Final Blog

I'm still not fully convinced that using iPads in class is a great idea, but with that being said I really did enjoy all of the different things we used the ipad for in class.For example subtext, I thought it was a great app where you can see everyones annotations and highlights. I also enjoyed the blogging that we did. When we had to write an essay and we had to blog our paragraphs it helped me stay on top of things while being organized. I also liked it when we chose our free read, with that assignment I found my love for reading again and I ended up reading 5 books shortly after. I think that as the year went on my writing improved. Towards the end I felt it easier to develop thoughts amd articulate them into writing and keep a consistent flow of a theme, I also stopped writing plot summary which is what I did for my very first essay. For my last essay I was a little bit hesitant for the examples I was using which were personal examples and I didn't know how well it would tie in with my essay but it ended up working out.

CONCLUSION (Stranger)

Meursault changed when his situation changed; once he was restricted from the outside world, he developed positively. This is ironic because, following imprisonment, one normally obtains negative qualities. However, it was different for him. He started to become more aware of his surroundings; something he had not done before. Also, there are time periods when he shows emotion, which is also something he did not do before his imprisonment. He admits to putting his mother in an elderly home because he wished for her to receive an amazing lifestyle, which he knew he could never give her. In this instance, Meursault is displaying compassion towards his mother, which is indicated by his desire for her to live a healthier and more suitable lifestyle. Furthermore, there was yet another time when Meursault became very angry; his lawyer wanted him, Meursault, to call him, the lawyer, father. Meursault most likely became angry because he misses his own father, who is now deceased. Lastly, there was one point during which Meursault demonstrates that he misses Marie, his girlfriend; even though, while he was with her, he never showed her much emotion (except sexually). The given scenarios are examples of thoughts and transformations that occurred while Meursault was in prison; therefore, this proves that he does indeed have the capacity for emotions and feelings. Ultimately, Meursault’s prison cell is a metaphor for his own self. The cell represents Meursault’s body and the prisoner, Meursault, represents his personalities and emotions, trapped and hidden away from the eyes of the world. Interestingly though, this change in environment and scenery, eventually created the Meursault readers know at the end of the book, the better Meursault who has the capacity for emotions and feelings. My mother also changed when her situation changed. She had to adjust herself to the fast pace of New York City, and had to become more reserved because she did not know her surroundings. Nevertheless, as time passed these unnatural and manufactured traits became part of her natural personality. As a result of her move from Honduras to New York, my mother became a fast moving person and a reserved one. Both Meursault and my mother changed when their situations changed; now maybe in the future when I go off to college my personality will also change because my surroundings will change.

FIRST BODY (Stranger)

Everyone has the potential to change, for the better or the worse, when put into a situation where change is necessary to “keep up” with the daily life. My mom is a great example of how people can change as a result of their environment and current situation. She was born in Honduras, a fairly small country where life is easy going and where almost everyone knows each other. However, “when [my mother] first moved to New York [she] didn’t know anyone” (Edith Jahangani). She was only 17 years old and did not know anyone after moving from a country in which she did; she changed from being a very open and overly trusting person to a more reserved person because of the dense and overcrowded cities, and foreign language. Her situation changed from living in a small city to living in a metropolis, which also contributed greatly to her reserved personality. However, although I am related to my mother, my personality is vastly different because of the environment in which I grew-up. I was born in a large city, unlike the much quainter one that my mother grew-up in, and I did not feel intimidated by it nor did I become more reserved. In fact, the metropolis-like world I was live in made me friendlier and outspoken because I felt the need to distinguish myself in this big sea of fish, which is completely contradictory to that of my mother’s personality. An even better example occurs when my aunts and uncles visit me. They too grew-up with my mother in Honduras and they too have adapted almost the same, although they each slightly differ in his or her own manner, personalities. When their sons and daughters visit, my cousins, I can immediately notice an enormous difference in the way I act and in the way they act. However, it is my mother’s experience that is the complete opposite of Meursault’s experience. Unlike her, Meursault came from a big city, not a small one, and when thrown into a confined space, jail, he blossomed greatly.

INTRO (stranger)

When one is scared and is put into a situation where they must be courageous they are. When one is shy and because of the circumstances must be more open, they will. Simple statements such as these show that based on the situations, one may act different, adapting a new feature to their personalities. Therefore ones surrounding play a large role in one character. It could be as simple as being comfortable where you do not feel the need to speak out resulting in shyness, then being out into a new environment where you need to be outspoken. Accustoming to be comfortable being in uncomfortable situations, which then may result in one learning something they did not know of themselves. Therefore when situations change there is the potential for ones personality to change as well, leveling both out; Camus, the author of " The Stranger", does exactly this. He introduces us to a character who once used to be one way for such a long in a "normal" life but then as soon ashe was  imprisoned we start seeing a new addition to his personality, a change. This change occurs in a place where most shy away and transform and adapt negative features, which is what the assumption is, but Mersault   proves that wrong. In fact, he blossoms when confined. My mother happens to have experienced  this: obtaining new characteristics to her personality when she moved from Honduras to New York City at only 17 years old.

