In class, we haven't really discussed the title of Camus' work. Why do you think he chose to title his novel The Stranger? What is the meaning behind it? Who is The Stranger and why might he be considered as such? Think "big picture" on this one before you answer.
Tori Miller
ReplyDeleteI believe that the stranger is Meursault. He is the stranger because he is an outsider to society. Camus may have chose this title to represent the book because Meursault was the first character like this in the literary world. He is different from the typical protagonists of literature at the time. He is mentally detached from his environment. This seen of how is not afraid to show the world that he was not in mourning for his mother and he tells Marie that he doesn't care if he marries her or not. Nothing is valuable to him and that was never a trait of any character in literature before Meursault.
Brianna Parlette
ReplyDeleteCamus might have chosen the title the stranger because he knew the character meursault was an outsider in normal society. He isnt normal according to social norms. The stranger is most defintatly Meursault. His apathetic personality isnt considered normal. Because meursault was the first character with this type of attitude he didnt have a word for what to call him so he called him an outsider. There are many instances in the book that conclude that meursault is an outsider. His attitude in general makes us believe that hes an outsider.
Tay Brown
ReplyDeleteI believe Camus chose this title to make the novel seem mysterious. This book as you read is mysterious in the fact that Meursault is not like a typical everyday person. He can live with the basics of life and when he is placed in situations with other people he kind of is just there and tends to stand out.
Jessica Vilberg
ReplyDelete"The stranger" is referring to everyone. Obviously it is aiming at Meursault because he only displays apathy and is looked down upon because of it. However, it aims at everyone in society, because no matter how you act, you won't please everyone, and will be looked down upon by someone.(like what was discussed last week)
Also, everyone in the novel is portrayed as a "stranger" to the other people around them. Marie slept with Meursault on the first date, and on his mother's funeral day. The robot women had some kind of OCD, and did strange rituals. Also, Raymond was a pimp and mistreated women. They all have their own problems and can't completely blend in with society, and that makes them all stangers.
Onecia Burton
ReplyDeleteCamus wanted to show that everyone is a stranger to society. Marie,slept around, Raymond was a pimp and beat the crap out of women, the robot lady was precise about everything she did and Salamano abused his dog.However, Meursalt was the true stranger. His outlook on life, his behaviors, and his personality in general was so different and no what people of the time were used too which cause him to be this outsider that people feared.But all these characters have flaws that are frowned upon in society,making them all strangers
Jamaal Roberson
ReplyDelete" The Stranger" could be referring how we are strangers in society. And Meursault is the perfect example of being the stranger showing an apathetic view on everything . Everyone is a stranger to society in someones eyes because no matter where you are its going to happen. We sometimes conform but we are strangers to society in our mind. Meursault was a stranger cause he didn't give a shihh about anything....Plus he didn't care about being locked down, and being called a Satan.
Marlena Hill
ReplyDeleteCamus decided to name his novel ''The Stranger'' because he is representing people as a whole, that we're all seen as strangers and outsiders in some form. Those who go against societies norms are shunned and looked down upon for being 'different'. The main stranger that Camus is referring to in his book if definitely Mersault. He goes against all of the social normalcies that we have set up in life. He doesn't cry at his mothers funeral, he doesn't love the girl he claims is so beautiful, and he shoots some Arab because he got hot.
McKenzie Johnson
ReplyDeleteI think that Camus titled the novel "The Stranger" because it represents how the main character, or anyone else, will be treated as such if they go against the norms of society.I think Camus kind of dehumanized the main character through this because it could go for anyone in any culture. Being the stranger or outsider in society causes for breaks in the social norms of society and this ties in to the fact that the title of the book also translates into the outsider as well as the stranger.
Giovanna Sutherland
ReplyDeleteCamus choose the title stranger because it applies to Mersault's personality and his way of thinking. Mersault is strange in the eyes of society. He does not follow social norms. First of all he sent his mother to a nursing home and when she died he did not cry, then he went out and had fun after the funeral rather than continuing his mourning. He did not show his emotions when he was in court or in jail. In fact he excepted jail and "got use to it". He does things without reason. In the courtroom he mentioned that he felt alone. Everyone was doing stuff around him and excluding him from it (including his own trial). His "friends" couldn't even help him because they too didn't really know him.
