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.

Stranger

In the Stranger, Camus has a very interesting type of writing style. He uses short sentences, very simple topics, and it is mostly dark. He also uses a lot of repetition as well as motifs. When Meursault's mother passed away he acted as though he didn't really care. In the begining it seemed as though he was grieving but later on we notice that the way he acts has nothign to do with the fact that he is grieving except it is simply the way he is, his personality. He uses short sentences to say what he wants to say. Camus also uses dark themes to try to show what type of person Meursault really is. When his mother passed away he was emotionless and kept saying over and over that nothign has changed. This is the example of consistency. He then shows the same type of reaction when his girlfriend, Marie constantly asks him if he loves her and he always says no, while she is in love with him and wants to marry him. Mersault is also very influenced by Raymond, who beats his girlfriend and his dog. This is a guy who does bad things and he is only worried about impressing him. There is a consistency motif of a sun, it is something important because it always seems to be present in every important situation. I still do not know what the sun means. In the end, Camus uses dark themes, (emotionless unloving Mersault) and also a lot of repetition.

13 Reasons Why vs. Metamorphasis

Actually both my free read book and Metamorphosis are very similar in some ways. For example, their style is one of them. In my free read book, 13 Reasons Why this teenage girl recorded her sucide diaries on a tape explaining why she sucicded. Therefore, the whole novel is written with her thoughts and it switches back and forth with her thoughts and the thoughts of the boy that is listenign to them. Then in Metamorphosis it is a very similiar case with Gregor, in the beginning we think that he is talking to his parents and sister when in reality they are simply just his thoughts that are being written down. His parents talk to eachother. While the way both of these works are written are similiar as well. There are short sentences and paragraphs and everything is in the moment, inforiming one and keeping them constantly engaged. In 13 Reasons Why, the audience is teenagers while the purpose is to inform them not to be a bystander and watch things happen but instead become involved and help prevent something from happening. While in Metamorphosis the audience is adults, mostly parents informing them not to let their children take responsibilties that are meant to be theirs. In both of these books someone dies for the fault of someone else.

Genisis vs. Darwin

In Genisis, the authors make everything very factual. This is what happened, and thats pretty much it. No questioning. No discussion. Just acceptance. In the begining parts when talking about how the days were created almost every line starts with: "And God said 'Let there be'...." and usually ends with: " and there was.." This shows that He is in complete control at all times. Whatever he wants or says goes and thats it. The audience to which this script is written for is everyone. While its purpose is to inform everyone of His almighty power, and how if he wants something to occur it will without doubt. Moreover, Genisis is simply His story and how he created everything, written to those who would like to know. On the other hand, Darwin is a little bit different while respecting the Bible and those who believe in God. For instance he capitalizes the "c" in Creator which is clearly refering back to God. Darwin does this to show that he still respects God and the religion. But his writting is not facutal based. It is written for those who would like to have an open mind and discover and discuss. Darwins writting is different of the langauge of Genisis. While one is being informative and not allowing you to look beyond what is written, Darwin does exactly that. He explores the "what if" side of the story. His writing is allowing everyone to question and raise discussion. The way these two are written are different. For instance, Genisis is writting in short sentences almost all of them starting with what I mentioned earlier. Darwin on the other hand is writtig longer, sentences. Almost as if he is taking this from a scientific point of view. More of a factual based arguement. In the end, although Darwin is in ways going againt the Bible, by raising questions or by thinking there are different explinations for the way everyting is, he is still repectful towards it.

In Class Writing Metamorphosis

In Metamorphosis, written by Kafka, Gregor's family has had to suffer a lot. First with the father having a failed business, leading to unemployment causing their eldest child Gregor to go out and work to support the family. Leading Gregor to become the "head" of the family who is originalky supposed to be the father. Then a few years later after that incident occurred was when their son, Gregor turned into a bug. Becoming isolated from his family. In one instance they not only lost their son to this insect like vermin but also  they lost their main supporter. The one person keeping the family together and supporting everyone's need. Gregors purpose in life was to support the family he loved and especially his sister. He wanted to give her the best life he possibly could. He wanted her to have the opportunities to do and explore the things that interested her, for this was something Gregor was robbed of since he was the one looked to go to work. When he metamorphed into a bug, and was unable to work his family were the ones that had to take responsibility and do what they had to do to survive. In the beginning, when this all happened Gregors sister was taking care of Gregor. Loving and feeding him, but most importantly caring for him when no one else wanted to accept the fact he as there.  She was there for him so much in the beginning for she felt guilty or as though she felt like she owed him something. When Gregor was working he was doing everything he possibly could to give his sister everything that she wanted or could think of. He wanted her to be free, and now as a return she was taking care of him. But as time went on and on,  that guilt or need to care for him slowly started disappearing soon not even recognizing he was even present. She started resenting the fact that they were keeping Gregor for it was constantly reminding of the fact that he was never coming back. "' We must try to get rid of it.' The sister now said decisively... 'It is killing you both.'" (Kafka 47) She says this not because it is actually killing her parents to watch Gregor but instead it is killing her.  Gregor being there is hindering her growing process because she feels as though she is holding on to something she will never get back. After Gregor passes on we see that the family is more relieved and at peace. They all have their own job, and they are looking for a new place to live. They are ready to start their new life and leave the old one behind. Now that Gregor is gone, the parents can see their daughter better for Gregor is no longer having all the attention to himself. They now see that their daughter has grown up. Both of the siblings went through a metamorphosis. Gregor unfortunately turned into a bug, but his sister grew up to be a beautiful independent woman who has a job, and who her family is thinking about her finding a man in her life. "... thought that the time was now at hand to seek out a good honest man for her." (Kafka 53) The last sentence in the novel was "body" but at the end it was referring to the sister, but in the begining the body refers to Gregor and how he became a bug. Unfortunately, Gregor needed to turn into a bug and then pass away for his family to actually have a life on their own and be independent. For when he was working they were depending so much on him, he worked day and night for them. Ironically both the family and Gregor are now free. Both the family and the daughter grew up as well. The father took responsibility and found a job as did the mother. Their maturity grew, while the daughter grew up as well and matured, going through a transformation of her body and mind. Gregor is now free of the work he did for so long to maintain his family and now they are able to maintain themselves, without his help.