Stranger Journal 3

The title "The Stranger" is significant because it sums up Meursault. Dictionary.com defines a stranger as "a person who is not a member of the family, group, community, or the like, as a visitor or guest." That really defines Meursault because he truly is not a part of the community. He may conform and transform into a normal member of society when he is in the public's view, but when we hear his thoughts and analyze his actions we can clearly see that he is not what we would consider normal. We can see this when Marie is asking Meursault to marry her. Meursault responds to her proposal by saying, "it didn't make any difference" which is clearly not a response that a normal person in society would come up with (41). Marie recognizes this oddity and responds by calling Meursault "peculiar" (42). Clearly Meursault is a stranger in his own town.

When I think of the term "foreigner" I think of a tourist, I think of someone in an unfamiliar place, unaware of their surroundings, without a clue of what to do or how to act. The title "The Foreigner" also shows how Meursault is categorized in society. He is not one who does things for the same reasons as others. He may do the same actions, however he does not have the same reasons for his actions. In fact, we can assume that the sole purpose for many of his actions is simply to become apart of normal society. For example, he goes to Maman's funeral, he does not go to mourn as many would, he simply goes because he, I assume, feels obligated to go. This is not how a normal member of society would function. Many tourists or foreigners would likely find themselves going with the flow, or just trying to fit in. They would not know why they were doing what they were doing, they would do it just to appear normal, and that is precisely what Meursault is doing.