Some of the other characters can also fall under the Stranger category. Marie was not like other women. AT this time respectable girls didn't sleep with a man on the first date or throw themselves at them. It was always said to be the man's job to ask a woman to marry him not the other way round (even in today's standards). Raymond was a pimp the worked in the "underworld" which will never be accepted in society. And compared to Masson he had nothing. Salamono was alone in his world also. He lost his wife and replaced her with a "bastard" dog. The way he treated his dog was not the typical way a Frenchman would because they all love dogs. When his dog finally did run away he was truly alone.
Camus names the novel "The Stranger" because he purposely portrays the main characters of the novel as strange outsiders. Almost nobody in the book is "normal". Meursault, of course, is the strangest one of all because of his outlook on life and his absurdist attitude. Marie is not the typical "nice girl", either. She goes on a date with Meursault and has sex with him the same night. Raymond is a pimp, Masson is a gangster, Salamano is disgusting and so is his dog, etc. These people are pretty much abnormal in the eyes of society and are all considered "strangers". If one is different in people's eyes, they will be considered an outsider and that is the point that Camus was trying to make by calling the novel "The Stranger".
ReplyDeleteAndie Sifontes
Stephana Reid
ReplyDeleteCamus chose the title "the Stranger" to symbolize that Meursault is not normal in the eyes of society. The original title of the book in French is, L'Étranger, which translates to "the Stranger" or "the Outsider". Mersualt is the outsider because he does not do things that society would deem as normal. Meursault went to see a comedy after Maman died, he lives in a one single room, and he hates the sunlight, he also does not believe in God and he shows no remorse for killing the Arab. And people don't like that. At his trial Meursault everyone realizes how different Meursault is and they decide to punish him because he is different. Because he was a white man he could have gotten a way if he just said he was sorry but he really didn't care. Camus also chose this title because everyone in this book is a Stranger. Salamano beats his dog, Raymond is a pimp, Marie sleeps around, Masson is a criminal, the nurse had no nose, and the Robot woman is just like Meursault. Meursault is just trying to be Meursault and this is Camus's way of showing that no one could every truly be themselves or they'll end up like Meursault did.
Shonique Edwards
ReplyDeleteI think Camus titled this novel The Stranger, because it focuses on the topic of social norms. Society chooses who and who are "strangers" in this world, and Camus was pointing out how society chose the certain people in the book who were strangers. In this book, Meursault, and the odd woman were the strangers. They were odd to everyone else because they were completely satisfied with their ways of life, which was differnet from everyone else's.
Camus obviously named the book the stranger because no on knows who Meursault is but since Camus was telling the world about the secrets that everyone kept in... I think that he was telling another secret. No one knew Meursault and his true self. Then again who really knows you? Everyone has their secrets that they can't express to even their best friend. Camus was telling that everyone is a stranger.
ReplyDeleteKeith Knudsen
ReplyDeleteThe stranger is Meursault- he represents the "outcasts" of society.
I cant think straight i cant answer this right now...
The stranger is a man who is different than everyone else. He does not have emotion or passion for anything or anyone. A stranger is one who just want to live his true to the point that you cannot talk bad about him because his honesty and integrity hold strong while accepting any consequences of wronging others. Brandon Bernard
ReplyDeleteKeith Knudsen (cont.)
ReplyDeleteTitle of the story is the stranger because it is a story of a peculiar man that strays from the path of society- a man that doesn't see the lines in the sand that marks social and moral rules. He is the stranger because nobody knows him, nor someone similar to him. a stranger is somebody you don't know right? in this case, its someone you dont understand. nobody knows why Meursault is how he is, and they are curious about his actions/lack of.
Tay Brown
ReplyDeleteMeursault is the outsider in the novel. He represents the odds and goes against everything in societies realm of normalities.
I believe Camus named the novel "The Stranger" to represent the persecution someone may receive once they begin to go against the ethical standards we have put into place in our society. In the novel Meursault in part 1 was accepted by the few people that got to know him and respect his perception and mindset although once Meursault had come in contact with people that followed our worlds ethical standards and enforced it, Meursault's trial switched from the court prosecuting him for killing an Arab to Meuraault not crying at his mother's funeral(which by ethical standards we must cry at our guardians funeral). All in all the stranger are those people willing to not follow the worlds ethical rules and live there life by however they want to live.....ROADHOUSE.
ReplyDeleteMickale Foard