The Stranger

I read The Stranger as a class assignment with a group of fellow classmates. We chose The Stranger from a selection of the AP works of literature. To be honest I wasn't really sure I would enjoy this book. The description given to me was seemed very heartless and dispassionate. Not the type of book I would see myself pick up as entertainment. The first couple chapters reminded me of this boringness I had thought existed from the turn of the first page.
I soon found myself caught up in Meursault's, the protagonist, dull and emotionless world. After going to his mother's funeral and not showing one sign of misfortune his world started to become filled with bad events turning even worst when his violent human nature had become more present with each new page. This Algerian Frenchman gets caught up in a meaningless relationship in which he doesn't give a hoot if he gets married or not; become aware of an abusive relationship involving a friend who will later laugh about the hits and blows to his girlfriend; and will in the end find himself in jail after killing a man simply for the hell of it.
Meursault seemed to make the killing just another thing. To me murders aren't just another thing. Every series of unfortunate events seems to roll of his back and he moved on like nothing ever happened. Sometime I wondered if he made the things happen....? Never the less this book as confusing from the start and never seemed to "tie the knots".
The boringness yet still vaguely interesting flow of Albert Camus's The Stranger would not be one of my favorites. But seeing another world through the eyes of a killer does caught your attention for 20 or so pages while making you eyes close for the next 30. Even though this book kept me entertained in and out till the end I would say it wasn't all book motivated. After all this was a class assignment.


Caroline Cann
Sophomore
Landrum High School

Albert Camus did a good job doing about two things in this book; capturing you and confusing you. The Stranger is one of those works that for a minute excites you and then for the next 20 pages makes you yawn. Meursault, the main character, is a young Algerian Frenchman man who leads an ordinary, dull life. When he receives news of his mother's sudden death, he goes to the funeral and sheds not one tear. When he returns he goes on with his life like it never happened.
The way he is emotionless really depresses you and darkens the mood of the book, almost to where it hurts to go on reading every next misfortune. The book really shows you how upside down your life can get, and how fast it can really happen. It's easy to relate to if you don't care about your mother and if you would kill a man for no reason. But I speak for most of us when I say that I'm sure this isn't the case.
Overall, this book isn't horrible; it's just not my favorite. In my opinion it goes where no other book goes, to the soul of a heartless person and his random act of murder. Another problem is that while reading this book and witnessing his crime, you want not to hate him... and that scares me that I could ever side with a killer. This book challenges the ordinary plot of most books and opens up new ideas, even if they're not positive. Even though it's a great work of literature, I can't make myself like it.


Emily Reeder
Sophomore
Landrum High School
Landrum, SC

In the book The Stranger, the main character Muersault has no feelings for the world around him. I really did not like this book as much as others because I did not like his attitude. When his mother died he acted like he did not care and regretted to go to the funeral that was held for her. When he gets back into town, his girlfriend ask him if he loves her and he says yes then he says I am not sure all the way about that. He just thinks that love is a name for something and does not believe it is there for him.

During the book there is violence. For example, there is a man that owns a dog and walks him past the restaurant, that Muersault eats at and when the dog walks too fast for the man or too slow then he curses and beats the dog. There is a guy that beats his girlfriend and does not even think twice about beating her. He says that she deserves it and continues repeating that. At the middle of the book which would be the climax, Muersault murders a Arab man and gets caught for it. Muersault thinks that he did not commit a crime for what he did because he has no feelings.

Even though I did not like to read this book because of the character's attitude for life, you might like it. I think you should be happy with your life and the things around you.


Ben Pace
Landrum High School
Landrum, SC

This book is required reading in many high schools - I'm grateful that I'm a long-time out of high school, and nobody required me to read or even understand this short and depressing novel.

The story is about a man (early thirties?) named Meursault. In the beginning, he finds out that his mother has died. He isn't sure exactly what day she died, or even how old she was and it doesn't seem to matter much to him. He confesses that he wasn't sure if he loved his mother and shows no appropriate emotions at her funeral. Soon after he admits that, he's not so sure he loves his girlfriend either. He thinks that at one time or another, all normal people wish that their loved ones were dead. He tells a friend that it is his nature to let his physical needs get in the way of his feelings. What feelings? Then claims that he is like everybody else.?

Near the end of the story he declares that he has never been able to truly feel remorse for anything. It is only in facing his own demise that he displays any emotion.

Okay, so Albert Camus is trying to communicate his belief that there is no absolute truth, that everything is relative and that reality is only found in those things that we experience physically. I can buy into everything is relative theory, but without emotions, feelings and spirituality, is there any such thing as physical reality?

I was required to read this novel in my English class and I am ever so glad that I had too. This story works on so many levels that most people will find one aspect of the story to love. Each of the characters is original and intriguing and makes you think. It is an easy read at only 144 pages but you will finish it wishing that there were more. I highly recommend reading Albert Camus's The Stranger because it is a thought provoking book that will satisfy even the causal reader.