Who is This Guy?

I agree with the students that read The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time. I feel like the characters of both of these books connect with each other. Both of their lives seem to be robotic in some ways. The setting is kind of strange; especially in The Stranger because while reading the book it feels like the main character is in some unknown part of the world living his life. I feel like the feelings the book gives me while I am reading is sort of a depressed, sad kind of tone. He seems to live a really black and white kind of life, there are no colors as Marco stated in class today. This is why I think the chalkboard idea went really well in Lucy’s animations with the story in The Stanger.


I feel like the main character is human because different people experience one thing in many different ways. For example if someone’s mother recently died, they would be sad and in mourning state. Everything in life would be bland for them. They would be depressed and wouldn’t really have any interest to do anything. In The Stranger the main character seems to just move on with his life; the fact that his mother died does not seem to make a difference for him: “It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed” (24). Nothing seems to have affected him after his mother’s death. I actually feel like he is more free to do whatever he desires. He is on and off with this lady named Marie and he is usually out with his neighbor Raymond. I guess he hasn’t really had the chance to feel like something is missing in his life. I wonder how his relationship with his mother was before she passed away.


Personally I don’t think I know anyone like him. He is a pretty strange guy in many ways, but I guess that’s what makes him unique. Sometimes in the outside world I would be walking on the street or be in a subway car with someone who I have never seen before, but then again I wonder how their life is. By their facial expressions they seem to look depressed and sad, yet I do not seem to know if this is true. Maybe in their personal life experiences they do seem to relate to the main character in the story. I can’t say anything because this may not be true.


To be honest I don’t really have an idea of what people are supposed to be like. They can be like whatever they feel like. I guess the society thinks that people are supposed to fit these standards and if they don’t then they are just different from us. I think that every human being is different in their own way. Nobody is in the same level or class or what ever category there is out there. I feel like everyone creates their own standards from what they feel is right and if they are comfortable with it. In The Stranger the story starts out about a man whose mother recently died. Throughout the book many readers feel like the main character does not really seem to be affected by his mother’s death. Just because someone has passed away we are automatically supposed to feel sad, shed tears and mourn for them. Reading the book we can tell that he is doing the total opposite. I guess we all think this way because this is how we are raised by our families and by society. It’s like a set of rules, we never seem to think beyond that, and when we see it like in this book then we act really surprised.


I think Camus wanted to make this character this way because he wanted us to break the shell of limited possibilities for everything. In our world today, expectations seem to be limited. I guess the author just wanted to give us another way we can look at a certain situation. We seem to automatically think and expect something without having to think through alternatives. Just like I said before it’s like a set of rules we have to follow, and if we break them its like OMG how can this happen. We make it seem like an alternative to a situation is nearly impossible.


I feel like the main character is pretty quiet throughout the book, he just talks when he wants to. Other than that he just does what he is told to do; he seems to be controlled by others. One person that seems to control him is one of his neighbors that turns out to be one of his friends named Raymond. Raymond discusses his problems with the main character about his girlfriend. He asks him to do a favor and the main character agrees automatically. Another example is when Raymond invites him to the beach: “He told me that a friend of his had invited me to spend the day Sunday at his little beach house, near Algiers. I said I’d really like to, but I’d promised to spend the day with a girlfriend. Raymond immediately told me that she was invited too” (40). Later on we find out that he chooses to go to the beach with his friend. I don’t know about other readers, but I feel like the main character was really not in the mood to spend his Sunday with all of them. He wanted to spend some time just with his girlfriend. Keeping this in mind, he still dismisses his thoughts and decides to go to the beach with all of them. I feel like he needs to do what he wants to do and not let others make him do things that he doesn’t seem to fancy much.


Hmmmm, can we really understand what it’s like to be a stranger? I guess by reading the book I can get to know better what it feels like to be a stranger, but then again everybody has their own interpretations. By reading The Stranger I am able to read through this random guy’s point of view, but I feel like I will have the answer to this question after I finish reading this book.

