Bruno+Baisch

Chapter 1 == The narration is sharp, concise and to the point. Mainly simple action verbs are used, in the past tense, for example, “I caught the two o’clock bus. It was very hot. I ate at Celeste’s restaurant, as usual.” There is very little dialogue. This allows the reader to learn about Mersault through his actions/reactions, rather than his thoughts or feelings. What tone is Camus establishing? ==

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Albert Camus uses very short and factual sentences with very little evidence of emotion, implicating his concept of absurdism to the character, portraying him from the beginning as someone who is way more concerned by the events going around him rather than how he feels towards these events. Right in the first sentences of the book, he quotes 'Mother died today. Or yesterday, I don't know', shocking the reader from the first moment as he shows such irrelevance towards his mother's death. Furthermore, when asked if he'd like to see his mother for the last time, he shortly replies 'No', showing again a very cold response to such a tragic event, demonstrating his detachment from his mother and any emotion that usually exists in a mother-son relationship.======

== Note how often Mersault falls asleep/dozes with reference to his description of the environment in which he falls asleep (pg 10 – “I had to run for the bus. It was probably all this dashing about and then the jolting and the smell of petrol and the glare of the sky reflecting off the road that made me doze off.”). Once again, he is heavily influenced by elements of the situation. Describe a time when you fell asleep uncontrollably. How does this help you to connect with Mersault? ==

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When I'm about to fall asleep, you lose your perception of the environment around you and donot show interest for anything around you, you just want to sleep. This way, Camus representing how Mesault doesn't seem to be affected emotionally by anythihng around him, and his careless simply makes him fall asleep. On page 17 he states that an old man was 'staring me intentively' but he immediately after 'slept some more'. This represents how he did not feel uncomfortable or even inquire why the man was looking at him, he simply ignored what the man's reason was and simply fell asleep.======

== In contrast, the final sentence of the chapter is unusually long. Interestingly, we finally get a glimpse into the “joy” that Mersault is feeling now that he can “go to bed and sleep for a whole twelve hours.” What do we learn about Mersault through this? ==

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This suggests that Mesault is able to capture feelings sometimes. It therefore reflects how his careless attitude this far is his own choice, infering that he did not hold any values for concepts like family, as he is very short and cold when describing his mother's death, eg. 'Mom died today. Or yesterday, I can't remember'. But, the 'joy' he finally feels when he is able to 'sleep for a whole twelve hours' suggests that one of the few ways he can feel happiness is through resting and doing nothing, bringing about the concept of absurdism that feeling emotion is not an important component of life. ======

=**Chapter 2 ** =

==**4. Page 28: “I realised that I’d managed to get through another Sunday, that mother was now buried, that I was going to go back to work and that, after all, nothing had changed.” Imagine a tragedy that has just struck a friend. The next day, your friend comes to school as if nothing has happened. What would you say to your friend? How would you react to their lack of acknowledgement? **== I would at first attempt to comfort him and try to make them feel better, and it is rather weird when Marie 'made no remark' after acknowledging Mersault's mother died, showing how she probably already knows Mersault didn't care about it. Their lack of grief would make me feel shocked and scared, which doesn't seem to happen to Marie as even after Mersault shows such carelessness about his mother's death she still 'came back to my(Mersault's) place'.

==**5. Despite chapters 1 and 2 being poles apart in terms of content (chapter 1 focuses on the funeral, whereas 2 is about a day at the beach with a girl), an indifferent tone is prevalent in both. Explain how Camus uses language to achieve this. **== In both chapters he uses very short sentences and a lack of emotion to demonstrate how nothing seemed important to him, such as in the phrase, 'I kissed her, but badly'. Even though he has just kissed a girl who he had 'fancied at the time' he does not give any evidence of feelings or emotions brought by it, but instead he focuses on his performace, which is rather weird as we would expect him to be glad to have finally kissed a girl he had liked such a long time ago. This is even furthermore expressed when he says 'she came back to my place' but really doesn't give any personal views on how that affected him emotionally. ==**6. Give some examples of Camus’ use of imagery. Note how this is used in place of Meursault’s emotions. **== Mersault makes rather detailed descriptions about the weather, which shows his detachment and carelessness about anything else that's going on around him, and focuses on rather irrelevant things. Even during his mother's funeral, while he's expected to be sad and focusing on nothing else but his mother, he quotes 'I was surprised how rapidly the sunwas rising in the sky', demonstrating his lack of emotion which has been substituted by the effect the environment has on him, rather than what he feels about the surrounding environment. ==**7. See the //characters// page and add detail on Meursault’s interaction with Marie. **==

