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Literary Analysis: "The Stranger" and "The House of the Spirits"

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The novels The Stranger and The House of the Spirits have distinctly different plots. The authors of the books have different styles and techniques used to create their vision of a great story. In The Stranger by Albert Camus and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, the characters, Meursault and Esteban Garcia are established as socially distant from their associates. They have neither emotion nor remorse for anything they have done. These characters are only connected to each other through this one flaw aside the difference of individual character. The authors have built their characters in such a way, in order to incorporate an outcast in their novels.
Albert Camus sets the character known as Mersault to be his one outlier.
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It is clear that there is no attachment to Maman although she was Mersault’s mother. Not only is Maman his mother but the only relative he knows. Therefore, he should at least have some grief towards her.
Camus then places a second woman in the life of Mersault. Camus’ line of reasoning is to indicate Mersault’s unemotional characterization. Camus uses Marie to further characterize Mersault. Marie is a test of Mersault’s ability to love or contain emotion. Mersault is not in love with his girlfriend, Marie. There is no surprise since he seems to have no feelings. He has no care in the world to love her. When “she asked [him] if [he] loved her, [he] said that sort of question had no meaning” (35). It seems that Mersault only has a sexual desire for Marie. Every time Mersault had seen Marie especially in her bikini, he “wanted her so bad” (34). Marie is treated like a piece of meat. This impression is given from the constant “fondling of her breast” (20) yet having “no meaning” (35) to love her. Marie also “asks if [he] wanted to marry her” (41). Mersault, incessantly, felt no care for marriage because “it didn’t make any difference to [him]” (41). “[He] would have accepted the same proposal from any other woman, whom [he] was involved in the same way” (42). Marriage has no importance to Mersault because it is not “a serious thing” (42) to him. He doesn’t deny marriage with Marie but he also will not care if they were not to be married.
Mersault can be
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