The Stranger (blog)

In the first discussion it was kind of like a practice round and opinions were not as in depth and explained throughly but Ashley shared her opinion about the meaning of the book and the meaning of the title. “The Stranger” she commented that it was about how Monsieur Meursault did not have a close relationship with his mother and how that makes him a stranger. Many students agreed with her opinion saying that it didn’t seem like he had a relationship with his mother and that the reason why he killed the Arab was because of the inner feelings of anger he had for the lost of his mother . I would have to say that I disagree with this. Although some of the opinions given about this subject in the first discussion was not really referred back to quotes Ronald and Shawn disagreed as well commenting that “Meursault was a stranger to society and it has nothing to do with his mom” and “the book doesn’t mention relationship with his mom it is mostly because of the way the character ways of living irrationally.” completely agree with Ronald and Shawn’s input. I don’t think that “The Stranger” is about the lost of a mother and how it leads to murder. Doing further research on Albert Camus and the book itself I learned that it is based on the beliefs of existentialism which many students touched upon explaining that humans define their own reality and how existentialism is the opposite of rationalism and it emphasis importance of freedom of choice and individual existence. Monsieur’s meursaults peculiar personality throughout the book and how he reacts and his look to life and inability to analyze his actions makes him a stranger to society not a stranger to his mother. “To be honest, I knew that there was no difference between dying at their years old and dying at seventy because, naturally, in cases, other men and women will live on, for thousands of years at that.... It was still I who was dying, whether it was today or twenty years from now.” (pg 160) Meursault in this quote states that he doesn’t feel like he can escape death and that no matter what it is going to happen. It also shows his existentialistic look toward life.

Myth of Sisyphus

In Camus’s essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus introduces the possibility that life is meaningless. Camus’s interpretation of the myth reflects of the idea of absurdity and how giving meaning to life in ways such as socially of religiously, is inevitably pointless because in the end death is terminal. Camus’s suggests that happiness arises from absurdity when one learns and accepts death. Although Sisyphus’s futile punishment is meant to be eternal and torturous Camus’s is able to help readers view Sisyphus as a happy man because he was able to come to terms with his punishment.
I agree with Angela’s thesis statement. I think it’s very true that Camus’s uses imagery of the rock as suffering. I don’t really agree on the point that she was getting at on how Camus’s tries to show that suffering must be felt in order to feel happiness because I feel that he was getting more at the fact that death must be accepted as an “end all” type of thing. Happiness is achieved when life is accepted to have no meaning because living no matter what kind of life is led the fate of life is death. Although I don’t agree on how Angela chose the word “suffering” I understand at what she was trying to say because she does a great job at backing up her thesis.
I was not in class for the class discussion section but things that might have been talked about would probably be quotes on how Sisyphus’s punishment of rolling a rock up a mountain can be directly related to absurdity. “One sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone . . . at the very end of his long effort . . . purpose is achieved…then Sisyphus’s watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world” (2) In this quote the stone that Sisyphus is pushing symbolizes how people struggle through life to find meaning. The stones heaviness and the burden it takes to push it up a huge mountain shows how hard and troubling it is to find meaning. All the end of trying so hard to push the rock up the mountain as soon as it reaches the top the rock just falls back down. The rock falling back down is symbolizing how finding meaning to life is pointless just as how rolling a rock up a mountain is pointless because in the end the rock just falls again, death is final. Sisyphus finds his happiness in acceptance of his situation “One must imagine Sisyphus as happy” (5). He accepted his fate because he made himself the master of his fate “His fate belongs to him. His rock is his thing” (4). By taking death into prospective and accepting his punishment he eliminates the suffering and torture that comes with his punishment. “The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory” (3) In this quote the crown symbolizes accomplishment. It is clear that the reason for his punishment was a result of his wrong-doings. Another reason for his punishment, when taken into his own view and put into his own mindset can be set as an accomplishment.