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.