements. When I say love, I mean marriage. He expresses the fact that he doesn’t care about getting married, even though he is sexually attracted to Marie, which in this case, is more than what he feels for any other person in his life. And by death, I mean that he did not reflect anything more that supposing he loved his mom, weeks after she died, and because somebody had to push him to admit it. There are a couple of quotes that demonstrate exactly what I mean by stating this.   
“It occurred to me that anyway, one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed.” Pg. 24   
 In this small piece of evidence, Meursault shows exactly what I mean. He takes in his life like a non-stopping train stuck on a railroad track. He still works, eats, sleeps, goes for walks, like a normal life, but when things happen to him, for instance his mother passing away, he just stares out the window. He doesn’t take things in, even though he is involved in them. The quote has something very moving about it, that’s the last part. When Meursault says that ‘really, nothing has changed’, he demonstrates to the readers multiple things, like the fact that he has been living a dull life without his mother for a while now, and the fact that she is dead changes nothing about it. He shows that he feels that death is something that happens to everyone, and somehow, the fact that even though he cries and mourns for her, she is not going to come back, and he is fine with or without her in his life. So there was really no point in being sad. That is existentialism. Not caring. When Meursault asks himself the famous question of ‘Does anything really matter?’ he simple answers no. nothing does. And therefore, why would I cry over something as pathetic as my mom dying, if it is in fact, something that every human being is going to go through.

    “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her.” Pg. 41

    This piece of evidence must be taken in by parts. ‘I said it didn’t make any difference to me…’ existentialism is clear in this part of the quote. Meursault doesn’t love Marie; he is just sexually attracted to her. He practically asks himself our golden question every day, and answers it every day with the same word, No. when he is presented with the opportunity of love, marriage, a family, etc. he just thinks of how meaningless everything in life is, and how pointless it is to work hard at a relationship, when either way, it’s going to end up with death, and pain. The second part of the quote, (‘Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything…’) shows pretty much the same attitude. He is turning his back on love, and the fact that someone other than his mother might be willing to share her life with him, but he just sees no point in it because there is no point in life, nothing really matters, and nothing ever will, because nothing lasts. And that’s the way Meursault thinks about life. 

THE GREAT GATSBY

“...and, as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock.” pg.20,21

As we already know, one of the most important symbols in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the distant green light that is visible from Mr. Gatsby’s house. In class, we have discussed how green can mean multiple things like wealth, hope, progress, and so on. But after a while of thinking of other meanings, I realized that green can also mean envy. Jealousy, and the constant crave of East Egg to need more than what they have, is a big part of why the novel does not have a happy ending. In Gatsby’s case, envy is a big part of this green light. His heart has been broken by Daisy, the love of his life, and all he wanted to do since he met her was to have enough money to have her. Now he lived with an envy cloud in his head because she was married to Tom, man who she had learned to love in a way, and there was nothing he could do about it. So in conclusion, it is obvious that during the book, Gatsby has been constantly hurting himself, but keeps that light as a way of consolation. Like a second to forget everything and just stare at the light, stare at Daisy. The thing is, every time he looks at the light, he’s reminded of his mistakes in the past and how much he envies Tom for having the girl of his dreams and not even appreciating it.