Albert Camus

THE OUTSIDER/ THE STRANGER: (1942)
The story is divided into two parts: Before and after the murder. The main character Meursault or Mr. M as we called him. Is the first person narrative for the book. Attending his mothers funeral he shows no emotion and does not wish to see the body- but smokes and drinks milk. After he carries on with life as if nothing has happened. He has a sexual relationship with a girl maria.
He ends up helping a friend Raymond by writting a letter to his Girlfriend who is suspected of infidelity so that Raymond can sleep and beat her one last time. When this is carried out Meursault again appears to show no emotion about this incident. The main incident of the book is where he Kills an arab for no apparent reason after being at a beach house. He shows the reader no reason or emotion to why he killed him just saying that the 'sun' was too bright to see.
In the second part of the book he explains his arrest and his time in prison. Thinking is sentence will be light he is then shocked when he realises he has been sentenced to death. The universe is irrational!!

In the seminar from this we discussed that he exist via sensory and he is unaware of human existence. It is hard to gather that he has no emotional response to anything that happens around him. 'Human life has no meaning'.
The character shocks the reader with the bluntless of the character however this bluntness makes us start to believe that there is nothing wrong with this. The character clearly knows what is going on but he lives for the present day. He is someone that see's rather than feel's. He does not think of the future therefore he does not dread it and he does not regret anything because he does not think about the past.

Those in the story who did not understand the character can replicate the socety that has been and is around today. The society view is to keep everyone in line. People try to get rid of those that they don't undertsand- therefore never excepting anything different or learning to live with such people. For society keeping everyone in one straight similar line will keep the world in order. I don't think so.

living in the present day, dont think about the past or worry about the future. live for the day, live for the present