Summary+Pages+Lynn

**Albert Camus: //The Stranger// & //The Plague// **

 * Summary #1:** __At first, when I started reading this summary, it seemed very typical. The fact that the author pushes the boundaries a little makes it interesting. Just as a thinking game can this be applied to The Plague? After all, so much of the story concerns death that I curious whether the juxtaposition could be present. 10/10__

McGuire, Kathryn B. "Camus's the Stranger." //Explicator// 50.1 (1991): 50-53. //Questia//. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.

p.50-53= 3 pages

__Summary:__

While most would associate death and life as separate entities, McGuire argues that Camus’ //The Stranger// proposes that neither can exist without “their conjunction” (50 McGuire). From the funeral vigil scene in which imageries of “death/birth, sterility/fertility, and old age/infancy” are juxtaposed, McGuire deduces that these antitheses are presented together to suggest their symbiotic relationship (50 McGuire).

McGuire first points to the color white, which appears in the form of the blinding lights, the nurses’ smock, and the walls. These images generally suggest “consciousness, truth, insight, and enlightenment, but the setting of the funeral vigil gives it the impression of the “paleness of death” as well (51 McGuire). Several mythological references also hint to this double meaning. The caretaker can be seen as the guardian that offers an opportunity to confront the reality of Meursault’s mother’s death. The nurse’s “knitting” movement can be seen as the three Greek goddesses that controlled the thread of life. At the same time, knitting suggests birth and thus adds complexity to the significance. Several other antitheses such as the coffin (death/old age/sterility) versus Meursault (life/youth/fertility) and the bulging bellies (which suggest pregnancy and therefore, fertility) of the old women (sterility) are brought into perspective to reveal that the opposites cannot be divided but rather, must coexist.

__Surprising/Intersting:__ The concept of antitheses being representative of the philosophy of life in existentialism was in itself surprising. But one antithesis that stood out to me was the knitting motion of the nurse, which, according to McGuire, could both suggest birth and death. The “knitting” could be a reference to the Greek goddesses Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis--the goddesses that spun and cut the thread of life. But at the same time, the activity itself is associated with birth, as mothers knit the clothing for the soon-to-be-born baby. That an activity associated with life is also interpreted as death gave me a good sense of the paradox in the existential philosophy of life.

__Agree/Disagree:__ Personally I find this article interesting and insightful, but at times, going head over heels with the concept of antithesis. For the most part, antithesises such as the “sucking” noises (typically associated with newborns) of the old people appealed to me. The image that Camus creates is a bizarre and absurd one, in which the opposites are embedded within the same entity. However, one particular example—the double meaning of “white” as life and death—appears to be a stretch. The funeral vigil is Meursault’s chance to confront with the “light” or the truth behind life. Blackness appears by the end of the novel in the carcel, in which Meursault realizes the truth behind death. In this line of thought, associating whiteness and light with the “pallor of death” does not fit together well. But perhaps this is precisely the absurd that Camus tried to capture.


 * Summary #2:** Again, some of this so obviously could be applied to The Plague. Um. . . doesn't the doctor not write to his wife? Does this fit into this idea of others' perceptions being created? However, as a team the men seem to work to communicate a gazillion times more than Meursault. 10/10

Strange, Alice J. "Camus's the Stranger." //Explicator// 56.1 (1997): 36-38. //Questia//. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. p. 36-38=3Pages

__Summary:__

There is almost always a “discrepancy” between the perception of self and the perception by others. Alice employs this discrepancy in order to examine Meursault’s unwillingness to establish—and lack of control over—his social identity. Meursault’s relationship with Marie is “characterized…by an absence of verbal interaction” (36 Alice). When Marie asks whether he wants to marry her, Meursault expresses no opinion. He reacts with no “rhetoric of flattery or charm because to him, it doesn’t “make any difference” (36 Alice). Meursault exhibits the same behavior towards Raymond, who asks him to write a letter to his former mistress. Meursault agrees to do so, because again, “it [didn’t] make any difference” to him, whether he wrote the letter or not. These forms of non-opinion or silence eventually gives way to a pattern of others defining his opinion to suit themselves. In other words, Marie interprets his lack of enthusiasm or resistance as a form of acquiescence; Raymond too interprets it as a form of approval, even though “Meursault’s utterances indicate otherwise” (37 Alice). This lack of control over his social identity eventually culminates in Meursault’s tragic death.

