Saturday, October 29, 2011

Meursault as Jesus

In one of the panel presentations on Friday, a group presented an article that draws parallels between Meursault's life and the life of Jesus. They also point out a quote from Camus where he says, "I have sometimes said, and always paradoxically, that I have tried to portray in this character [Meursault] the only Christ we deserved." I know that this is the author, himself, comparing the two, but I have trouble seeing Meursault's story as a reiteration of Jesus's.


I think that Jesus is a very archetypal character. I mean, the argument could be made that Gregor's story has parallels to the life of Jesus (they both face persecution while they are trying to help others, and eventually they meet their ends so that the people that they have connections to can go on with their lives). But, that doesn't mean that Gregor is some sort of Jesus.


All of the parallels in the article seem a little forced to me. I think that Camus could have very easily meant that, like Jesus, Meursault has some sort of higher knowledge (the acceptance of absurdism), and that is all. The fact that he claims that Meursault is the only Christ that we deserve may mean that since Camus believes that there is no meaning to life, we don't deserve someone who's entire message revolves around meaning in life and death. Another huge difference is that Meursault is never going out and actively trying to spread the message that absurdism is the gateway to enlightenment, or anything like that. He is just trying to live his life peacefully.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Part I of The Stranger

In some ways, the beginning of The Stranger reminded me of The Metamorphosis, because they are both lacking the level of emotion that would be expected in the situations described in the text. I don't know id the relationship between Meursault and his mother was good or bad, but the fact that he is more upset about the weather than the death of his mother and the practical way in which he approaches her death was pretty shocking to me.

Another similarity between Kafka and Camus's stories is that their respective protagonists feel very pressured by their jobs. When Gregor first wakes up, all he can do is stress about missing work; when Meursault has to go to his mother's funeral, he talks a lot about having to go to his boss and explain that it isn't his fault that his mother died and that the funeral is causing him to have a four day long weekend. Meursault almost talks about his mother's funeral as if it was an inconvenience to him.

There are also very distinct similarities to Hemingway's, The Sun Also Rises. Both Hemingway and Camus make the reader do a lot of work, trying to figure out all the details that aren't explicitly in the text, but are implied or suggested. Like Jake, Meursault seems a little detached from the rest of the world. He tells his narrates in a way that makes him seem like a sidekick in his own story.

Something that Jake does a lot and Meursault doesn't do at all, is think about the future. Jake is constantly thinking about the implications and consequences of his injury and how that effects his day to day life. Meursault never thinks about how what he is doing, or what is happening to him, will change or influence his future. When his mother dies, Meursault just accepts it and doesn't really talk about what that's going to do to his life. Also, when he's talking to Marie about marriage, he doesn't really care whether they get married or not, "That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said that is didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to" (Camus 41).

Although, I think that the most extreme and notable instance where Meursault clearly does not think through his actions at all is when he shoots the Arab at the end of chapter six. He never really offers any strong reason for shooting the man, he just does it. Camus's way of narrating this scene is both infuriating and fascinating. He makes it so hard to pick out a rational reason for Meursault's actions, but at the same time, I don't think that the story would be nearly as interesting if he had given a specific reason. I think that this chapter could really be used as a criticism of violence in general, and if it is ever really justified. It actually reminded me of a scene in a movie, which is fortunately on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2bj_baMPZE. In the movie, two men decide to kill a third, not because he had done anything wrong, or because they could benefit from it, but because they could. The lack of reason or sense for their actions isn't exactly the same as Meursault, but they both seem to question whether violence is seen or judged differently if it is given some sort of justification, and how convincing that justification is.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Initial Reactions to The Metamorphosis

When I first started reading The Metamorphosis, I wasn't sure if I would be able to take it seriously. Its such a bizarre concept, but the novel is written in such a serious tone. After the first sentence, I couldn't tell if Kafka was being serious or not, I could have very easily imagined the story turning out very differently than it did.

I think that by adding such a strange aspect to the story, it makes me look at everything else much more seriously. I think that the relationships and personalities that are present in Gregor's world stand out much more to me since I'm actively trying to not think about the fact that the main character is a gigantic cockroach.

