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

What is Marie's reaction when Meursault tells her that his mother died the day before? She seems shocked, briefly, but doesn't really let it bother her. Ask yourself how you would have reacted if you were Marie. Would you have been shocked at Meursault's confession that his mother just died? Many people in Western cultures observe a period of mourning after a close relative has passed away or wear black as a sign that someone close to them has died. Yet Meursault shows no indication that his mother's death has altered his habits. He mentions his mother's death to Marie as casually as he might say that yesterday, he went to a ballgame or the opening of a play. Perhaps that is why Marie is not deeply affected by the news of the death.

That evening, Marie and Meursault go to the movies to see a comedy starring the French actor Fernandel. Then they return to Meursault's apartment and make love.

On Sunday morning, Meursault awakens to find Marie gone. In a rare moment when he reveals an opinion about something, he confesses that he's never cared for Sundays. Is it because he prefers the regimented life of the work week to the freedom of the weekend, when he must make his own choices about what to do? He sniffs the smell of Marie's hair on his pillow and lies in bed till noon, smoking cigarettes.

After lunch, he wanders restlessly around his apartment. Finally, "for want of anything better to do," he cuts an advertisement out of an old newspaper and pastes it in an album where he keeps things that amuse him. You get the feeling that Meursault is just killing time, waiting for Monday and the routine of going to work.

Meursault isn't the type of person who minds being alone. His meeting with Marie at the pool was purely accidental. It didn't seem to make much difference to him whether he met someone there or not. Whatever encounters he has with people take place by chance. He doesn't go out of his way to make things happen.

Some readers have suggested that Camus's description of Meursault as a person who loves bathing and lying in the sun, yet who lives in a tiny, claustrophobic apartment, is a direct parallel to the "external" and "internal" sides of all human beings. Does Meursault's desire to be alone contradict his love of the outdoors? Don't both feelings--the desire for company and the need for solitude--coexist in most human beings? As you read, ask yourself what makes Meursault different or stand out from other people.

He spends most of the day on the balcony of his apartment. From that vantage point, he observes a family going for their Sunday walk, the local teenagers on their way to the movies, the tobacconist across the street sitting outside his shop. Eventually, the streetlights come on, and Meursault decides it's time to fix dinner. It's been a typical Sunday. Most people would probably be bored with this routine, but Meursault seems content just to exist. Sunday or Monday, life or death--it seems to be all the same. He notices "a corner of [his] table with [his] spirit lamp and some bits of bread beside it" reflected in the mirror. Does this imply that, for Meursault, these trivial details are as meaningful to him as his mother's death? In his indifferent way, he comments, "Really, nothing in my life [has] changed."

NOTE: Camus placed great emphasis on the routine nature of Meursault's life. He believed that the weariness that resulted from the acts of a mechanical life--a life that continued, unchanging, from week to week--was the condition necessary to give birth to the feeling of absurdity in an individual. The understanding that life was finite, and that the events of one's life were meaningless, given the fact that one must die, was one of the key principles of the philosophy of the absurd.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: CHAPTER III

The weekend is over and Meursault returns to his job. His employer greets him warmly, asks Meursault if he was tired out by the events of the weekend, and inquires about Meursault's mother's age. Realizing that he doesn't know his mother's exact age, Meursault answers vaguely that she was "round about sixty." He can't understand why his employer should be interested.

You learn little about Meursault's job as a shipping clerk. But you are told that the simple physical act of washing his hands during the day gives him pleasure. At night when he's leaving work, however, he says that washing his hands is less pleasurable, since the roller towel is "sopping wet." In his juxtaposition of small details, is Camus attempting to show that the wet towel, which relates directly to Meursault's physical comforts, is more important to Meursault than his mother's age?

Meursault eats lunch at Celeste's restaurant. Then he returns to his apartment for a nap and later goes back to the office. This is his daily routine.

