Meursault responded rather coldly when his lawyer had asked him if he had felt any sadness that day, saying that he “probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything. At one time or another all normal people have wished their loved ones dead.” (p. 65) This quotation only demonstrates that he was unemotional.
Full Answer
Meursault 's lawyer who tries to defend Meursault's character, to present his crime as an accident, and to disassociate Meursault's behavior at his mother's funeral from the murder. He is exhausted by Meursault's unyielding impassiveness and by his self-sabotaging lack of savvy about public opinion.
Meursault is psychologically detached from the world around him. Events that would be very significant for most people, such as a marriage proposal or a parent’s death, do not matter to him, at least not on a sentimental level. He simply does not care that his mother is dead, or that Marie loves him.
Though Raymond is unpopular with others and has a reputation for living "off... (full context) ...revenge on his mistress, even though he still has "sexual feelings for her." He asks Meursault 's opinion of the situation, and Meursault, now thoroughly drunk, agrees she must be cheating on... (full context)
For example, Meursault said that at times, he felt as though he and the examining magistrate were playing games. Here, he says that despite not wanting to talk about some things that happened, he has decided to recount them.
if Meursault felt any sadness the day of the funeral. The attorney asks him because it's very important and it would be a strong argument for the prosecution if he can't come up with some answers.
What question does Meursault's lawyer ask him about the day of the funeral? If he had felt sadness about his mother's death. What does Meursault's lawyer ask him not say in front of others? That people sometimes wish that their loved one's were dead.
They are disgusted by Meursault's lack or grief about his mother's death and that he killed the Arab. He tries to talk about Meursault's mother's death. Why is Marie only allowed to visit Meursault one time? She wasn't allowed to go back because she wasn't Meursault's wife.
Meursault's attitude toward his mother's death can be used with blatant reminders in order to convince the jury that, before them, is a man who has no feelings, evidenced by witnesses, for his own mother's death. Thus he is capable of killing — because of his lack of feeling.
Meursault feels that his lawyer defended him during the trial as best he could. he wants to spend his last minutes on earth alone and in quiet reflection. he doesn't believe in God, so this life is it.
Meursault's attorney tells him that it wouldn't last more than two or three days because a more interesting parricide (the murder of a family member) case is coming up after his trial.
What about Meursault upsets and frustrates his lawyer and the magistrate? He reveals that he does not believe in God. What does the magistrate use to try to break through to Meursault's feelings of remorse? He tries to use the death of his mother.
What does the magistrate want to hear from Meursault? Ehy is he upset with Meursault's responses? He wants to hear that he is mourning for his mother He wants to know if there is regret or if Meursault feels sad. Meursault isn't showing any responses, so the magistrate is out of cards to help.
The magistrate states that his own life would be meaningless if he doubted the existence of God, and concludes that Meursault has an irrevocably hardened soul. During the course of the eleven-month investigation that ensues, the magistrate takes to calling Meursault “Monsieur Antichrist,” with an almost cordial air.
What's the BIG question the magistrate finally asks Meursault? No, no conscience, he has no emotions. He does not want to be bothered with religion when he doesn't care about it and he has limited time left on earth. In your opinion, does Meursault feel complemented when referred to as Monsieur Antichrist?
Meursault is unwavering and the magistrate tires, claiming never to have seen a criminal with "a soul hardened as yours." When asked whether he feels sorry about the murder, Meursault responds: "more than sorry I felt kind of annoyed." All subsequent meetings with the magistrate are civil, disinterested, and calm and ...
the death penaltyThe prosecutor pushes for the death penalty, on the grounds that Meursault has no place in a society whose fundamental rules he ignores. Meursault's head spins; the heat of the afternoon is getting to him. The judge asks him for final words.
Raymond calls Meursault at the office and tells him his friend has invited Meursault to his beach house... (full context) Soon after, Meursault 's boss offers Meursault an opportunity to transfer to a position in Paris. When Meursault is... (full context) That evening, Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her.
In the mortuary, Meursault surprises the caretaker by declining his offer to open the casket (to show Meursault his... (full context) Still in the mortuary, Meursault accepts the caretaker's offer of coffee and they smoke cigarettes.
