Michael Slaza
AP Literature
The Stranger
Take Home Test 130 points
Part I: Passage Analysis (30 points)
For five of the passages below, write a 5-8 sentence interpretation (not a summary) of the significance in relation to Camus’s philosophical framework (moralism, the Absurd, existentialism, religion, hope, social judgment, fate).
SELECT ONLY FIVE PASSAGES TO ANALYZE
1. “It was then that I realized that you could either shoot or not shoot” (56).
This quote refers to the fate and absurd aspects of Camus’s philosophical framework. First, Camus addresses fate because it doesn’t matter if the Arab dies by being shot or if he dies of old age, heart failure, etc. Everyone has the same fate, ultimately, and that is death. Also, in context, when
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Punishment “is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious” is what Camus claims (Myth of Sisyphus). The solution to Meursault’s and Sisyphus’s fatal fates is converting negative emotion, into joy through perception. Some argue that in the beginning, Meursault was hardened and cant be an existential hero because he is mindless, but his perception is clearly outlined and changed. “It was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness,” (59) is what Meursault thought when he shot the Arab another four times. Although some may argue he was committing a hardened act, unhappiness is still an emotion. It isn’t necessarily sadness, which is what society wants to see, but it could be interpreted as being content. Meursault cannot find the happiness in life; he is just okay with it and unconsciously proceeds through his life in a routine of physical happenings. Then, he remembers, “Manman used to say that you could always find something to be happy about,” (113). This alters his perception on the spot, and no longer becomes sad based upon speculating on his memories and how he will lose them. This mirrors Sisyphus and how he finds the “silent joy” by altering his perception of what is currently happening with pushing the rock up the hill. So, Meursault forgets about the past and looks for good from his cell. Outside of those cell bars he can see the green grass, the sky, the stars, and is happy. Now, his happiness is not declared yet, he doesn’t know that he is happy, but he just went into the idea of living a life in death instead of death in life. This realization happens with his impression on the chaplain, which is that “he wasn’t even sure he was alive because he was living like a dead man,” (120). This means that one
In this chapter Steven woke up extra early for some reason in this interminable world and slow walked to the basement to get some drum practice. When Jeffrey, his little brother, snuck up behind him. Jeffery asked for some moatmeal- oatmeal- also saying his parts hurt. Apparently he had been saying that for a while now. Steven and Jeffrey went to get the oatmeal and Jeffery sat on a stool. When Steven turned around Jeffery fell of the stool and hurt his nose. Jeffrey cried a lot. Their parents came down and interrogated them. Jeffery was sent to the emergency room, while Seven and his dad went to school and work.
Chapter 8 Protagonist/s: Marie-Laure LeBlanc/ Werner Pfennig Antagonist/s: Germans Time: 9th August 1944 Summary: Allied artillery begins shelling Saint-Malo again. Von Rumpel becomes delirious from his illness and attempts to search the house once again.
The chapter continues with the two boys, Tom and Huck, carefully walking through the path. They walk past the kitchen, where they try to avoid Jim, Miss. Watson’s slave. Jim hears them and comes to investigate. The two boys are hiding, while Jim comes close to them, but doesn’t see them. Jim decides to stay in that position until he hears the noise again. While Huck is debating whether he should scratch his nose, Jim falls asleep. Tom tells Huck about Jim, that he is respected by the other slaves, for going against the devil. But Jim had begun to become cocky for seeing the devil and fighting the witches.
1. I would put myself in the place of the man on the horse he looks like he could be the leader, so the leader.
Crane’s approach to writing about the war was fresh because, of the fact that we were basically inside the heads of one of the soldiers(henry). We could feel how he felt and we knew his fears. Besides that Crane was blunt about how disorganized the war was.
The underworld seemed to be getting colder and I couldn’t tell if it was because I’d fled the room that was lit or because Hades’s heart had been nearly ripped out. I was weeping pretty hard by now, feeling awfully betrayed and as lonely as my injurer. I felt my way around in the darkness for a while, thankful to the slight bluish glow that seemed to at least partially lighten ones way down in the underworld.
