The Stranger takes us through the simple yet confusing life of the main character Meursault. The book begins with the death of his mother in which he reacts quite oddly- barely at all. In fact during the funeral his internal thoughts resemble that of a childs, he’s bored and annoyed at the crying people. He also complains about the heat beating down on him, which is easily overlooked compared to the way he is reacting to the whole situation. However, if we pay close attention, Meursault complaining about the heat comes up at important times. Throughout the whole book, I think we can all agree how frustrated we were with the way Meursault has absolutely no care and doesn’t seem to react or have emotional attachment to anything. He endures the death of his mom, kills a man, goes through a long and confusing trial, and is sentenced to death for it. All of these events are quite significant and are bound to invoke a reaction in the average person. However, Meursault doesn’t seem to lift a finger. The one thing that is consistent through all these events is Meursault’s depiction and annoyance of the antagonizing heat, and his headaches.
It seems as though, as opposed to feeling anxious or a flurry of emotion in difficult situations, Meursault’s body overheats as a reaction. It is clear in the book that Meursault isn’t aware that this is the case, but we can see that reflected in each step in his life. However, since Meursault constantly doesn’t show any emotions, at the end of the book we can see that it is finally too much for him when he lashes out at the priest? (there are so many names for him). This is a side to Meursault that we have not seen, he gets so fired up the priest leaves scared. It doesn’t become clear to us in the end why Meursault is the way he is or if he is even capable of feeling his emotions. Was he always this way? Or was this a result of his mother’s death?
It's so interesting to me how the central character of the book is both able and unable to feel emotions at the same time. An example is how he completely "remodels" his apartment after Maman goes to the nursing home. He doesn't even reflect on why he moved everything to his bedroom, and it cannot be that much more practical. So he must be capable of feeling emotions even if its represented in the strangest way possible.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same things, and maybe he has become unable to express emotions through words and actions, so his body overheats (I'm not sure if this makes sense). Also, to me I felt like he gradually was losing awareness of his own feelings and his mother's death kind of tied the knot.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Absolutely, Meursault seems to experience emotions as sensations. It's honestly, pretty normal to assume that when you get upset or anxious, you might feel warmer or sweaty and you might experience headaches. But for Meursault, he typically doesn't express the emotion, only the physical sensations. It's interesting because it highlights how in tune he is with his body, but not his emotions.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that the consistency of heat in these crucial moments is something that is present throughout the novel. I think that's a pretty interesting point, and the connection it has with him as a character is something that shouldn't be overlooked.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the heat seems like a representation of his emotions. The final scene with the priest kind of felt like all the emotions he was suppressing coming out all at once. It was really shocking when it happened. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank GOD someone else has noticed this. It's been nagging me since the first day we read this book. It's always about how the sun is beating down on him or how the heat is creating an annoyance. There is definitely a connection between heat and stress for him, and he even notes it himself right before shooting the Arab, saying the sun was the same as the day they'd buried Maman.
ReplyDeleteIn my class we talked about heat and explored the idea of the heat or blame on the sun being a bodily reaction to stressful situations. To me this makes sense due to Meursault's lack of understanding of emotion. We know that when we get embarrassed or stressed we begin to sweat and our body gets hot, but Meursault has trouble with expressing or maybe even having emotions, so he just attributes this to other things that make him hot, like the sun.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think it is very interesting how one of the smaller details of the story can actually be very significant. In this case, it would be Mersault overheating. I like that we still have some way of gauging his reactions if we look close enough. I think your observation of Mersault reacting almost childlike is also really interesting and is helpful in understanding his emotional reactions.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though Meursault doesn't really feel a lot of emotions, but I think his emotions kind of present themselves as physical feelings, which is easier for him to understand. Meursault gets hot or gets a headache when something intense is happening, an event that many other people would be feeling strong emotions toward. Meursault is a really interesting character and I also wonder how he was before his mother's death. I think the book hints at his change starting around his mother's sickness rather than her death.
ReplyDelete