The Stranger

Read from Wednesday, April 6th to Thursday, April 7th

The Stranger, by Albert Camus.  The famous work by the French existentialist has been on my list for awhile.  It is a short story divided up into two distinct parts.  The first part tells the day to day life of Mersault, a Frenchman living in Algiers in 1942.  He is notified by the nursing home that his mother has died, and he travels to the country to attend her funeral.  He doesn't show any of the typical emotions however; declining to view the body, never crying, and seemingly indifferent.  Once back in the city, he strikes up a romantic, sexual relationship the next day with Marie, an old co-worker.  He befriends his neighbor Raymond, and he agrees to help him get back at a girl who was cheating on him.  Mersault wrote a letter to the girl, trying to get her to come back to Raymond, and when she did, Raymond beat her up.  Mersault even testified that the girl was cheating on Raymond, and he was only let off with a warning.  Mersault, Raymond and Marie go to a beach one day, and they notice that the girl's brother, an Arab, and some of his friends are tailing them.  There is a fight on the beach, and Raymond is cut with a knife.  He pulls out a gun, but Mersault restrains him and takes the gun away from him.  They go back to the beach house, but then Mersault leaves by himself and wanders along the beach, eventually coming upon the Arab.  The sun is hot, and when the Arab pulls his knife Mersault shoots him five times.

The second part describes Mersault in jail.  His attitude is strange and it mystifies many people around him.  He is not repentant for the action, claiming that his physical impulses triggered the reaction.  He refuses to believe in God or ask forgiveness.  He is appointed a lawyer from the state.  Mersault's detached demeanor makes jail tolerable, and he spends time sleeping and counting his things back home.  Marie visits him once or twice, and he misses the sex.  The trial begins, and the prosecutor focuses on Mersault's actions at his mom's funeral, and his indifference to her death.  He claims Mersault is a soulless monster, focusing on his whole life rather than just that murder.  Mersault's lawyer is not as effective, and he is found guilty.  However, although he is assured the sentence would be light, Mersault is sentenced to a public beheading.  Mersault is shocked, and he works his way through his emotions and thoughts of the world in a famous discourse on the philosophy behind the book.  It is more of the Absurd of the world.  The chance indifference of the time of day, the country he is in, the physical surroundings.  The world is indifferent to him, and since he is likewise indifferent, it is his own best friend.  A chaplain comes and tries to get him to accept God, but he refuses, in a final outburst where he comes to terms with his execution.  The universe doesn't care, and his one last wish would be for lots of people to turn out at the guillotine. 

It was a quick novella, and a simple story that Camus uses to brilliantly expound his views in the last thirty pages or so.  Easy to read, with quick sentences, Camus does not bore the reader with complex philosophy.  Instead he lets the story and the character show through their actions what is going on.  I enjoyed it, and would like to check out some Sartre soon as well. Three and a half out of five stars.