Max is awakened by Jake, him saying “Max, lets talk about our plan for after the flight. Wake up!” Jake says that they should first figure out at least the general route/location of Max’s parents house. Connected to the airplane’s wifi, they go on maps and find the travel time and route to their destination. As he is waking up, he realizes what is soon to come after his flight. He isn’t ready for the battle that he isn't even for sure will happen, but with the help of Jake, he has more confidence. Max has come to an end of his conversation with Jake. He has to use the bathroom, so he walks down the airplane aisle to use the restroom as he hears the flight attendant say " Please take a seat all passengers, the plane is going in for a landing in about 5 minutes." He says to himself, "I can wait 5 minutes," and he goes back to his seat and puts on his seatbelt. 5 Minutes later, the plane lands safely, so Max and Jake, together, walk down the aisle to get their bags and they walk out of the plane. He can’t stop thinking about what is going to happen in his future confrontation with the terrorists in his parents town.
1. In your own words, what was the author’s main idea in this chapter? In chapter 1, the main idea in this chapter was intriguing perspective and ways to counter our innate faults.
You had never thought of yourself as an object, nor did you ever truly think of yourself as human being. You were simple existed with no real meaning. If you thought about it deep enough, you might conclude it was for your sister, the leader of some gang in the midst of some unknown town on the east coast of the US. You remember the nights she crawled into your bed when her night terrors became too much and you missed the warmth of her slipping her arm around you as she cried into your back. You wondered how she would be getting along without you now, considering she gave you up.
The French philosopher Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer” (Barthes 2). This statement hold true for most works of literature that explore a central question. According to Barthes, literature often raises a question, but leaves it up to the reader to determine the answer. The Stranger by Albert Camus is an excellent example of how a central question, “Is there value and meaning to human life?” is raised and left unanswered, resulting in different interpretations of the answer, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Although the question is never explicitly answered, Camus offers perspectives on what French society regarded the answers to be, such as connections with others, elusion to freedom, and faith in religion and God.
Camus explanations of the Myth of Sisyphus, presented the concept of the absurd by outlining the beliefs that an individuals life has worth but only his live in a world that denies such worth to survive. Therefore, the absurdity in the statement, explains the fact of a clash between the orders through which an individuals mind hard for, likewise the lack of order that we as humans find in the world.
In “The Strangers” the theme is an individual life has no rational meaning or order. Albert Camus uses the word and actions of Meursault to show how an individual does not care about life. He creates the character as a passive and things come upon him. The quote in “The Strangers”, “To another question [the director of the home] replied that he had been surprised by my calm the day of the funeral. He was asked what he meant by "calm." The director then looked down at the tips of his shoes and said that I hadn’t wanted to see Maman, that I hadn’t cried once, and that I had left right after the funeral without paying my last respects at her grave”, This quote shows that Meursault doesn’t even have any emotion for his mother’s death and when he’s at the funeral, he act like a normal being, just moving on as it just happened. Meursault is really insensitive to things happening around him, he believes life will move on and everyone will die later on in life. Meursault watches a girl get beat and doesn’t do anything about it because he does not care and he beats the girls to. When he goes to jail for killing an Arab, he is sentenced to death but it doesn’t matter to him as he imagine
The murder of the Arab is used by Camus to compare the sun and society. Society oppresses and overpowers those who refuse to assimilate and embrace "normality." Meursault is the epitome of abnormality and is thus the main target of society's, of the sun's, wrath. “The sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me..” (58-59). The day he buried his mother he did not cry rejecting the norms of society. Not crying at his mother’s funeral caused anger and confusion which the motif of the sun burns on
The existentialism of Albert Camus is based on his view of life as the Absurd. This sense of the Absurd derives from the realization that man is destined to die, as if being punished for a crime he never committed. There is no reprieve, and this makes life absurd (Peyre). There is no God in Camus’s conception, and those who hope for an afterlife are thus to be disappointed. Camus understood that the fact that there is no God also means that there is no meaning or purpose to life outside of living life to the fullest, and that there is a destined end. The one saving grace in the world seems to be the fact that while there is no God on which man can depend, man can live as if he can depend on his fellow man, even though he and they will all die (Sprintzen). This is another absurdity, but it is based on the fact that the
Camus follows the idea of the paradox of free will in both stories in order to exemplify how no matter the choice a person makes in their life it will not let them escape death. Meursault begins the story as an emotionless human being who dares not weep at his mother 's funeral. Additionally, Meursault only focuses on the physical struggles of life like when the caretaker speaks of how “If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you risk a sweat and then catch a chill in the church” while walking (17). This reveals despite