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.