Why do you think Camus spends so little time describing what Meursault does at work? Some readers feel that the author's intention is to show that all jobs are equally meaningless and that nothing one does will have any effect on the nature of the universe. Others feel that the ritual of going to work is more important to Camus than the work itself.

After work Meursault walks home along the harbor, feeling the coolness of the evening air on his face. On the steps of his apartment he meets an elderly man, Salamano, who lives with his dog on the same floor as Meursault. The man and the dog have lived together for eight years. They've been inseparable all this time, much like a married couple; in fact, they've even begun to resemble one another. But Salamano regularly beats the dog, and the dog, in turn, irritates his master, by pulling on the leash when they walk down the street.

Before reaching his apartment, Meursault greets another neighbor, Raymond Sintes, who invites him into his room for dinner. Meursault accepts the offer, not because he feels particularly friendly toward Raymond, but because it means he doesn't have to prepare his own dinner. Meursault notices that Raymond has a bandage wrapped around his hand, and Raymond explains that he hurt his hand in a fight with his girlfriend's brother. During dinner, Raymond asks Meursault for advice about how to deal with the woman, who's been unfaithful to him, He's already beaten her but wants to punish her further. (Raymond describes himself as "a bit short-tempered," but you get the impression that he derives pleasure from hurting others. Though he tells people he works in a warehouse, he is reputed to be a pimp.)

NOTE: Camus named several characters in The Stranger after members of his own family. His mother's maiden name was Sintes. His grandmother's name was Catherine Marie Cardona. Some readers think that the similarities in the names seem to indicate that Camus wanted to call attention to the autobiographical elements in the novel and to indicate that much of the book was inspired by his childhood experiences.

Meursault listens to Raymond's story without offering an opinion. When Raymond asks if Meursault has any advice, Meursault says, in his usual noncommittal way, that lie found the story "interesting," but that "one could never be quite sure how to act in such cases."

NOTE: Meursault's character, whether he's dealing with the warden at his mother's nursing home or with Raymond Sintes, never wavers. He listens with interest because he's curious about the concerns of other human beings. But why Salamano beats his dog or Raymond beats his girlfriend is a mystery to him. He's unable to understand why people act as they do and doesn't really care, so he spends very little time wondering.

Raymond's plan is to write his girlfriend a letter that will make her feel remorse for being unfaithful to him. She'll return to him, he'll take her to bed, and in the midst of their lovemaking he'll throw her out. Meursault agrees that this is probably as good a plan as any an consents, at Raymond's request, to write the letter for him.

Camus has described Meursault as a person who "refuses to lie." Yet his writing of the letter, to many readers, seems like an overt act of deception. From what you know of Meursault, do you think he's compromising his values by getting involved Sintes? Or can Meursault now be viewed as a lonely person who's desperately attempting to make contact with other human beings? Does this interpretation contradict his antisocial behavior at the nursing home?

The writing of the letter creates, from Raymond's point of view, a bond between them. "So now we're pals, ain't we?" he says, slapping Meursault on the back. Meursault is as surprised by Raymond's display of friendship as he was by Perez's grief at his mother's funeral.

Some readers feel that Meursault's willingness to help Raymond is a way of breaking the monotony of his daily routine, a chance to do something different. Others feel that Meursault is just drifting, as always, from one chance encounter to another. He can be Raymond's friend, without feeling friendship, as easily as he can be Marie's lover, without feeling love. As you read, ask yourself why Meursault feels and acts the way he does. Do you think of him as an honest person? Or is he just acting selfishly? As you read further, you'll see how the simple act of writing the letter for Raymond takes on enormous importance.

As Meursault leaves the apartment, Raymond offers sympathy for his mother's death. "You mustn't let things get you down," he says, Adding that death is something that happens to everyone.

In this chapter Meursault has committed an action that sets in motion the drama--he's written the letter for Raymond. He has done this, disregarding the possible consequences, especially to the girl.

^^^^^^^^^^THE STRANGER: CHAPTER IV