In Albert Camus’ The Outsider, death is a structuring principle, as three deaths punctuate and define the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. Likewise, in Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s The Leopard, the Prince’s death both culminates his life and mobilizes the resolution of the novel. However, in both works, different deaths carry different weights, and are represented with varying importance. In The Outsider, while the death of Meursault’s mother death is simply passed over, the Arab’s death is afforded a full criminal trial. Similarly, The Leopard describes Fabrizio’s death much more elaborately than Tancredi’s. However, while both novels depict death unequally, they do so for different reasons. As the characters in The Outsider die in a variety …show more content…
While both novels demonstrate how representations of death invalidate and dehumanize the individual, The Outsider reduces death to its entertainment value while The Leopard reduces it to a mark of social status or rank. Although the three deaths in The Outsider neatly divide the novel into a beginning, middle, and end, they nonetheless possess vastly different weights. First of all, as Meursault’s mother dies of old age, the consequences of her death follow an extremely conventional pattern, beginning with a wake, funeral, and finally a burial. Furthermore, while friends and nurses from the retirement home mourn her, Meursault clearly does not, and reduces her death to a minute and peripheral occurrence. Meursault immediately establishes his indifference towards his mother death, as he begins the novel by stating, “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know” (Camus 9). As Meursault’s voice dictates the novel, his disregard for his mother ultimately dehumanizes her, and diminishes any true importance of her death. The Arab’s death contrasts this indifference, as it results in Meursault’s public trial and conviction. Aside from being publicized, the Arab’s death and the consequences of Meursault’s
For instance, Dally dies a hoodlum. After Johnny died Dally ran away and is upset about Johnny’s death. Dally goes to the grocery store and robbed the store and the cops go after him. Dally gets to the vacant lot the police come and shoot him until he is dead. Ponyboy reflected, “ Dally didn't die a hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday”(154). Dally is so sad that Johnny died he went out and got in trouble and died. Dally died suicidal. Conversely, Johnny died a hero. After Dally and Ponyboy and Johnny ate at Dairy Queen. They went back to the church where they were finding from the fuzz. Johnny and Ponyboy saved the kids from the burning old church. After Johnny died Ponyboy states: “But Johnny was right. He died gallant” (154). Johnny is fight even if he died at a young age it is for little kids that were going to die if nobody saved them out from the church. Therefore, Dally and Johnny died different ways. The variations of how they died set them farer apart from each
Through the difference of context, such as length and atmosphere, the author conjures this “irreal” space that can foster different reactions and feelings. It can be argued that a human death may be more impactful than that of an ordinary creature, but Sobchack claims that “the rabbit’s death ruptures the autonomous space of the fiction”, in which it “transform[s] fictional into documentary space” (170). In reality, Jureau is a manifestation of an irreal character through a real actor, and while a fictional human can die in a multitude of films and stories yet still survive by the actor, the rabbit has an existence that can only die once. Thus, with the art of cinema, the elements of the real allows viewers to be deeply engrossed and engaged in the story and its characters, even though the audience is aware that it is a fictional piece. This blurred line reiterates how the irreal is an important device in fictional storytelling.
The Scarlet Ibis is a story about quietus and certain topics that symbolize death. The story helps the reader process the nature of death, understand that death is at every corner, and furthermore show the uncertainty of knowing when death will come. Thesis: In this essay, I will discuss how the scarlet ibis and the coffin represent moments of close death finishing in an unexpected end.
Throughout the two masterfully crafted works, they allude to the concept of death in
In both the “The Tell Tale Heart”, and”The Black Cat”, the stories end with a death of a person. Some events in the murder are similar and different.
There are stories that have been written that can be similar and different in many ways. This can be seen through the story, “Death of a Moth” by Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard. Both writers share a similar topic, though their style of narration can compare and differ in many ways. A theme throughout the story is death. Both authors take on a different view of death. While death can be seen as a haunting experience or the end of a life. There are other interpretations that can be made on this one topic. Both authors have twists in their stories with different ideas, which aid to reveal their narration and expression regarding death.
One of the defining elements of literature is its universal nature. Shared between all works, whether they be ancient epics or modern novels, is a plethora of literary techniques and themes. One such element, the theme of isolation, and in some contexts, alienation, is quite evident in the unrelated, yet equally masterful novels As I Lay Dying, 1984 and The Awakening. As one will come to see, this theme of isolation, although clearly similar, differs between, and even within, the three works.
This novel contains many deaths that contribute to Remarque's belief that death is not an adventure. One profound
It depicts death as a man who has the ability to make conscious decisions, as a human would. Death is not a person, but giving it human qualities creates an air of mystery and curiosity as to why death would simply walk away or why it would stay and take a life. There is no rhyme nor reason for why death comes at a specific time or to claim a specific person.
Contrastingly, death is symbolized by two different things. In both short stories, murder is fulfilled by the
The main analysis this essay with cover is comparing how the three stories discuss and express class and heritage, as well as how death can cause people to not only think things in a different way but also how death can open your eyes to something you never would have seen otherwise. Another thing that is potentially easily missed is how each of the individuals writing styles and backgrounds affect the ground work of the stories and how they progress.
This easy-going, pleasant hedonism is interrupted permanently by Meursault's murder of the Arab on the beach. Not only is he incarcerated, but also he must examine the reality behind the illusion of his trial and, ultimately, of his life. Introspection has not been his metier. It takes him a while to realize that the judge, the jury, the journalists, even his own lawyer, do not wish him well. Meursault finally realizes that he is going to be convicted, not because he killed an Arab but because he did not mourn his mother's death.
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.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus writes about a detached yet normal man, Meursault, who encounters unusual situations that evidently leads to his demise. From cover to cover, it was established by the author that Meursault had an unusual way of thinking and that he was continuously revealing his peculiar perspective on life and death. Throughout the novel, Meursault is reminded of death and continues to be judged by everyone in the society that he lives in, for instance, when he was put on trial for shooting an Arab man. Camus writes about the main character by describing his absurdist mindset. It is through the focus of funeral scene, however, that Camus is able to formulate the values of the character and the society in which they live in. This scene was able to reveal Meursault’s perspective on life as well as death.
The story also represents spiritual death. The spiritual death is not as prevalent in the story as the