Probably the thing that I find strangest about the writing style is how easily the story could be changed if a few words were changed in each sentence. The tone is very serious, but at the same time, it seems bland. I really don't know exactly how to describe the way that Kafka writes, it is definitely nothing like anything that I've written before, and I think that it would be very easy for another writer to try and pastiche Kafka, but totally ruin it. There's a balance between pure strangeness and dark humor in Kafka's writing. Reading The Metamorphosis almost felt like stepping into a piece of Escher's artwork (for example: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Escher's_Relativity.jpg or http://www.mcescher.com/Shopmain/ShopEU/facsprints-uk/data/1000/11%20Waterfall.jpg), there isn't really an up or down, right or wrong, and the harder you look, the less you understand and the more your head hurts.

Final Reflection on The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises was the first Hemingway novel that I've read so far, so the 'iceberg' style that the novel was written in was a little new to me. It was pretty easy for me to get through the sections, but I often found myself having to go back and reread chapters, and every time I did this, I would notice something new that I had glossed over before. In writing my response paper, I went back and reread a few scenes several times and was amazed at how much I noticed after going back.

When I started reading the novel, there were a lot of things that I didn't understand about the characters and the way that they interacted with each other. I actually really liked how Hemingway never goes out of his way to explain his characters, so the reader has to work to understand whats going on. I think that any attitude developed early on towards the characters can be encouraged by the happenings in the rest of the novel because of how much is left up to interpretation. Even the ending of the novel can be taken in two very different ways; it could be seen with optimism, or it could be viewed as Brett breaking Jake's heart again.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Cohn Revisited

This was just a passing thought regarding the behavior of Cohn in Spain.

Cohn seems to be really clueless towards social ques in Spain, which might just be the way he is, but I think that sometimes it's easy to forget how much alcohol the characters are drinking. This was definitely a factor in Paris, but in Spain, they seem to take it to a whole new level. There are several references to them drinking absinthe in Spain, which was never mentioned in Paris. ("I took a drink. It tasted of licorice and warmed all the way. I could feel it warming in my stomach." (Hemingway 162) "Bill got Mike started on something else than Cohn. The waiter brought the absinthe glasses." (Hemingway 170))

Most of the characters seem to handle alcohol well. But, I feel like it's worth pointing out that Cohn was described in the very first chapter of the book as a middle-weight. While in that passage the description was referring to boxing, I thought it was interesting that it could be considered applicable in other situations.

Brett and Jake

I think that it's very easy to dislike Brett as the novel progresses. Although Jake rarely blatantly criticizes her, he makes it very clear that he is frustrated with her. This subtle bias can easily be picked up and unquestioned by readers. Jake never seems to speculate on how things are from Brett's position; there are a few times when he mentions some details about her past in passing, but for the most part, he focuses on what she is doing in the present. The few things that we know about Brett's past, when removed from Jake's narrative, show that she is much more complicated character than she may initially appear to be.

I think that if this novel were written from Brett's point of view, we would see Brett with a similar level of sympathy that we have for Jake. Jake's injury from the war caused him to lose Brett, but the war also caused a huge loss in Brett's life, when her true love died. Her behavior in the novel my very well come directly from this loss, but since Jake is so infuriated by the fact that he can't be with Brett, he doesn't try and see the situation from her point of view.

The relationship between Brett and Jake is probably equally painful for both of them. But because we never get to see the relationship through Brett's eyes, it is easy to assume that all the problems in it come from her. Brett fell in love with a man who died, then when she fell in love with Jake, she found out that she would never be able to be with him. Jake is obviously hurt when he sees Brett with other men, but this probably hurts her too. Whenever she's with Jake and someone else in a group, she's probably hurting just as much as him because she knows that whoever she's with isn't someone that she loves. Early in the novel, there is a reference to them trying to work things out, but it ended badly, and they decided to not try again. She remains close friends with Jake, and is constantly reminded that they can never be together.