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Meursault then returns to the spring to cool off when he shoots Raymond's mistress' brother for no reason. Bringing Raymond with them to a friends beach house, where they run into the Arabs, one of which is Raymond's mistress' brother, a fight breaks out and Raymond gets stabbed, they leave to go treat it. Usually by sleeping most of the day. The main problem of the story is a murder.
As for Raymond, he beats his mistress and her brother becomes a conflict. Besides that I think it is a good book that you really have to think about and understand the concepts. Sentenced to death by beheading. It starts out with Meursault receiving a telegram explaining that his mother has died. Inside she wants to marry him, although he feels indifferent about it but that doesn't run her away.
It's sad to think that many people in our world think this way. He's then arrested and thrown into jail. Originally Raymond just wanted to use Meursault, but in the end they ended up trusting each other, which they both gained a friend. She remains loyal to him even when he goes to court. Many people were called upon to testify, although they all attested to his lack of grief and tears.
The following day he returns to work, on his way home to his apartment he runs into his neighbor Raymond, he invites him in for dinner. Meursault is heartless. He is given one more chance to turn to god but gets angry and refuses to. Which he abandons all hope for the future and accepts the "gentle indifference of the world." This acceptance makes Meursault feel happy.As we look back on this book it didn't really have a great meaning to it. Although it was then translated by Matthew Ward and was published in 1988.
With 123 pages, no pictures except the ones you can imagine in your head. He travels to Algiers, to attend his mother's funeral but he doesn't remember much of it. He wants to torment her more but he needs Meursault to write her a letter telling her to come back, so he agrees to do so. They make plans that evening to see a movie, then they stay the night together when he awakes Marie is nowhere to be seen, so he sits on his balcony and watches people go by.
Adapting to prison life pretty well he keeps his mind of the things he always had. The Stranger by Albert Camus, a winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is asked to put his faith in God but refuses to do so. Honestly I wouldn't recommend this book to teenagers because they could think wrong about it. Understanding it is difficult because of the actions that the characters take and which come off very mysterious. She is known as the mixed blessing in his life. Originally written in French and published in 1942.
Because of his lack of moral feeling threatens all of society the prosecutor calls him a monster. Knowing him, he doesn't worry about the future to much or think before he takes action. Raymond is the cause of Meursault's downfall, because he gives him the gun that later kills his mistress's brother. For the first time, Meursault truly embraces the idea that human existence holds no greater meaning. Believing he is right in living in a meaningless world.
I describe this book as philosophical crime fiction, in that it makes you really think about what's happening. Meursault is a type of person who lives for the day and tries to make it as wonderful as possible. When returning to go find the Arabs again Raymond thinks about shooting them but Meursault stops him and takes the gun. During the trial the subjects shifted from the murder to a discussion of his own character. We need to learn to tolerate people, you can be sad or mad but you just can't take it out on people who have done nothing to you for no reason. Raymond asks Meursault to testify on his behalf so he agrees to do so. Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her and he replies indifferently and says if you want to we can so they become engaged. Life is meaningless and they can just kill anyone who makes them upset, but you can't do that.
Over dinner Raymond brags about beating up his mistress because she cheated on him and he got in a fight with her brother. Although it kind of did. Three people that really stand out in the story are Meursault, Raymond Sintes, and Marie Cardona. Meursault is taken to court. Marie later comes and visits Meursault, they hear shouting and the police show up and arrest Raymond for beating his mistress. Marie is in love with Meursault. The day after the funeral he goes to the beach for a swim and runs into Marie Cardona, a former co-worker.
He cares about the present and, to a lesser degree, the future. The Stranger by Albert Camus is not a typical book you would read in a Catholic school. It is so unlike books you would read in school today, it doesn't tell you how to feel it simply tells you about an atheists mans life and doesn't sugar coat anything. Merusault is not a hero but he is simply an average man that you can't help but to admire.
This book is not up-lifting, but it is an engaging one. I admire this book because it so different, a man is being completely honest about his life and feelings and leaves you thinking. There is no happy ending, or epiphany, just Meursault living his careless life. You would think he would have no purpose or feel unimportant but he is content with the way he lives his life.
He doesn't talk about his emotions for his mother but simply complains about the hot weather. In a way I admire Meursault because he goes through life as it comes, not thinking about his future. I discovered this book in my religion class and it has become one of my favorite books. Everything he does doesn't have a purpose and he doesn't care about the decisions he makes.
Throughout the book similar events like this happening and he simply has no feelings about what happens to him or others around him. You first meet Meursault as he is on his way to his mothers funeral. He later has sex with a random girl he meets at his hotel and feels no emotions towards her.
The edition of THE STRANGER I own is an old Vintage paperback, with a "V-2" Vintage designation in the lower-left corner and a $1.25 price tag in the lower-right corner. (For years, after all, I had been hearing that Camus was over-rated). This is the third or fourth time I have read the Stuart translation of THE STRANGER. When I first read THE STRANGER, in my teens, it was obligatory reading for the young aspiring intellectual and I am sure that my response to it was heavily influenced by what I understood to be the received wisdom.
But - something that hadn't registered on me before - not one Arab is called as a witness at Meursault's trial. Now, frankly, I am impressed by it. As a parenthetical, I also am now struck by how colonial the attitude of the novel is. In pre-WWII French Algeria, the Arabs were indeed a sub-class, part of the fauna of the territory, and Meursault truly is sentenced to death for not displaying conventional grief upon the death of his mother rather than for shooting a human being on a stiflingly hot, blindingly sunny beach.Although THE STRANGER is not a perfect novel, it is somewhat astonishing to realize that it is the work of a 29-year-old, and it need not give anyone pause to see it listed as one of the seminal works of literature of the 20th Century. Not only do the Arabs appear in stereotype as the menacing "Other" and not only does Meursault more or less cold-bloodedly murder one. The translator is Gilbert Stuart, not Matthew Ward.
The tale is deceptively simple, yet upon analysis, the novel becomes surprisingly complex; it is almost mythical in its potential interpretations and "messages". Indeed, it is one of those books that might profitably be read every 15 years or so, to help the reader judge how he is coming to terms with his place in the universe. (I really don't care which translation is better; by now the Stuart one is for me definitive). When I read it about ten years ago, I was put off by the self-centered indifference of Meursault, and I tended to think the novel was intellectually puerile.
When I first read Camus' book, which is my favorite novel, only the Gilbert translation was available, and it blew me away. Gilbert, however, makes Camus' lines sing with electricity. The Matthew Ward translation is inferior to the translation by Stuart Gilbert. When the new improved version came out, I read it and tossed it in the trash. If you can get the older translation, do so. Using the French "Maman" does nothing for the reader of English and, in fact, detracts from the quality of the reading experience. Compare the last several lines of the two translations, and you will find Gilbert's much more powerful, even lyrical.
If you know nothing about Camus, read about The Stranger and about the author after checking this out first. I don't have much to say other than this one of my favorite books. If you are looking for a modern classic and great story telling, pick this up.
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