=**Extension Question (complete Qs 4 - 7 as well) ** = ===1. Because absurdists believe that life is meaningless, the death of Meursault’s mother doesn’t affect him because that is what is expected. Give further detail of how the novel (so far) is an example of an absurdist text. === He shows to be rather emotionless towards Marie, a girl who he 'fancied at the time' and even though 'kissed her, but badly' and 'afterwards she came back to my (Mersault's place) he still shows to have to personal or emotional response to that. Immediatly after she leaves he does not reflect on his feelings or his relationship with her but rather he says to feel 'annoyed' because it was a 'Sunday'. He even shows not to care too much about what she thinks of him as he wants to tell her 'it wasn't my (his) fault', but he ends up giving up on that as 'it didn't mean anything'. Through this he shows that he doesn't care about whether Marie thinks he has any blame or not in the death of his mother, showing his carelessness to both of them. Finally, he spends his whole Sunday just watching his view at the window. He makes close descriptions of some of the people who walk by such as the guy who 'was wearing a straw hat and a bow tie and carrying a walking stick'. Even though he pays close attention to the scenes, he not once presents any type of emotion or personal thought about them, but rather just states facts shortly and objectively.

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Yes, by not knowing his mother's age he shows how careless he is towards her and demonstrates his ideal that he doesn't lie, explaining why he doesn't simply give a random age to look like a socially acceptable person, but rather states the truth that he only knows an approximate age.
 * //It's Meursault's first day back at work and his boss, following the socially expected rules of human behaviour, asks Meursault about his mother. When asked how old his mother was, Meursault answers with "about sixty". Do you know how old your mother is? Explain how Meursault would rather be true to himself and approximate his mother's age, rather than follow social protocol.//**======

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It demonstrates one more time his social 'outsider' outlook and his spontaneous concept that he should be true to himself. He simply does what he feels like and doesn't lie. This was also illustrated when he smoked infront of his mother's coffen======

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Meursault is a man who sleeps and wakes when he chooses. This morning, however, Marie had some trouble waking Meursault and when she does, he is described to have a “a face like a funeral”. While the reader is never privvy to Meursault's emotional state, this simile describes him as being in a dark mood. There is also a build up of tension when he faces the arabs, as he describes Raymond 'looked worried' and that 'we'd better get a move on'. This tension already foreshadows the fight, and that even though Mersault's lack of emotion blinds his perception that the situation was tense, it is obvious through hsi friends' response that there is something problematic going on. Also, the reference to 'dead trees'
 * //Meursault displays a moment of spontaneity when he jumps on the truck following Emmanuel's suggestion. How might this add to his characterisation?//** **//Many characters comment negatively on Salamano and his dog, however, Meursault never judges. What does this tell you about him?//** **//Imagine Raymond walks in the door and shares his story with you. Write a single diary entry, logging your reaction to his grotesque story.//** **//Now you are Meursault. Write a single diary entry, logging your reaction to Raymond's story. Emulate Camus' style (note - these stories seem to have no impact on Meursault - he is happy to be fed. He is, however, affected by his physical surroundings such as the cigarettes and wine).//** **//Comment on how the two differ.//**======
 * // Chapter 6 //**
 * //﻿// 1. Write a paragraph describing how the tone at the start of the chapter foreshadows the shooting of the Arab. Include techniques/examples in your response. **
 * // Eg as a start.... // **
 * 2. Give detail of Meursault's __physical__ state leading up to the shooting. **
 * - "I realized that I only had to turn around and it would all be over" - this shows that everything could have been completely different if he just turned around and went home. Such a simple decision can change the direction of your life completely. **


