The Stranger: Mersault
In the Stranger, Albert Camus portrays Mersault, the books character, as aloof, detached, and unemotional. Hedoes not think much about events or their consequences, nor does he express much feeling in relationships or during emotional times. He displays an impassiveness throught the book in his reactions to the people and events described in the book. After his mothers' death he sheds no tears; seems to show no emotions. He displays limited feelings for his girlfriend, marie cardona, and shows no remorse at all for killing an Arab. His reactions to life and to people distance him from his emotions, positive or negative, and from intimate relationships with others, thus he is called thge ...
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enjoying a cup of coffee with milk during the vigil, and having a smoke with a caretaker at the nursing home in which his mother died. The following day, after his mother's funeral, he goes to the beach and meets a former colleague named Marie Cardona. They swim, go to a movie, and then spent the night together, Later in their relationship, Marie asks Mersault if he wants to marry her. He responds that it doesn't matter to him, and if she wants to get married, he would agree. She then asks him if he loves her. To that question he responds that he probably doesn't, and explains that marriage really isn't such a serious thing and doesn't require love. This reaction is fairly typical of Mersault as portrayed in the book. He appears to be casual and indifferent about life events. Nothing seems to be very significant to him.
Later on in the book, after ha kills the Arab, not once does he show ant remorse or guilt for what he did. Did he really feel nothing? Camus seems to ...
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The Stranger: Mersault. (2004, December 26). Retrieved May 20, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Stranger-Mersault/19548
"The Stranger: Mersault." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Dec. 2004. Web. 20 May. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Stranger-Mersault/19548>
"The Stranger: Mersault." Essayworld.com. December 26, 2004. Accessed May 20, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Stranger-Mersault/19548.
"The Stranger: Mersault." Essayworld.com. December 26, 2004. Accessed May 20, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Stranger-Mersault/19548.
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