The Stranger Group

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ale222
ale222
Student
High School - 12th Grade

In "The Stranger", how does a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole?

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Posted by ale222 on Monday November 9, 2009 at 7:29 PM and tagged with death scene.

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  1. jseligmann Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Camus' "The Stranger" begins with a specific death, the death of the narrator, Meursault's, mother:

    "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I had a telegram from the home: 'Mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Yours sincerely.' That doesn't mean anything. It may have happened yesterday."

    From this point onward we learn about Meursault and the world he lives in. And as we read, we are at first shocked by what seems to be the cold, uncaring, un-remorseful, and indifferent way that he reacts to his mother's death. It seems that he reacts without reacting. What's going on here? Didn't the man love his mother? How can he be so blah about her death? As matter-of-fact as a telegram?

    But, that's the point. It's not that he doesn't care about her death; he doesn't act on or feel anything that he doesn't really feel, and he refuses to act the way others would want him to or expect him to act. He lives in completely honesty with himself and does not act or feel out of any obligation to others. He is true to himself, and that is all that matters to him.

    You may not like or approve of a person who is unmoved by his own mother's death, but your judgment is of no meaning or consequence to him. The whole novel is a variation and support of this theme.

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    Posted by jseligmann on Monday November 9, 2009 at 8:04 PM