The machinery...

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Part Two

Chapter IV - Chapter VI  

     As usual, Meursault wants to hear the claims made by the two lawyers because he wants to hear people talking about him. Now Meursault feels further distanced from the courtroom than before because the lawyer keeps telling him that he will hurt the case if he spoke in his defense. In these last chapters all the questions we had in the beginning begin to be answered indirectly. 

Even though Meursault showed no sensitivity during the burial of his mother, this example is irrelevant to the case for which Meursault is being punished. However, through all these chapters Meursault is ironically condemned for being immoral and insensitive. According to the prosecuter, the moral killing of his mother is more horrible than the physical killing of the Arab. Because of the society’s standards Meursault was incapable of living a moral life. I see Camus here who wants Meursault to find his morality through another scene. Camus has created a murderer without any justification and forces our society to deal with him. Meursault is not a monster but neither is he innocent. He had no motivation or justification for his act whatsoever. All he can remember is the effect of the physical elements of the day; the beating sun and the red sand. The court only laughs; they do not believe that this type of human cannot be real. We furthermore see Meursault’s morals being trialed, not him. Meursault’s distance toward the trial ( he feels like he is not a part of if) sends him back to his memories; the moments spent with Marie. When the verdict that Meursault will be decapitated by the guillotine is read the moments move very fast. Meursault does not make eye contact with anyone but only emphasizes the bizarreness of the verdict. A man is condemned for something other than the crime he committed and then is to be killed in the name of people who he will never meet. We now begin to see Meursault’s feelings toward life. When the chaplain tries to turn Meursault to God, he refuses to get caught up in the idea that he is going to be dead soon. In contrary, Meursault only thinks how to live one more moment and enjoy it. He also makes up penal laws where the convicted would have a slight chance to escape. The trouble with the guillotine was that it did not afford even the slightest of possibilities. The other fact that constantly bothers Meursault is the fact that the guillotine was not as he imagined. The guillotine was just a simple killing method not a romanticized machine like in the French Revolution. Faced with death, he wishes to have one little piece of life to hold onto and give to his heart. With nothing to feed his heart, he wishes he had always fed it. He yearns for a chance which could play to his imagination and allow him the freedom of knowing there was a possibility of escape. He mentions hope and imagination as he never would have allowed himself to before. They never would have mattered. Facing the end of all time, nothingness, he realizes that to live, they matter. When Meursault points out that he has never seen a face or sweat in the stones of his cell, the priest recognizes his sincere attachment to the earth as opposed to any external or divine force. Meursault was living now solely for himself. He did not mourn the supposed death of Marie and expected no one to mourn for him. In fact, he realizes what he wants most is another chance to remember the life he has had and relive it again. There is no need to mourn. He simply hopes that he can enjoy remembering this time he has spent on earth for a little longer. Towards the novel’s ending we see Camus’ belief that this attempt at life is synonymous to death. According to Camus, we must live and make meaning in life without the pretext or motivation of God. Only WE are responsible and our life is worth no more than others. In the end Meursault is transformed into the type of hero Camus has been looking for. Meursault now is ready to meet equally the absurdity of life and the nothingness of death. But then again we do not get to see if Meursault gets executed or not. What if Meursault would have cried in his mother’s funeral? What if he told Marie that he loved her?  I believe that Camus intentionally leaves the page in half. The white page in a way symbolizes Meursault’s liberation of all of these conventional moral codes.