Killing time with memories...

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Part Two

Chapter I - Chapter III 

       The way the second part of the novel begins, directly into Meursault’s interrogation, we are again acquainted with the self-centered Meursault. He does not even mention the other people on the beach as they did not have the littlest impact on him. In the first book we learned that Meursault is honest to himself, indifferent, and nonjudgmental. In the second book Meursault is the object and it is society now which is deciding for the fate of this unconventional man. Till now Mersault was living a quite unexaminable life; however, now he is examined by the society. The scene where he is being interrogated reminds him of old crime story novels; that is how unserious the case seemed to Meursault. Meursault’s desire to shake the guard’s hand shows the reader the simple human interactions and when someone is kind. Meursault is just living the moment and does not concern about the past or future. He is still thinking as a free man and not understanding the severity of killing a human being. The lawyer is very concerned with Meursault’s inablitiy to lie about his feeling during his mother’s funeral. In this part now Camus asks all sort of questions that we as the audience asked in the first part. The questions were asked by the lawyer, the interrogators, the magistrate, the judge, and so on. With the meeting with the magistrate we see Camus revealed identity too. Camus being an existentialist does not believe in god, and with the scene where the magistrate shows the crucifix to Meursault,we see a sort of Camus mocking of the religion and religious symbols. Meursault does not even feel sorry for his actions. The magistrate gets very frustrated because he does not understands Meursault’s worldview. When the narrator starts to describe the details of the prison, the reader immediately starts to realize that now Meursault is not thinking anymore as a free man. He is conscious about the things he is deprived of, and that makes him unhappy.

The meeting he has with Mary before receiving that last letter is confusing. The room is filled with Arabs who are characterized as space consuming and loud. Meursault is more focused on his surrounding than in Mary ( for whom he was thinking a lot lately). The reasons why he is able to get over the longings for the sea when he can view the waves from his window, and sex, and cigarettes is time and memory. He realizes that no matter how tormenting the faces of woman he constructs in his mind are, they still work to pass the time and kill his boredom. He slowly learns to live without any physical stimulation besides that which he is able to create within his mind. Meursault quickly learns how to kill time. He also admits that he is not so unhappy. With his killing time methods a year goes by very fast. The hot summer is again present, and Meursault trial too along with the blazing hot sun. When Meursault arrives to the trial, the lawyer says the trial will go quickly since it is not the most important case. There he sees a lot of people who are there just for him but he does not seem to understand it since he thinks his behavior is perfectly normal. He also feels like a stranger there. We see how the author portrayed the society of that time very narrow-minded and judgmental, and Meursault very different from the society. What bothers Meursault the most is being watched from the others – now he is being examined. Each moment proceeds as always with Meursault's life, until time slows when the subject of Maman is broached. Hardly ever affected, this line of questioning highly irritates him. Still, he answer honestly as always without leaving out details that may upset or disturb the jury. The witnesses called against Meursault are only from his mother's home and based on the one day they met Meursault, at his mother's funeral. Does not it seem ironic that the trial of the case does not have one witness who in any way pertains to the actual crime? This seems as a trial for lack of morals and refusal to participate in a moral code, and not for killing the Arab. We also get acquainted with the first emotional moment of Meursault; when he “feels like e he could cry”.
The defense does little to help justify Meursault’s actions. The witnesses just gave comments such as Celeste’s idea of bad luch or Raymodn saying that it was all chance. This is ironic too because shooting a man five times is no bad luck or chance. In his way back to his cell he falls back in reminiscence of the happy summer of the last year. Meursault realizes again that the paths of life could lead as easily to a life of innocence or crime. Where the path leads is not important.