Gloria

Chapter 1 1. What does the reference to "a soldier" tell you about the time period of the story? 2. After Meursault arranged for his mother to live in a nursing home, why did he visit her so infrequently? 3. Why was it odd that Madam Meursault desired a religious burial? 4. In this context, an open casket to view the body is the norm, however, Meursault does not want to see it. Suggests reasons for why he would respond in this way. Is this normal behaviour? 5. Where is the caretaker from? His age? 6. What is the purpose of holding a vigil? How long does it last? 7. Describe Thomas Perez’s relationship with Maman. Provide a relevant quote. 8. Describe the journey to the church. How long did it take? How was the casket transported? Use a quote in your answer. 9. List Mersault’s references to sun and light (include page number). Camus is trying to establish that Mersault has very limited emotions, he barely describes his feelings, he only describes the things which is happening around him; stating the obvious. He is very observant about the details around him for example, he noticed the way the caretaker was describing the other inmates as "they" or "the other" and "the old people", which makes me wonder since he barely cares about anything. Also to show how Mersault is very emotionless towards his mother's death, he said "it's not my fault" when he wanted 2 days off of work. "it's not my fault", any normal human being would not have that kind of an reaction, he doesn't take any responsibility for his mother whatsoever. In a way he is very irresponsible. Maybe Camus is trying to suggest that Mersault is very immature, that he doesn't know how to distinguish between what he is supposed to care for and not, or maybe just to prove that mersault is not like an ordinary man. Normally when i fall asleep, is when i have minimum care for what is happening around me during that time. I am tired and bored, especially in a very comfortable situation for example very warm in a cold weather, or very cool in a hot weather, in the sun. It helps me connect with Mersault in a way that i could feel how he doesn't really care about anything around him, just him and all he wants at that moment is to be comfortable and satisfy himself form falling asleep. From this quote we learn that he thought the whole journey was a torturous experience, he didn't want to go visit his mother, it was against he's own will; but he had to go only because he was the son of the deceased mother, as well as the woman's only relative. He was tired and bored, and he wanted to go to bed and reward himself for sleeping 12 hours. He is happy that he could finally go home and is done with his "job". By this we can learn again that he has minimum emotions towards his mothers death as well as to an extend, really selfish. He probably thought ""It wasn't even his fault", why did he have to go through all that torture? It was a complete waste of time." I would tell him that he had to move on with his/hers life, even if it is truly heartbreaking and if he/she wanted to talk to someone I would be there for them. Also don’t give up on their own lives, in fact to treasure what they have now cause you never know what is going to happen. If he/she came back to school with a lack of acknowledgment, I would think that he/she was pretending not too care, or is way too coldblooded. If in that case I would also avoid talking to him/her about the tragedy that happened. The language used in both chapters is all very simple, straight forward and to the point. There isn’t much emotion showed in both chapters, or anywhere else in the book. This shows no matter what the event of mersault’s life is, there is always a lack of concern of emotions. He is only observant of things happening around him, but he doesn’t show much concern for emotions. “So I turned over to find the salty smell of Marie’s hair in the bolster and I slept till ten.” Here, it proves that meursault missed Marie, and was trying to find that salty smell of hers to linger around so it would seem like Marie was still here with him.
 * Extension questions**
 * 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?**
 * 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?**
 * 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?**
 * Chapter 2**
 * 1. Who does Meursault meet the day after his mother is buried?**
 * 2. On page 21, what hint is the reader given as to where Meursault lives?**
 * 3. Describe Meursault’s Sunday routine? What does this demonstrate about his character/personality? Use quotes in your answer.**
 * 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?**
 * 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.**
 * 6. Give some examples of Camus’ use of imagery. Note how this is used in place of Meursault’s emotions.**
 * 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.**

