Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Journal #1- The Stranger

 Salamano
Salamano is Meursault's neighbor who is known to have his dog around with at all times. The narrator describes him as having reddish scabs on his face and wispy yellow hair. I think that Camus is trying to demonstrate that you must live in the future and not the present Salamano. Through the chapters where Salamano is with his dog it is shown that he is always screaming at his dog and abusing him physically and verbally. Later Salamano is left alone because his dog probably died, he misses his companionship and saying how much he missed his dog. Salamano lived in the present because he would abuse his dog because of the temporary problems he had with him and wasn't thinking that someday his dog would someday die, he wasn't thinking of the future. And now that he is feeling hurt because of his loss he is trying to remember the all the memories they had together. He didn't appreciate what he had until it was gone.
Strange Little Woman
This strange little woman came to the cafe Celeste's and randomly sat down with Meursault. She is described as having jerky gestures and bright eyes and a little face. Through this woman I think Camus is trying to point out something in Meursault which is how he focuses his attention to the small details of the woman and doesn't really look at the big picture. I also thought it was interesting how Meurault says that she is peculiar if by the name of the book he is the stranger.
Marie
Marie is a lady that Meursault has a thing for and he thinks she does too. They eventually become boyfriend and girlfriend. Marie is described by Meursault a lot of the time when he notices her breasts. Marie wants to get married but Meursault repeatedly says that it doesn't matter. I think Camus uses Marie to show characteristics of Meursault. One of the characteristics is that he doesn't seem to make meaning of marriage showing that he is an existentialist. 

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