Stranger Journal 1

Cultural Journal: After reading the first two chapters of the novel, I began to see that the French are quite easygoing and fun loving. I saw examples of this multiple times. In fact, Meursault took the death of Maman in stride, and the day after Maman's funeral he was, "wondering what I [Meursault] was going to do and I decided to go for a swim" (19). We can also see that the French are very social, they spend time together at various events, "Almost all the moviegoers spilled out of the neighborhood theaters into the street" (23). Despite whatever troubles the French people may encounter, whether it be as a nation, or as individuals, we can clearly see that they will maintain their fun-loving, easygoing personalities.

Journal 1: I feel like Meursault does not care about life. He seems to be very neutral, whatever the situation. For instance, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I dont know," to most people the first thought in their head after learning that their mother had died would not be when she died, it would be that she actually did die (3). This shows that Meursault does not have a wide range of emotions at all. The death of a family member is something that invokes emotional distress and since Meursault showed almost none we can jump to the conclusion that his range of emotions is very small. We can also see this on the other side of the emotional spectrum. Meursault rekindles a flame with Marie and he does not seem to put any emotion into it at all. He describes the physical parts of their relationship, "She had her leg pressed against mine. I was fondling her breasts. Toward the end of the show, I gave her a kiss..." (20). This shows that although Meursault is able to connect on a physical level, he is in no way capable of connecting emotionally. A life without emotions, good and bad, is a life that is worthless. Emotions are what make life, life. Meaursaults lack of emotions explain why he seems to have no interest in his life whatsoever.