My mother is around 45, since he barley cares about what others think about him as well as his mothers age, he only concerns about himself therefore he barely even cares to give his mother’s age a thought. Since he is already out of the normal social protocol with his absurd personality, it only makes sense that his actions do not follow the normal protocols. It appears to the readers that he has minimum concern about any kind of feelings of people around him. He doesn’t even care enough to give thoughts to things, he only speaks exactly what comes to his mind. again, he doesn’t //care//, he doesn’t care if he salamano treats is dog bad, he doesn’t care if the dog is being harmed. Because he doesn’t have the sense of sympathy that everyone else has, he doesn’t have negative emotions toward the way salamano trests his dog. It’s as if it’s “none of his business”. Today Raymond sinte invited me over to his place to have some black pudding and wine. I figured that would save me from cooking for myself so I accepted, although I was a little held back by the fact that I do not really know him, but oh well, we’re neighbors right? He told me about the story of his ex-girlfriend and how he thought she was cheating on him by noticing how she would never have enough money and the 2 bracelets that he never knew about. But how could he be so sure? Maybe she bought the 2 bracelets by herself has a gift, or maybe her mum gave them to her? He never even asked. That’s ridiculous that he hit her, a man should never hit a women for whatever reason. And he still told me that he didn’t think he had punish her enough. What is his man thinking? He even wanted me to write a letter so that he could lure his ex-girlfriend over and humiliate her once again. Maybe coming was a wrong idea. Today Raymond sinte invited me over to his place to have some black pudding and wine. He told me about the story of his ex lover, the sister of whom he had beaten today. He thinks she was cheating on him, was he? There were indeed some proofs that she had been cheating on him. It didn’t seem to me that there was any other reasons to proof why she had had the 2 bracelets that Raymond didn’t know about. Yeah, I guess she did cheat on him. Nothing appears to me that there could be any other option. Then Raymond told me that he didn’t think he had punish her enough and wanted me to write a letter for him in order to revenge. I didn’t mind writing it, but I’ve had a little too much wine. Then Raymond asked me if I would mind writing it right away, well sure I wouldn’t mind, so I told him “no”. the letter wasn’t that hard to write, I guess it’s just Raymond’s lack of education which made him unable to write the letter. So I helped him. Later I read it to him, he was very pleased with it. The silence made me want to go home, so I told him “it’s late”, he shook my hand and told me that I was his mate. My reaction would be judging Raymond, from my point of view. I would have concern for the girl, as well as the whole incident. all I would be talking about would be affected by my own emotions, how I would react to things and how I thought wouldn’t not benefit the situation, but meurasult does not have any concerns for the girl, or the situation. He stands there in the middle listening to Raymond and agreeing to whatever he says since meursualt knows he doesn’t know anything for sure. He also doesn’t want to judge because he couldn’t be bothered, knowing that would cause a new unwanted discussion.
 * Chapter 3**
 * 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.**
 * How does this reflect his outlook in the text thus far? Keep this quote in mind - it will appear later in the book...**
 * Meursault displays a moment of spontaneity when he jumps on the truck following Emmanuel's suggestion. How might this add to his characterization?**
 * Normally meursault is really relaxed, since he barley cares about anything, nothing seems to really surprise him. He doesn’t have much excitement in his life, the moment of spontaneity could possibly add a bit of excitement to his life.**
 * 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 questions**

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. “Because I was tired and also because we hadn’t opened the shutters, the bright morning sunshine hit me like a slap in the face” right at the beginning of the day Mersault had already begun to be in a bad mood, “a slap in the face” that is actually quite hard language to describe the sunshine, it seems like he felt insulted in a way. “I was rather disgusted” when mersault saw marie laughing at Raymond, he said the above quote. He was probably jealous of Raymond in a way as he never judges other people, but this time an exception. “hi there old man,” to me and addressed marie as “miss” again, mersault mentioned this part without any specific emotion, but we could see he was rather uncomfortable with the whole situation. He was in a fairly bad mood altogether.

2. Give detail of Meursault's physical state leading up to the shooting. “the sun was shining almost vertically onto the sand and the glare from the sea was unbearable” since the weather effects mersault so much, the glare would have been a big factor which triggered his annoyance, thus leading him to misjudge things. “it was hard to breathe in the dry heat rising up from the ground.” When one has difficulty breathing, it is obvious that it would cause one to have frustrated feelings, he would have had been dying for some cool refreshing water, hence the fact that he couldn’t help himself but to go towards the spring. “I wasn’t thinking about anything because the sun beating down on my bare hard was making me feel sleepy”, mersault wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t because they were about to be encountering the Arabs, which again, might lead to his discomfort. “it annoyed me to have to explain things to them”, mersault was not a troublesome person, he didn’t not like dealing with things that had much complications, therefore it really bothered mersault and made him wants to run from the trouble which were happening in the house, which naturally lead him to go for the springs. Also when Raymond left off from the house and when mersault and him encountered the arabs at the spring, mersault said “if the other one intervenes, or if he draws his knife, I’ll let him have it.”, the truth was, the arab indeed drew his knife, therefore, mersualt had to shoot him. “unable to face the effort of climbing the wooden staircase and having to confront the women again.”, again, this quote suggested that he didn’t want to go back to the women, and climb up this stairs, which lead him to wondering around the beach, which ended up at the spring. “I could feel my forehead swelling up under the sun.” “I set my teeth, closed my fists in my trouser pockets and tensed my whole body un defiance of the sun”, mersault was tense due to the bad weather, his felt his head swelling, it wasn’t pleasant, he wasn’t able to think properly, he just had to release his frustrations, therefore he shot the arab.