 * 3. As a class, list any references to the sun in this chapter and the effects. We will have one complete table which you can paste to your own page. **

Part 2 Chapter 2
Dear mother,I have been arrested because I killed my an Arab. I am now in jail and it feels like ‘my cell was my home’. The other day Marie came to visit me, and ‘I thought she looked beautiful’. They wouldn’t let her come very often because ‘she wasn’t my wife’ so this was the first time I had seen her in a while. During her visit, ‘the harsh light pouring down out of the sky and reflecting off the windows made me feel dizzy’. There was a ‘fat woman’ next to Marie who was ‘yelling at the man next to me’. ‘The prisoner on my left, a man with tiny hands, wasn’t saying anything’. Marie told me that I would get out and we’d go ‘swimming again’, but at that point all I wanted to do was ‘squeeze her shoulders through her dress’.My first days in prison that followed Maries visit were bad. The problem was I ‘kept thinking like a free man’. ‘I’d suddenly want to be on the beach and be able to walk down to the sea’. I also had a ‘tormenting desire for women’, I’d find myself thinking about ‘women in general’, and guiltily enough, women that weren’t only Marie. Also, cigarettes were a big problem. I couldn’t understand why I was being ‘deprived of something that didn’t do anyone any harm’. After a period of grievance, the warden told me you’re put in prison so that you can be ‘deprived from your freedom’. After that, I realized how everything made sense and I thought of you: you’re the one who told me that ‘you ended up getting used to everything’ and that was true: now, instead of ‘waiting for Saturday’s to embrace Marie’s body’ I looked forward to my lawyer’s visits to look at ‘his curious ties’. To be honest, I couldn’t complain.Also, something curious happened to me the other day: ‘I looked at myself in my tin plate’, and it was weird how it ‘seemed to stay serious even when I tried to smile at it’ that was what made me realize that my voice was the one that had been ‘ringing on my ears’ and that ‘I’d been talking to myself’. That was when I looked at ‘the fading light’ in the sky and realized my life was fading as well… ‘there was no way out’ of prison, no way I could go back to my normal life and get rid of what’s sentenced to me. I now know that even though I can get used to everything, I really longed for my old life: ‘no one can imagine what the evenings at a prison are life.

Part 2 Chapter 3

2. What is Meursault’s first impression of the jury?  ' I just had one impression: I was in a tram and all these anonymous passengers on the opposite seat were scrutinizing the new arrival to find his peculiarities'. This quote suggests Mersault's detachment form the jury and how he believed it was unfair for them to be judging him as they were simply ‘anonymous passengers’ in a tram and didn’t know enough about him to judge him for such an important decision. Furthermore, it also shows how he is not so concerned about the jury but rather about the rest of his surroundings, ‘He was a rather pleasant-looking man, with a rather twisted grin on his face’, this is a description of a journalist, and such a detailed discriptio is not made about anyone at the jury, which is a rather bizarre approach since in such a serious case we’d expect the subject to pay close attention to the jury, since they have a life crucial decision to make at their hands.

3. Who are the eight witnesses who will testify at Meursault’s trial? It’s the warden and the caretaker from the home, old Thomas Pérez, Raymond, Masson, Salamano and Marie. Even though this list sounds rather favourable as most of the people in it are his friends, they all fail to give him any support as the prosecutor manages to turn all their statements against Mersault: Raymond admits to be friends with Mersault, to try to counter argue that he was emotionless (proved by his detachment towards his mother) but the prosecutor manages to make him look like Raymond’s ‘friend and accomplice’ in Raymond’s business of being a ‘procurer’ (pimp), just making Mersault’s situation worse and foreshadowing his death.