Empathy In Ella Berthoud And Susan Elderkin's The Novel Cure

Reading is such an old, and timeless pastime that is enjoyed by many. Literature is not only something to help one to become more educated, or be used for entertainment, but it also can be used as therapy for those who need it. According to Walter E. Sawyer in his book Growing Up with Literature, bibliotherapy is simply a therapy for treating bodily disorders using books. Bibliotherapy began its work with librarians and teachers over a half-century ago and was created by David Russell and Caroline Shrodes. They have said that bibliotherapy is a process when the reader and the literature interact. Patricia Cianciolo also agreed with this idea and said that books help children understand more about human behavior, find interests outside oneself, and relieve stress in a controlled manner. She said that books could also help a person resolve problems for an individual personally, and help a reader find insight on their own behavior. The important factor in using bibliotherapy is to find books that will keep a child’s interest, age appropriate, and relate to the interests and motivation needs for the reader. Charlotte Huck and Barbara Kiefer also believed that bibliotherapy can be used for helping children with everyday anxiety and fears. They believe that in order to use bibliotherapy in this way, that there are three stages. The first stage is called identification, where the reader relates to the character in the literature. The next stage is called catharsis, which means to

During the trial his lawyer asks, “Is he being accused of burying his mother or of killing a man?” (Camus 93). This question showing how the court or society was judging him based on “exposing the dark workings of this criminal soul” (Camus 96), as opposed to the arbitrary shooting. The murder was not malicious. He only killed the man as a response to “a red hot blade gnawing at [his] eyelashes” (Camus 60). Although Meursault speaks the truth he is judged by a system which does not recognise his moral code. This system views murder as immoral regardless of the intention, whilst Meursault sees no shame in his action as it wasn’t borne from malice. In effect he is convicted for not conforming. In the Afterword Camus says “the hero of the book is condemned because he doesn’t play the game” (Camus 118). Meursault pulled the trigger out of tension from the heat and was not out of revenge or hatred towards the Arab.

While the three men are walking on the beach, they encounter two Arabs, one of whom is Raymond’s former mistress’s brother. Eventually, Meursault ends up in prison for shooting Raymond’s mistress’ brother without reason. Meursault’s lawyer is shocked by his lack of remorse and grief for both his crime, and his mother’s death. Upon being labeled as “Monsieur Antichrist” by the magistrate, Meursault starts viewing himself as an outsider. The time he spends in prison helps him adjust to his seclusion from women, cigarettes, and nature, and he eventually learns to live without them.

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions to things like his mother’s death, Marie’s love, and the man he killed. Most people in his town, along with the reader at first, are not able to reason out his actions but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light.

Throughout the novel, we see him being apathetic towards the people of the society, his mother, his girlfriend, and his neighbors. He does not seem to care too much about social norms. He views the world from a different perspective. He stands for what he believes in. He does not get overwhelmed with any types of emotions. Although sometimes he does try to view the world as others do, but maybe that is too late for him to do. Before his execution, the Chaplain comes to try to make him believe in the faith, pray for forgiveness but he refuses how he refused the magistrate. He does not think it is a necessary thing for him to do. He does not support the idea of forcefully believing something. At the very end of the novel he says, "For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration" (Camus, 75). The quote is said by Meursault as he feels that he deserves the disdain of the society because he is different from others. Literary element tone is noticeable in this quote as it shows the change of the emotion of Meursault. He does not think the same way as the people in his society does. He is an outcast and he knows that is why he is being punished for it. He truly believes that on the day of his

At the beginning of the chapter we gain insight to Meursault’s fear of death. He mentions that if he had paid more attentions to executions then “Maybe [he] would have found some accounts of escape in them” (108) implying that he fears dying and wants to find a way to avoid this fate. Meursault even recalls the story his mother told of his father going to see an execution. This story allowed Meursault to realize that “there was nothing more important than an execution” (110) displaying that Meursault thought he should have better followed his father's actions and then maybe he wouldn't be so near death. Overall, Meursault's fear allows us to see that he does fear death and therefore has more feelings than he lets on.

Meursault was introduced as a young man whom recently found out his mother, Maman, died. He was not the most emotional person, but he dealt with his feelings the best he knew how. Meursault lived his life on the verge of truth and honesty. He was honest within every aspect of life, from women to freedom. He was never certain about anything in life ,but one thing he was sure of, death was inevitable. After murdering an Arab, he was on trial in front of many people being interrogated with many questions about why he did what he did, but also to evaluate his psyche about the situation. Unlike others, Meursault did not hide from the truth and that is what others could not cope with. Living his life the way others were afraid to, Meursault was the outcast in his society.