Huckabees Blog Post Assignment

Hmmm, now that’s a question to think deeply about. Well I think it all depends on the individual. For me I think that life is mainly meaningful. We are here to live our life and learn about new things everyday. For some our lives are planned out for us; for others we have to dig our own paths and make room for ourselves in this world. I think it also depends on what community you are living in and what the rules are. For example I live in the U.S.A. like many my use in life is to go to school, after finishing school go to college and major in what I’m interested in and then go on from there. This is what it’s like for many other students that live in the same area as me. I feel like life is pretty meaningful for me because I am given one chance to live this life and I have goals that I want to accomplish in my life.


In I <3 Huckabees Tommy’s girlfriend states: “If nothing matters, how can I matter?” I disagree with this quote because I feel like everything does matter and everything happens for a reason. I think that everyone makes an impact to this world bad or good. Even though these impacts may vary in size we are still here and make our life meaningful. Everything does matter to me and this is why I think that living this life is meaningful. Everyone matters in this world because most of us are here to do something either if it’s for ourselves or for others. If some of us were to be vanished from this world than others would be able to feel a change in many ways.


“Everything is connected and everything matters! Every atom of your body has been forged in the furnace of the sun, isn’t that cool?” says Bernard in I <3 Huckabees. I agree with this quote because we are all connected to each other which makes each and every one of us meaningful. I think that some of us may say that we do not at all matter in this world; we don’t think that we make any kind of impact. Well I think this is sort of connects to suicidal thoughts because those are the kind of thoughts one may have when considering their life. If some of us were to be taken away from this world then wouldn’t our family and close friends mourn for us? If there is someone that would remember you after you were to be vanished from this planet, then I think that you matter a whole lot in this world. Let’s say if you were not to be remembered by anyone and nobody had any kind of feelings towards you than I would say that you were not living a meaningful life. This would be pretty sad because if nobody seems to remember you in this world than what impact did you make? It would have been better if you didn’t exist at all…am I right?


I think that the reason this movie was a comedy was because many people may have mixed feelings about the idea of living a meaningful life. I don’t blame them, this is a pretty big concept to think about and each individual has their own way to interpret it. I feel like the movie I <3 Huckabees was created to make this question be thought about more. We all just seem to live our life day to day like robots doing all the work that we are supposed to do. We have responsibilities and have places to where we belong. We never seem to ask our self these big questions; I guess not many of us get the chance or time to do so. By creating this movie all of the viewers were able to connect to this main idea and compare it to themselves. I feel like this helps all of us understand why we are here living this life and why we are chosen to live it because it isn’t our decision to be here. Why do most of us seem to accept the offer of living this life?

Blog comments 3

Corey…

I appreciate your honesty throughout your post, you are confused at times and do not understand what Banach is saying, but you are able to get through reading it. You agree with Banach when he states that "The Existentialist's secret of happiness, then, is to get one's value from within oneself. In doing so, one loses the promise of external value, but they find a more real happiness, one that cannot be taken away by the external forces beyond their control." This is because you do not believe external value is possible.
I also agree with the example that he uses with the slaves throughout his lecture. It connects to what happened in history. This makes me think, how would have those times been different if everyone were to think this way.
Even though you have many great ideas, and have a lot to say it makes me a bit confused while I am reading it. I think it is because you are not separating your work out into paragraphs. If you do this for next time, then your reader will understand your work without any confusion at all.
After reading your ideas, I look into my life and agree with what you have to say about how “a person's desires influences them no matter what that person does to and thinks about other people.”
Nice work Corey.

Amber M.

Sam,

You have some really great points. It makes me reconsider what I think about Banach’s lecture. You are really honest and support all your opinions with evidence. I loved reading your ideas. You do not agree when Banach states “To be free, then, I must follow the golden rule and act only as I would have others act.” And you do not feel that we are free at all living in our world.
This connects to some of my thoughts about freedom. I as well do not think that we are completely free living in this world today. I also use the example of people killing others when I think of this whole freedom concept. I think it all depends on what ones true definition of freedom is and how they interpret it. But we are both on the same page here for our definitions of freedom 
I agree with Carrie, I think that you should look at all the questions you answer throughout your post with different perspectives. How would your thoughts change if you were to do so?
After reading all these ideas, I think about everything in my life and all the statements you have made about freedom. Even though I think that by living in the USA we have more rights than others living around the world, we still have a lot more freedom that we can gain. But the question is what kind of freedom does everyone want? And is that “good” freedom? Will everyone agree with it?
Great work Sam, keep it up!

Amber M.