Respond to the following student reactions to The Stranger.
- Meursault is very difficult to pin down. I really wish M. Meursault would just reveal himself. I find his character so baffling that I’m having a hard time decoding the main themes of the book—he has no personal convictions of his own.
- Meursault is frustratingly incoherent. The meaning of the book has to be that it’s as absurd to have a purpose in life as it is for purposelessness to be the purpose.
- Going on in life without a purpose seems to me pointless, but the others in my group think it’s okay!
- Meursault is a sponge who is open to his surroundings. He is acutely aware of his surroundings, yet is completely outside of them. Meursault finds peace of mind in this neutral state.
- Instinct and emotions are different, and Meursault has taught himself to live on instincts.
- Camus is encouraging us all to find our own distinct meaning in life, whatever that may be, because only that discovery and subsequent embrace can bring you consummation and happiness. I believe Camus intentionally made Meursault a strange and almost repugnant character so that the reader could uncover his own true self through the fundamental disagreement of character that the reader feels with Meursault.
