![]() I think you can probably tell by now, but I kind of hate Meursault. I find his indifference obnoxious and almost grotesque. It seems almost too easy to hate Meursault. In Part 2 it becomes apparent that this hatred for Meursault is a trap that Camus has set for his readers and that I have fallen willingly into it. I almost started to feel guilty for being grossed out by Meursault when I read the conversation between him and his lawyer after he is taken to prison for killing the Arab man. I'm so rattled as to why he killed the man btw, and the weird shot pattern makes zero sense to me. At this point I'm questioning whether some of these pieces of the puzzle are intentionally not supposed to make sense. But anyways, Meursault's lawyer is disgusted by Meursault's statement that he probably did love his mother but "that didn't mean anything". The lawyer feels that Meursault's insensitivity is barbaric, but Meursault states "I had the urge to reassure the lawyer that I was just like everybody else". This freaks me out because maybe the reason the lawyer feels so disgusted with Meursault is because he represents a part of human consciousness that is unattached from human emotion that we all just push under the surface because it is too uncomfortable to confront. I feel that Camus makes us hate Meursault just to make this point. For a minute I don't hate Meursault because I understand that the reason he says that his love doesn't make a difference is because his mother still died and she would have no matter how much he loved her. I understood this, but then he just goes back to being super rude and annoying in prison. He literally feels no regret whatsoever for killing an innocent man, in which he shot once and then four more times after that. This murder has signs of overkill which is the magistrate's main concern. As far as I can tell this might represent Meursault's suppressed emotion and how he let it go on an innocent. Yeah so he basically says that all he cares about is cigarettes, sex and swimming, which I basically knew already, but some how reading it coming from him makes it ten times worse. Also it's pretty clear that Meursault is only using Marie for sex and company. He's just an asshole ugh. There also is this strange part where the magistrate waves a crucifix at him because he believes Meursault is the anitchrist (this part was actually pretty funny). This is the first time that Meursault is seen as a threat to a way of life. He is an atheist and doesn't even try to mimic human emotion and his indifference scares the magistrate. This is just another example of the absurdities that Camus seems to love. The ultimate example of absurdity is the newspaper article Meursault. The rich son didn't need to die, but he did and it doesn't matter that his family loved him because they still killed him. Also I guess Meursault starts babbling to himslef in his cell? Which I guess isn't that weird for this dude, but I don't know he never seemed to me as the bat shit crazy kind of guy, just really bizarre. I guess that's kind of the irony of Meursault, the further into the rabbit hole, the more clearly he understands himself and the more vividly I begin to understand him. He understands the full weight of his previous assertion that there truly is no way out. No way out of his cell and no way out of life, but death. Death is just. OMG HE HAS SEX WITH MARIE AGAIN (and Salamano's dog dies) (also Raymond slaps his girl)(again)5/19/2015
![]() Ok so in the beginning I just took Meursault's indifference as a natural reaction to his mother's death, like I get that, some people just shut down. But now I'm honestly starting to think that this dude is just naturally a prick. I mean it might just be me, but I HATE when people don't have opinions. It drives me crazy when people think that things don't apply to them so they just choose not to care because they're self absorbed. I WISH this guy was self absorbed because then at least he would be absorbed in something, anything, please! One freaking day after his mother's funeral and he decides to hit up the ladies at the beach like are you kidding. Ok so it was only one lady, Marie Cardona, but still....rude. I would understand if he just wanted someone to talk to, to maybe get his mind of his dead mother, but I mean it seems like he just out right forgot her existence seeing that he took this Marie character right to the bedroom in a matter of less than 24 hours. It seems rather insensitive if ask me, but I guess you can't be insensitive about something unless you care and Meuesault is indifferent about e v e r y t h i n g. It doesn't really surprise me thought that he slept with her so fast because this just furthers the idea that he can't understand anything that isn't physical. He is literally incapable of feeling anything that isn't physical, but it is unsure at this point if this is intentional or not. "I was rather keen on her in those days and I fancy she liked me, too. But she was with us such a short time that nothing came of it"(Camus 23) This is actually all of the description that Meursault provides about Marie and he leaves out her physical appearance completely which just confirms his indifference towards people. It's ironic that he says nothing came of their previous relationship because it was too short of a period of time when this entire hook up consists of swimming on a raft for literally 30 minutes and then watching a stupid movie. It seems his only goal was to sleep with her anyways which is shallow and I hate him LOL. Meursault's typical Sunday consists of him creepily watching people from his balcony and indifferently observing their separate lives. I guess this is to show how everyone just trucks through their own lives and the only person to acknowledge the existence of other problems is Meursault so I do have to hand it to him for that. Even Marie, didn't even care that Meursault's mom's funeral was a day ago because she was more concerned with getting in his pants to be frank. I guess the amazing thing about Meursault's indifference is, although it's annoying as hell, it's fair and unbiased. He never judges anyone, not even Raymond, who by my book definitely needs some judging in his life (along with a bath in holy water and a slap in the face with the bible) It seems that Raymond and Meursalt are almost similar in their lack of emotion towards morals, but one fact separates them; Merusalt chooses to ignore both moral and immoral tendencies whereas Raymond is simply immoral. I had to look it up, but Google told me that they are in fact foil characters which is interesting seeing they are remarkably similar. I don't know, I guess I'm starting to get a feel for Camus' philosophy about the world and it seems kind of depressing to me. Does he really think that indifference is the way to be? I'm not sure if I agree with that. I'm not sure I want to believe the universe is indifferent. |
Jess BirchlerMy mix tape drops in July. If you like my blog about my homeboy Meursault you should check out my fire rhymes. www.doperhymes.com ArchivesCategories |