Meursault suffers throughout the novel, and fails to overcome the negative events in his life. When Meursault’s mother dies many people who were close to her-for example Monsieur Pérez-were very solemn, but Meursault did not show much emotion; “... Pérez’s face… Big tears of frustration and exhaustion were streaming down his cheeks… Then there was the church and red geraniums on the graves in the cemetery… the incessant drone of the motor, and my joy when the bus entered the nest of lights that was Algiers” (18). Meursault speaks about Pérez’s pain in short sentences, and then quickly describes the environment around him. He emotes joy when the bus comes, even though it is still the day of his mother’s funeral. Camus’ style of short sentences shows Meursault’s lack of emotion which prohibits him from finding meaning in his suffering; “But, in the first place, it isn’t my fault if they buried Maman yesterday instead of today, and second, I would have had Saturday and Sunday off anyway. Obviously, that still doesn’t keep me from understanding my boss’s point of view” (19). He will not speak about any pain or negative emotions resulting from this event. As the novel continues, he commits a murder, is put on trial, and then sent to be executed. Meursault is constantly suffering, but he continues to stay unattached to his emotions and suffering. When he is about to be executed, he states that the only thing he has left is the end of

Meursault cannot make a decision. When he is given a gun by Raymond he did not know how to react to holding the gun. When he murders the Arab, the situation does not affect him in any way. This shows that Meursault doesn't know the meaning of life. This shows someone who is unable to do a meaningful act. Meursault killing of the Arab was an act out of no reason. He states the sun and heat was his motive for killing the Arab. He does not show any emotion toward the situation. This also shows that he is an anti-hero.

Meursault begins The Stranger devoid of human sympathy and emotions. He demonstrates such blank indifference in the situation when Raymond brutally beats his girlfriend. Marie “asked [Meursault] to go find a policeman, but [he] told her [he] didn 't like cops.” (Camus, 36) When encountering cruel domestic violence, he shows no feelings of sympathy or disgust. He has no motivation to act, allowing a mere dislike of police to trump his ability to end senseless conflict. Meursault also murders a man in cold blood. Not only does he whimsically allow the mere shine of sunlight to give him justification to end a man’s life, he further illustrates a lack of human emotion, calmly firing “four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace.” (Camus, 59) He remains the same blank slate, without any regret or sadness for what he has done nor fear of the consequences. Although Meursault looks human, he is clearly monstrous and lacks all emotions commonplace to people.

Professor Paul Bloom states he is against empathy. He believes it is wrongfully used in our society and should not be used in certain situations. He still thinks it is important sometimes, but should not be primarily used as a result of anger, depression or retaliation. He believes compassion is the solution to empathy. In the long run, Bloom states that empathy will fail or burnout in a person. Hannah the extremely empathic person will eventually burnout according to Bloom. The use of empathy everyday as a core moral code will eventually be overwhelming and burned out and used up. The person will change direction and use empathy less in their lifetime. This essay will explore Paul Bloms opinion of empathy in his article, “Against

The overall purpose of this article is to show how empathy and emotional experiences are linked. This article also gives various theories and ideas by world renowned psychologists. The theme of this article is how much empathy we have toward others in social experiences. A few new ideas and purposes of this article were when they talked about all the different Theories based on appraisal and empathy in certain situations. It’s really important to publicize these ideas because for one this stuff is very interesting, it could help others discover new approaches to situations, and it would very well help people themselves deal with empathy.

Meursault in all his peculiarness could not have made for a more dulling, yet interesting character. From the beginning when he doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral to the moment we figure out why his story is very compelling to read though numbing. The height of the story starts, when his nonchalant attitude gets him involved with the wrong people by writing a letter to some girl for a friend, both of which, he could probably care less about; the climax then occurs when on a happy day, on a beach with his “fiance”, Raymond, Masson, and his wife. The Arab men come in contact with him and cut up Raymond for what he did but neglect to leave the beach while Meursault and his group do. Later, then, for no apparent reason he leaves the house with the gun to go have a talk with the Arab with the knife on the

The Stranger is not like most typical short stories. Albert Camus, who is the author of The Stranger, created Meursault as this sociopathic character who is honest about his feelings and is detached from society. He can be perceived as nonchalant, passive, dispassionate, and robotic throughout majority of the story. He is not aware of the actions he make, his moods are dictated by powers of Nature, he does not see the difference between being in love and being in lust, he is very attentive to the smallest details, he adamantly refuses to believe life after death, and he mask his calmness about death as well. As the story progressed, Meursault undergo many different events that evolved him into a different character.

Durkheim explains this concept as weaking of traditional ties, collective values and common beliefs that had bound the individual to the society resulting the crisis of the modern society. Accordingly to the Durkheim’s concept in the story we can see that Meursault’s main cause for his death sentence is his ifluence from the Anomie rather than murder. In the eyes of the society his indifference to his mother’s death or his refusal to marrying to Marie are more bigger and notorious crimes because of the dangers of these actions’ toward the very fabric of society. It can be observed in the story that even though he acted as self defence his punishment is far more excessive for his action. In the end, we can say that he was punished for being a threat to society or traditional values not for murdering an