__Surprising/Interesting:__ Upon the beginning of the article, Alice acknowledges that both Marie and Raymond “give no indication that they perceive [Meursault’s] behavior as other than normal” (36 Alice). Marie seeks after Meursault as though he loves her like any ordinary man would, and Raymond perceives him as an ally when in fact, Meursault has no opinion of his own. It is interesting to recognize that these characters act out of self-interest that the readers do not have against Meursault. Both Marie and Raymond are tools to highlight the fact that Meursault has no dimension in his social identity, that he is much like a stranger to himself that offers no opinions. They are characters that show the consequences of lacking faith in the existentialist belief of having the power to decide the course of one’s own life.

__Agree/Disagree:__ This article resonated in the fact that it discussed the core concept of existentialism through two other characters. Existentialism is based on the idea that one must decide the meaning of one’s own life and that one has the power to do so. Meursault in this aspect is the opposite of this existentialist belief, as he seems perpetually bored and alienated, and neither sees nor employs any significance to his life. His attitude that “it makes no difference” is precisely his reason of death, as it is this apathy to his life that led him to his death.

Another interesting assessment. I agree with your disagreement, but interesting to see how someone constructs an interpretation even if inaccurate. 10/10

Wagner, C. Roland. “Meursault Seeks His Own Punishment.” //Readings on The Stranger//. 2001: 156-163. Greenhaven Press.

1) Summary

Departing from the conventional stance on //The Stranger,// Wagner argues that Meursualt’s silence is “psychological instability” that stems from his attachment to his dead mother (156 Wagner). Several instances parallel a certain reaction with the death of his mother, primarily hunger or the inability to feel hunger. At his mother’s vigil, Meursault does not feel hungry; when he listens to Old Salamano’s “little wheezing sound” from his grief of losing his dog, Meursault “for some reason…[begins] to think of [his] mother” (157 Wagner). According to Wagner, such a parallel signifies a “half-buried emotional attachment,” which was left unresolved and unsatisfied because his mother’s death (157 Wagner). Furthermore, this instability runs contrary to Camus’ intention to portray Meursault as the ultimate existentialist hero, as it suggests that Meursault had other motives and emotions associated with his murder of the Arab. Meursault ‘s silence at the court is not a product of existentialist belief. Rather, “the silence is neither of words nor affect but of self-understanding” (162 Wagner). It is a self-understanding of his unconscious guilt, his only way of recognizing that he feels guilty about his mother’s death, his murder, and his inability to probe into his own emotions.

2) Interesting/Surprising

Wagner gives an interpretation of the name “Meursault” so that it coincides with the overall significance of the book. “Meur” is the root of the verb “mourir” which means ‘to die’; “la mer” signifies ‘the sea; “sault” is close to “sauter” which means ‘to leap.’ Thus the name “Meursault” becomes “to leap into the sea and die.” Wagner claims that “rather than continuing to struggle in…the life of the absurd.” Meursault chooses “leaping into the maternal sea” (163 Wagner). This interpretation of the name, to me, signifies a clash between ideas that Camus suggests and Wagner suggests. To Camus, Meursault does not “leap” into the maternal sea; rather, he chooses his own fate to protest against the absurdist world of morality and guilt. It is a “happy death” that Rieux describes in his other novel //The Plague.//

3) Agree/disagree Surely the notion of Meursault causing his own death is nothing new. But to say that Meursault was actually conscious of his own motives and of his guilt is an idea that undermines Camus’ intention as whole. But I have to agree with Wagner in the fact that digging through the psychological layers of Meursault, the reader only faces confusion, rather than a fuller picture of the human psyche. This, according to Wagner, is the difference between Meursault and the protagonist of Dotochevsky’s //Crime and Punishment.// Perhaps this loophole in Camus’ portrayal of Meurault suggests a loophole in the philosophy of existentialism itself. A loophole that ignores the basic fact that all humans must feel, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Morning in the Burned House Outline

1) "The Fire" is an event that changed her body--presumably puberty - The reference to clothes -Reference to the body -I can't see my own arms and legs or know if this is a trap or blessing, -Burnt clothes is a reference to childhood

2) "The House" -The independence that you get as you grow up -The burnt house carries the remnants of youth -The house is not real:

3) Tone change -"Including the body I had then": Shift -Reflects upon childhood wistfully--> "radiant flesh"

4) Poetry techniques -Repetition: "including the body" to emphasize and hint the change in tone