The Stranger, Journal 1

Camus' character Mersault is complicated to say the least. Several times while reading, I found myself wanting to scream because of how ridiculous Mersault's actions are. Mersault is incredibly lazy and he is literally thinking of sleep 24/7. Even after finding out about his mother's death, Mersault's first reaction is to sleep. Normally a person would be distraught, but on the way to his mother's funeral, he "dozed off", not even seeming to care (4). I began to count how many times Mersault thinks about sleeping and how he desires sleep at the strangest times. While everyone around him is weeping, Mersault is "tired" and he "[dozes] off again" (11). It is obvious that the death of his mother is not having much of an impact on him, for people who have a lot on their mind tend to have difficulty sleeping. Mersault almost seems completely emotionless.

Another thing regarding emotions I found interesting was how Mersault gets annoyed by people showing too much emotion. During his mother's vigil, a friend of Mersault's mother is weeping and Mersault becomes irritated by her. He says "I wish I didn't have to listen to her anymore" (10). Instead of feeling sympathetic or even feeling mournful himself, he becomes agitated by the people around him for showing emotion.

Yet another recurring idea I found was how quickly Mersault sees the beauty in things, which I found odd. An example of this is when Mersault is drinking coffee next to his dead mother's body in the quote "It was pleasant; the coffee had warmed me up, and the smell of flowers on the night air was coming through the open door. I think I dozed off for a while" (9). Finding something pleasant while next to a dead body is a strange notion, especially when the body is of a person's loved one. On top of that, the imagery is incredibly untimely. The smell of flowers while next to a decaying body in the heat? 

The last recurring idea I will talk about is how Mersault constantly says words or phrases referencing to a court room. He says words like "judge", "fault", "guilty", "criticizing",  and "justify" while speaking about his mother. His word choice almost makes him seem guilty for this mother's death, even though it was not his fault at all. This could be potential foreshadowing for the end of the book.