(full context) At the spring, Meursault is "a little surprised" to see that the Arab man who is Raymond's enemy has... (full context) Book 2, Chapter 1.
His primary priority is his own physical comfort. Convinced of the world's indifference to him and to everyone else, Meursault himself is indifferent towards those around him and has only superficial relationships. His relentless honesty and refusal to subscribe to conventional belief systems or to social niceties alienate Meursault from society.
The two look... (full context) Another neighbor, Raymond Sint ès, appears and invites Meursault to dinner. Though Raymond is unpopular with others and has a reputation for living "off... (full context)
Given a chance to add onto the prosecutor's speech, Meursault, dizzy in the heat, claims he'd "never intended to kill the Arab," then blunders on,... (full context) Meursault 's lawyer gives his summation, speaking in the first person as if he were Meursault.
Meursault admits that, at first, he felt dizzy, for his cell had been very dark and very silent. Then he was thrust into a world of panic, harshly lit, and peopled with murmurs and whispers of Arabs. For some time, he could not say anything of importance. The reality of prison was beginning to tighten.
This is Meursault's first thoughts of his mother that have been positive and not associated in some way with her death or her funeral. Sex — the lack of it — bothers Meursault, but he has memories of the many women he has had sex with and can fill his small cell with their faces.
Yet, it is only within his cell that Meursault learns for the first time to fathom that life is valuable and that it can have quality. Previous Chapter I.
It was on that day, Meursault tells us, that he realized that his cell was his "last home," and, as he puts it, "a dead end.". When he was first arrested, he was taken to a large room filled mostly with Arabs — that is, natives. Meursault is a Frenchman, one of the occupiers of the Algerian colony.
In the next chapter, Meursault's old friend CĂ©leste will defend Meursault by saying that the murder of the Arab was just an accident, a stroke of bad luck. Likewise, Raymond will defend Meursault by stating that "chance" and "mere coincidence" are to blame.
Meursault sleeps so well, in fact, that he has only six hours to fill with memories and fantasies. He then stops telling of how he spent his time during those eleven months and describes an incident when, one day, while he was inspecting his straw mattress, he found a bit of yellowed newspaper stuck on the underside.
Meursault describes his new surroundings almost clinically, detailing the flights of steps, the room, the windows, the grilles, the thirty feet of "no man's land" between the prisoners and their visitors. There, he must face Marie and raise his voice in order for her to hear him.
They exclude him from society for his odd clear-cut and sincere demeanor, and for his manifestation of an inexpressive character.
Is there truly any justice in the novel The Stranger, written by Albert Camus? This is a question that naturally protrudes throughout the novel, as it is not abundantly clear what Meursault, the protagonist, was, in fact, put on trial for. At the beginning of the second part of the narrative, it is understood that he is put on trial for the murder of an Arab; however, it later comes to our attention that the murder was not the primary reason of his trial, and perhaps not even an essential one for that matter.
And later, during the trial, the judge and the prosecuting attorney seem more intrigued by the fact that Meursault did not grieve at his mother’s funeral and got involved with Marie the day after it, than the actual act that had been committed: the assassination of a man.
Meursault responded rather coldly when his lawyer had asked him if he had felt any sadness that day, saying that he “probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything.
The majority of the witnesses that had been called only supported the argument of his callous nature, as they very well knew that Meursault was frighteningly candid, and could not, or would not, create a perversion of the truth to suite his trial, as well as his need for freedom.
Meursault expresses a tenet of existentialism here: Each individual possesses only the present moment in which to act.
Meursault explains his response to his employer who offers to transfer him to Paris. Readers imagine that the employer might be hurt by Meursault’s completely ambivalent response to such an offer as he accuses Meursault of lacking ambition, a grave defect for a businessman.
Meursault describes his physical reactions to details he notices in the world around him. Sights, smells, and motion combine to cause a change in consciousness that he can neither identify nor understand. However, readers learn that while he notices sensual details, he fails to notice human emotions. These moments of heat, glare, and sleepiness ...
When Salamano says that he must be feeling his mother’s death terribly, he makes no response because has no feelings that he can report. It is only when Salamano recounts the criticism the neighbors felt when Meursault sent his mother to an institution that he defends himself.