The Stranger

Albert Camus' The Stranger, is told by narrarator, Meursault . Our speaker seems to be a person detached from feelings, he shows no emotion. Neither the external world in which Meursault lives nor the internal world of his thoughts and attitudes possesses any rational order. He doesn't have reasons for doing half of the things he does. For these reasons I believe Meursault is determined, but doesn't know it.

Our protagonist and narrarator, Meursault is completely distant from his surroundings. Significant emotional events do not even seem to effect him as they would for most people. They don't even make a dent. He has no sentiment. His mothers death, a marriage proposal, killing a man and going to trial, all these things would significantly effect mostly anyone, except for Meursault. This, in turn makes our protagonist an outsider of society. What kind of person doesn't grieve when their mother dies? I think he doesn't question much around him for reasons that he doesn't really list. I also think that he believes in fate, secretly and does little to change it. He is one of those guys that goes day by day and lets everything come to him. He is indifferent to most things, definitely, but I think he is determined to watch life pass him by. Once he is sentenced to death, he has an epiphany. He thinks he realizes that no one person is that important to the universe. Everything will keep moving along just as it was no matter who isn't here tomorrow. The universe will do its job with or without humans. He decides that people's lives have no real meaning or importance and their actions and so forth really have little to no effect on the world around us.

Our next main character is Marie Cardona. She is Meursaults woman. She proposes to him but he is indifferent to the ideas of love and marriage, which doesn't even have a negative effect on her feelings for him. In fact, it might even attract her a little more to him because of his weirdness. She is disappointed in him but loves him and still wants to marry him. She is loyal to Meursault and stands by him through out the trial. She is not on the same level as our protagonist, obviously. She still holds onto hope in her life. She believes in an upside in things. She shows emotion. For these reasons she is not like Meursault. She can't just be so indifferent like her lover. They are on different mental levels and have different views of the world around them. For these reasons I believe that Marie is a free character. I think that she is a romantic. I think she goes with the flow and does what she wants. I also