Greetings, I'm Rosaline. You may know me as the wife of the Lighters' founder, Arnold. However, I reassure you that I am much more than that. I'm a writer, dentist, and an athlete. Today, I will be discussing Meursault's character from The Stranger by Albert Camus.
When I was first reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, I assumed that Meursault was a bad person with no real set of morals. I was inclined to believe this because Meursault didn't shed a tear at his mother's funeral, helped Raymond, an abusive hypocrite, and showed very little emotional consideration for his acquittance, Marie.
My initial assumption was heightened after Meursault shot the Arab man. Despite the complexity of the feud between Raymond and the "Arabs", Meursault took the liberty to choose a side and fight on it. Therefore, I took Meursault as a racist and possibly misogynistic man (due to his care-free treatment of Marie).
As I read on, however, I started to see Meursault's true colors. When Meursault was jailed, I realized that he was just a careless, selfish, simple, honest man. This isn't to excuse his sympathy with Raymond but I better understood where it stemmed from; Meursault only helped Raymond because Raymond was nice to him and so Meursault just went with it.
Meursault didn't like to exit his comfort zone and challenge himself. Meursault would only help others if they have helped or been kind to him as long as it didn't require he leave his bubble. For instance, when Raymond was beating his mistress senseless and Marie asked Meursault to get a policemen to help (potentially) prevent a murder, Meursault "told her [he] don't like policemen" (page 25). He wasn't necessarily in favor of Raymond's behavior but he didn't want do something he isn't comfortable doing. Moreover, when asked why he shot the Arab man, Meursault "blurted out that it was because of the sun" (page 113). Meursault wasn't necessarily prejudice against Arabs, he was just scared. This was his brutal truth that resulted in his prosecution.
Thus, it is clear that Meursault is not a racist and possible misogynistic man; he is simply a careless, indifferent person who doesn't like to step out his comfort zone. He goes where the wind takes him with no real analytical or introspective lens.
My initial assumption was heightened after Meursault shot the Arab man. Despite the complexity of the feud between Raymond and the "Arabs", Meursault took the liberty to choose a side and fight on it. Therefore, I took Meursault as a racist and possibly misogynistic man (due to his care-free treatment of Marie).
As I read on, however, I started to see Meursault's true colors. When Meursault was jailed, I realized that he was just a careless, selfish, simple, honest man. This isn't to excuse his sympathy with Raymond but I better understood where it stemmed from; Meursault only helped Raymond because Raymond was nice to him and so Meursault just went with it.
Meursault didn't like to exit his comfort zone and challenge himself. Meursault would only help others if they have helped or been kind to him as long as it didn't require he leave his bubble. For instance, when Raymond was beating his mistress senseless and Marie asked Meursault to get a policemen to help (potentially) prevent a murder, Meursault "told her [he] don't like policemen" (page 25). He wasn't necessarily in favor of Raymond's behavior but he didn't want do something he isn't comfortable doing. Moreover, when asked why he shot the Arab man, Meursault "blurted out that it was because of the sun" (page 113). Meursault wasn't necessarily prejudice against Arabs, he was just scared. This was his brutal truth that resulted in his prosecution.
Thus, it is clear that Meursault is not a racist and possible misogynistic man; he is simply a careless, indifferent person who doesn't like to step out his comfort zone. He goes where the wind takes him with no real analytical or introspective lens.
Comments
Post a Comment