Part 2 – chapter 1 Part one details Meursault as honest to himself, apathetic and nonjudgemental (think back to his response to Salamando's dog). In part two, Meursault is an object who is being judged by society. Interestingly, the readers do not see what happened directly after Meursault shot the Arab - the first person narrative allows for the novel to cut straight to him being questioned.

Describe the significance of the Religious imagery throughout the chapter. The significance of religious imagery is to provide a contrast for the readers of how the normal “social protocol” beliefs deeply in god and how Mersault is just simply different than the others. Because mersault is an absurdist, he doesn not believe in god, in fact, anything in life. An absurdist beliefs that “life is meaningless”, with that contrasting with the magistrate’s beliefs, it emphasizes on how Mersault is in a way very lack of emotions. Also the fact that in the general trend of the public during when the book was written, “weird” was not very well accepted, everyone had to be the same as one another, and the fact that mersault was so different, the fact he never believed in god, had no certain motif for killing the arab, also emphazied on how strange and absurd he was.

Part one details Meursault as honest to himself, apathetic and nonjudgemental (think back to his response to Salamando's dog). In part two, Meursault is an object who is being judged by society. Interestingly, the readers do not see what happened directly after Meursault shot the Arab - the first person narrative allows for the novel to cut straight to him being questioned. Describe the significance of the Religious imagery throughout the chapter.
 * Part 2 – chapter 1**

The significance of religious imagery is to provide a contrast for the readers of how the normal “social protocol” beliefs deeply in god and how Mersault is just simply different than the others. Because mersault is an absurdist, he doesn not believe in god, in fact, anything in life. An absurdist beliefs that “life is meaningless”, with that contrasting with the magistrate’s beliefs, it emphasizes on how Mersault is in a way very lack of emotions. Also the fact that in the general trend of the public during when the book was written, “weird” was not very well accepted, everyone had to be the same as one another, and the fact that mersault was so different, the fact he never believed in god, had no certain motif for killing the arab, also emphazied on how strange and absurd he was.

Pretend you are Meursault and write a letter to your mother from prison (300 words).
 * Part 2 chapter 2**

Dear mother:

I don’t know how long it’s been since I am in jail, someone told me five months, not that it actually matters anyway. Time doesn’t matter to me; it never did even when I was in jail, plus I never really understood it anyways. Life in here is just simple, so simple, the sun rises, then sets, then I go to sleep again. Although at the beginning I didn’t sleep well. But now I’m well used to it. It’s just that I had extra time that I had to kill between sunrise and sunset.

There were a new paper article next to my bunk; I’ve been reading that over and over again, it talked about some Czechoslovakians getting rich then going back to his home town and killed his wife and sister, but they killed him first. I guess they deserved it; he shouldn’t have played around in the first place. I miss Marie, I really do. I want her like I’ve never wanted her before. There are no women in prison, but I guess that’s just part of the punishment. But I still do miss marie, a lot in fact. She came to visit me, but I felt, as I didn’t know what to speak to her about. I didn’t feel like speaking. There were too many noise going around it annoyed me. I just looked at her, and she kept smiling at me. She looked beautiful, as always. They also took away my cigarettes. I asked for them back but they said they weren’t allowed. They were only cigarettes, why would they not let me smoke my cigarettes? I had to break bits of wood and sucked those. I felt so sick. But then I thought, it was just a part of those punishments of being in prison.

Their saying I never cared about you mother, that I smoked in front of your coffin and i didn’t want to see you. I also don't know why I didn’t want to see you, I guess I wasn’t as they say "ashamed" in anyway. Nobody here really understands me. Have you ever understood me mother? Was I in anyway peculiar to you mother? I guess I couldn’t look at you, because I didn’t think that would make a difference. I would have much rather looked at you when you were alive. What was the point of seeing you dead? Would you understand me mother? Nobody understands me here. I miss you mother. I hope I could get out soon, I want the see the sun again. Love, Mersault.


 * Part 2 chapter 3**

2. What is Meursault’s first impression of the jury? Mersaults first impression on the jury was that he was in a tram and all those jury were the anonymous passengers sitting across to him.

3. Who are the eight witnesses who will testify at Meursault’s trial? 1. marie 2. masson 3. the care taker 4. Raymond 5. Salamano 6. Celeste 7. Thomas Perez 8. The warden