The Stranger: Journal Five

First off, part one of this book show's how Meursault seems to be indifferent about everything. He would not go in depth with what he thought or how he felt. He would go to work, drink coffee, smoke, sleep, and partake in sexual activities with Marie. When she asked him about marriage he was indifferent upon the thought. I can back this up by the quote, "That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to." (Page 41) By him saying this, it shows to the reader how he is indifferent about his personal relationship. On a side note, I was wondering to myself why she would stay with him. Why would she put herself through a relationship where she loves him, but he does not know what he truly wants and won't give a straight answer? To me, that would be a major red flag with the relationship. In part one there were a few minor characters that were introduced, as in, Marie, Raymond, the boss, the funeral man, the old man with his dog, the girlfriend of Raymond, and Masson. These people were talked about most. Anyhow, Meursault would notice people's physical characteristics through out part one, he would not make such harsh judgements towards people. He seemed grouchy, but he would not say anything, because that was the type of person he was. After he met Raymond, his thoughts and actions became different. He began to think more like Raymond. In part two he stopped drinking coffee, stopped smoking, his sexual life became non-existent due to him being in prison, he stopped noticing people's eyes. There were more people in part two who were talked about. The jury, the judge, the lawyers, the type-writer, the chaplain, some of the other men who were in prison, ect. The setting changed to his house to the prison. His thoughts changed to him actually being thoughtful and appreciating life and not wanting it to end. He thought about how he lived and what he wanted. His thoughts became in depth and he tried to realize that he could have had a better life. He had sudden realizations as in why his Maman had a fiance at the end of her life. Religion was also talked a lot in this part. I think this was to show how important religion is to people. How people use religion as a tool to feel safety, and that there is something better than life on Earth, that there is something to look forward to and not be scared of. I find it interesting how the chaplain says that the people he has seen have converted to God before there death, I find this to be kind of upsetting in a way, that they are either believing in God because they are scared adn do not want to die; but I also find it good that they are believing in something. I am not sure though.

(This may seem a bit jumbly, that is because, it is. My thoughts with this journal are a bit on and off but I hope I made a couple good points.)