The Stranger

The book The Stranger, by Albert Camus, to me was a very interesting book to read. It was about this man who lives in Algeria who just lives life at the bare minimum. He ends up murdering this Arab and goes on trial for the murder. In the end of the book he ends up being sentenced to death in the name of the French people.

I believe that Camus was to communicate a couple different things to us as readers. The first being that people don't all live life the same way. For example, I live my life to the fullest. I savor every minute of it and have a very positive outlook on life. Most of my friends live their lives the same way with this "carpe diem" philosophy. The main character in the story, a man named Meursault, lives life in my opinion to the bare minimum. He says very little to other people, and when Marie (his kinda-sorta girlfriend) asks him if he loves her, he replies "It doesn't mean anything but probably not." There are several other people we meet in the story who live life differently. Old Salamano, for example, lives a very lonely life with his dog, who he acts like he hates, but when the dog disappears, Salamano becomes very sad. Another thing that I believe Camus is trying to communicate with us as readers is how one event can affect so many people. What this means is that it all started with the people who lives in Meursault's building, particularly this man named Raymond. In the story Raymond finds out that his girlfriend is cheating on him so he gets Meursault to write a letter to this girl. She ends up coming over and she and Raymond get in a fight where Raymond beats her up. Everyone in the building watches this go on. Next the girls brother an Arab comes after Raymond they get in a fight on the beach and after it is over Meursault goes back and shoot the Arab five times. This is the murder that the story is based on. This murder affects so many people, not just the people involved. It made me realize that how I live my life affects more than just