"the stranger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

Perez is a close friend of Meursault's mother. He is referred to as her "fiance" and, in contrast to Meursault, weeps at her funeral. He reappears as a witness at Meursault's trial.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: MARIE CARDONA

A former typist in Meursault's office, Marie becomes his lover the day after he returns from his mother's funeral. She, like Meursault, is devoted to sensual pleasures. But her values are rooted in traditional standards, and she wants what most people are said to want: love, marriage, a conventional life. She has an intuitive understanding of Meursault's character and remains loyal to him after he kills the Arab.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: SALAMANO

Salamano, one of Meursault's neighbors, has a dog with which he constantly fights. When Salamano's wife died, he got the dog for company. He has a sort of love/hate relationship with the animal that is not unlike Raymond's relationship with his girlfriend. Salamano loses the dog during the course of the story and turns to Meursault for advice and comfort.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: RAYMOND SINTES

At Meursault's trial, Raymond, another of Meursault's neighbors, describes himself and Meursault as "the best of pals." Do you find it hard to believe that Meursault would be involved with such a person? Raymond is not only violent, he's sadistic as well. But his code of honor is as important to him as religion is to the chaplain or the magistrate. According to the code, if someone treats him badly, he'll take revenge. Conversely, if someone does him a favor--as Meursault does, by writing a letter to his girlfriend--that person will be his pal.

Raymond tells his neighbors that he works as a warehouse man, but it is implied that he's really a pimp, living off the earnings of prostitutes. He uses violence to demonstrate his masculinity and is concerned about Meursault's opinion of him. For example, when he doesn't challenge the policeman who arrives to break up his quarrel with his girlfriend, he worries that Meursault may think he's a coward. Raymond doesn't realize that Meursault is often just passing the time with him--in fact, is barely listening to him. He interprets Meursault's silence and passivity as a sign of intelligence.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: MASSON

Masson is Raymond's friend the owner of the beach cottage. He takes part in the first scuffle with the Arabs but essentially has a minor role in the story. At the trial, he attempts to create a favorable picture of Meursault.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: MAGISTRATE

During the trial, Meursault is confronted by several people who each represent an aspect of society and traditional attitudes toward morality and behavior. The magistrate is an authority figure who believes in God and wants criminals to believe and to repent their crimes. During their first interview, Meursault views the magistrate as an amiable and kindly person. At a later interview, however, the magistrate becomes perturbed and excited when Meursault refuses to answer his questions about the murder. He waves a crucifix in Meursault's face and tries to convince him of the existence of God. You sense that the magistrate is less a truly religious person, who's found peace within himself, than a person who uses religion as a way of reassuring himself that his life has meaning.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: MEURSAULT'S LAWYER

Camus purposefully withholds the name of Meursault's court-appointed lawyer. He's just a part of the judicial system that society has created, and he has little to gain or lose by the outcome of Meursault's trial. He's shocked at Meursault's indifference toward his mother's death, and realizing that this will be a key issue, he advises Meursault to remain silent during the trial. Do you get the impression that he thinks Meursault's case is hopeless from the start?

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: PROSECUTOR

We see the prosecutor only in a courtroom setting. He interviews each witness and turns even the slightest detail to Meursault's disadvantage. Meursault is fascinated by the skill with which the prosecutor twists information to create his case. He's playing the game of justice, and playing it well, but he has no desire to find out why Meursault killed the Arab. He's obviously interested in the psychological connection between Meursault's behavior at his mother's funeral and the murder of the Arab, and it's on this connection that he rests his case.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: CHAPLAIN

After Meursault has refused several times to see him, the chaplain comes to Meursault's cell while Meursault is awaiting death. He tries to convince Meursault that there's a life after death. He becomes frustrated by Meursault's refusal to believe that a God exists, yet he insists, hoping that he'll eventually wear Meursault down. For Meursault, the chaplain is just the last in a long line of people who have tried to foist their ideas on him. His insistence that Meursault express some belief in God leads to an attack by Meursault.


^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: SETTING

The city of Algiers, the principal setting of The Stranger, almost seems an active participant in the novel. The city is described as bathed in sunlight so intense at times that it makes Meursault feel dizzy; it is surrounded by white-hot beaches and endless expanses of sky and water. The street where Meursault lived was modeled after the Rue de Lyon--the main artery of Belcourt, the Algerian suburb where Camus grew up. Meursault's observations from his balcony (Part One, Chapter II) will give you a good sense of the atmosphere in Algiers during the late 193Os--the time when The Stranger was written, and the time that the action in the book, according to most critics, takes place.

Algiers is a city of crowded apartment buildings, where the neighbors and shopkeepers all know one another. The streets are lined with bars and restaurants. Arabs, Europeans, and pieds-noirs--people of European descent born, as Camus himself was, in Algeria--live side by side, but not without tensions and conflicts. The story should be seen against this background of racial mix and unrest. Algiers is also a port city, where ships come and go constantly, leaving fragments of many cultures (the city has been described as a "marriage" of East and West) in their wakes. Camus has depicted the Algerians as a people with "a distaste for stability and a lack of regard for the future, people in a hurry to live." You can imagine the streets teeming with life, twenty-four hours a day.

More than the city, even, the natural climate of North Africa forms a powerful backdrop to events and shifts of mood--the sun, the heat, the vastness of space and sky have much influence.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: THEMES

The following are some of the themes of The Stranger.

1. VERDICT OF DEATH