"Strangers" first three chapters of part two

While reading the other three chapters, I started to become impatient of Meursalt’s behavior I wished to have a power to awake him and tell him that he should try to explain his feelings. Also I would have wanted to make him tell in details the events, because people who where to decide for his fate where misunderstanding his honesty. Throughout story I was hoping that the lawyer’s question will find some piece of innocence in Meursault’s action, a little justification or pretext that would have lightened the sentence. Indeed, I felt that the lawyer and the magistrate where truly trying to find a justification about Meursault’s by asking questions about the mother’s death; I suppose that they were trying to make a assumption that the mother’s death weakened the Meursault’s emotional state which might have lead to the unpredictable action, but Meursault with his naive honesty made it impossible. I really felt pity about Meursault because it seems that during his life he hasn’t learned anything about dishonesty. So, at the end of the third chapter of part two, my hopes about Meursault started to dim. But still I am hoping as an Albanian proverb says " hope dies the last."Can't wait to see what will happen next!

The development in the “Stranger” from third to sixth chapter

For me these three chapters have been more exciting because the main character’s life starts to change from that boring-routine life into more dynamic and social life. Furthermore, in these chapter my perception of Meursault as that emotionless person started to disappear, I somehow felt that I understood his “emotionless” behavior, because there is no need for tears and words to describe the love or care that you have for another person; this has been proven by introducing us with this new connection that Meursault creates with his neighbor Raymond. Above all, Raymond demonstrates that he can even sacrifice in the name of friendship or in the name of whoever tries to make him feel not just a stranger, but as a person who belongs there. Hence, he goes to the policy station to give evidence that Raymond’s mistress has been false to him an evidence that is the only justifier of the violent behavior that Raymond, his only friend, had toward a girl; this act that Meursault did without even thinking twice and without even knowing the truth, is an act of sacrifice that probably everyone would have done to keep near the only person with whom one has a connection.

On the other hand, most of the people, given the fact that Meursault cold-bloody killed a person, make the assumption of a horrific person. On contrary, I do not believe that he is horrific, if it was so he would have let Raymond to kill himself the Arab boy, but he prevents that to happen because he does not want his dear friend to do such a mistake; I do not justify his action –killing a human being- but that might have been at first an action that derived from the fear and the natural instinct of self-defense that we humans have.In the end, each and everyone of us have dark moments when we lose our temper but we might be lucky to not have a gun around us. I really feel sympathy about Meurast’s tough luck but also about the Arab boy.

First impression of "The Stranger"

The impression that I got while reading first three chapters of Albert Camus’s The Stranger, is that the main character Meursault appears to be a strange person whose manners and behavior may seem wired and not the “expected” ones from society’s view; but while analyzing it deeper I believe it is not only Meursault’s behavior strange but also the society’s way of behaving.

Initially, we are introduced with strange behavior of the Meursault who learns about his mother’s death and goes to say the last goodbye to his mother, but he doesn’t even want to see her dead body for the last time. Furthermore, he does not show any sign of grieve or sorrow-like one would be expected to- in his mother’s funeral. Moreover, he appears to have no emotional connection with none of his surrounding not even his colleague, Marie, with whom he slept; the only connection that he describes to have with her is just physical, rather than something emotional. As a result, we portray Meursault as an emotionless and pitiless person, who is indifferent to everything that surrounds him.

On the other hand, analyzing more in depth the detailed description that is given for other characters behavior I noticed that these people are strange, indifferent and in a way heartless people. Starting from Meursault’s boss, who is unsatisfied to learn about Meursault’s mother death, not because he feels any sympathy toward this lose, but because he has to give two days off to Meursault (plus the weekend); this behavior of the boss is a emotionless and somehow a heartless way of acting toward another human being, who has lost one of the most important figures that one may have in his or her life –Mother- and the least that he might have done is to express his condolence and not express dissatisfaction.

To be continued….

Life's Journey

I found Cedar’s “Trans-Siberian and little Jeanne from France,” as a prose through which the author tries to give an illustration of the complex and the changing life of people.  I believe that author deliberately describe thoroughly different cities, different continents, different languages and different cultures in which the train moves because I believe that he wanted to describe the changing life of human beings; by trying to describe how in different stages of life we encounter different emotions such as happiness, love, saddens, pride and new strange emotions. Cedar presents these emotions through usage of symbols, such examples are the usage of many weird cities names that give you the feeling of something strange and unknown. Furthermore, through little Jeanne he wanted to present us with the feeling of sympathy and love for a human creature. Overall, although throughout the prose Cedar’s many times uses very harsh, very romantic or very symbolic language that might be very complicated and confusing, I believe that he does it intentionally in order to keep the language level at the same level of harshness, romanticism and complexity in which the real life is.