OUTLINE (Stranger)

Question: How is it that once Mersault is put in prision we start seeing a different side of him, one we thought didnt't exsist. He does have feelings and the way he acted before was simply his personality.

Thesis: Although Camus in the begininng of the novel introduces us to a character who seems not to have feeling for anything or emotion, we see later on that he does have feelings and he does care it was simply the typenof enviorment he was in that caused him to act that way he did. (Away from everyone)

Intoduction: In Part I, we think he doesn't have much feeling for anything or anyone:

• His mothers funeral
• How he doesn't say he loves Marie
• He wasn't grieving "properly"
• He went to see a comedy
• He did not know his mothers age
• He didn't seem to care when Raymond was beating his girlfriend
• Didn't have much sympathy for the dog that was beaten
• Doesn't have much memories of his father
• Smoked next to his mothers casket

1st Paragraph: Talk about the points mentioned above and how we think that he isn't a particularly great person.

2nd Paragraph: How he's happier in prision and we start seeing a different more opened, relax person than in the first part

• He says that he put his mother in prision because of the love he had for her, he wanted the best for her and he couldn't give her the things he wanted to
• He thinks of her some times when he is there
• He thinks of Marie and how much he misses her face
• He thinks about his father
• (mostly he thinks about things that we thought he didn't care for)
• He gets very upset when his lawyer tries to make him call him father-- probably something to do with his own father

Conclusion: Mersault did not darastically change when he was put into prision, but mostly when people are put there a negative persona forms. They can go insane for being isolated and confined for so long. Instead of a negative outcome coming of his expierence, we see a side of him (a better one) he is more open and caring. He talks about different things.

• Possibly try to tie this to the fact that there is the posibilty that when we go to College next year, our personalities won't change too much but there will be a different side that comes out, or forms, or even relaxes. ( Just as a different side comes to the surface)
• He was probably more relaxed and at peace in prison which is why this part of him appeared.
• He was away from other people therefore he didn't care that much for what others said even though he still kind of did.
• This could happen in College? Possibly?

ESSAY IDEAS (Stranger)

1. The way that Mersault atcs afters his mothers passing: not wanting to see her body, not knowing her age, not mourning, going to the beach with Marie, all these actions are being used against him while he is in court.

• They make him seem as though he has no conscious and doesn't care
• The court seems to be more absorbed with his actions and emotions rather than his crime
• They try to use his personality as a way to consider him guity
• Everyone ignores the fact that this is who he really is and how he acts

  2.  When one enters jail, you would think that they start to forget who they are but in this case it             changes  Mersualt and we start to see another side from him.

• He opens up in prison, we start to see another side of him/ one we thought did't exsist
• Being in prison you are deprived from things, but he uses his deprivation to blossom into a person who has feelings and opinions.

* The idea that prision is a bad horrible place where you get lost in, but in reality Camus shows us that prison helped Mersault grow into a mature person*

- We see that he has feelings and he really did care about his mother, there is a part where he says that the reason he sent his mother to the home was that she could recieve all of the wonderful things he wanted to give her but couldn't. He took that descion out of the kindess of his heart.

• Because he is an emotionless person,or has trouble portraying his emotions we have this idea that he is a man without feelings, but in reality he is.

Translators Note

When reading the translators notes, we come across a very important point. we should focus more on what Mersault does not say opposed to the very few words that he does. The gaps later become important as we try to evaluate him as a persom.  We see several examples of this, the first being when Raymond was beating his girlfriend. Marie told Mersault to call the cops and find help and instead of doing that he simple says how he does not like the cops. Mersault is a very honest man, whatever he thinks or says he actually means. So when he says how he does not like the cops, he really means it, also we can see how he is trying to protect his friend. Or when she was commenting on how horrible it was what Raymond was doing, Mersault stayed quiet when he should have said something even the smallest statement like simply agreeing would have been resonable. But his silence shows that he may not care about the situation. Also, when Marie asks him if he loves her and he doesnt say yes, instead he says no but it doesnt mean anything and when she wants to marry him he just says ok. With the simplicity of the way he says everything and thinks, we would come to think that Mersault is actually a very simple guy, but instead all of these simplicities have made him a very complex character.