Journal #4 Stranger

Meursault and the end of The Stanger comes to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what you do in life because eventually everyone dies.  He also believes that you shouldn't be afraid of death but embrace and accept it. I think that Camus wanted people to not be afraid of death. He also wanted them to choose their own path in life regardless of what others think of them.

Journal #3

I believe Camus split The Stranger  into 2 parts to show how Mersault acts, behaves, and thinks differently after he murders the Arab.  In part 1 Mersault thoughts/actions are based on a day to day mindset, meaning he lives for today rather than the future.  This can be seen when Mersault turns down the job opportunity in Paris. In part 1 Mersault neglects to really reflect on his past, but is given plenty of time to do so when he's in jail in part 2. Also in part 2 Mersault essentially gives up life and just goes with the flow of things.  By the end of the story Mersault is happy for his upcoming death and hoped that there was "a larger crowd of spectators" and that he is greeted with "cries of hate" (Camus 123)

Journal #2 Stranger

I believe Sun/light is a symbol for how others views Mersault.  The sun is always on Mersault and it seems like he's the only one being affected by it. He is always being "Judged" by the sun and this stresses Mersualt out along with making him confused on what to do. This develops the theme that society has a certian set of standards that are to be followed.  The can be tied into how Mersault doesn't have a religion and that society looks down on that.

Journal #1 Stranger

Police officer in the beginning of Chapter 4:
The police officer comes into the story when Raymond is beating up his ex-girlfriend. He arrives to see what was going on in Raymond's room.  But instead of taking Raymond to jail he mealy tells him to wait in his room until he was summoned to the police station.  The office made no real direct attempt to help the girl.  Camus created this character to show how the loose the justice system was at the time.

The strange woman at Celeste's restaurant:
 A strange woman walks over to Mersault and asks if she could sit with him.  After Mersault says yes she orders her entire meal at once.  She then adds up the cost for her meal and gets the exact amount out of her purse. She continues to do other odd things during the meal before she gets up and leaves without a word.  Camus created this character to contrast the personality of Mersault.  Camus goes into detail on everything the woman does, and creates her to be a very organized person.  She also has distinct purpose in her actions.

Raymonds ex-girlfriend
She is being attacked by Raymond early in chapter 4.  When the cop arrives he doesn't seem to pay much attention to her.  When she told the cop that Raymond had attacked her he basically shrugged it off and gave Raymond a slap on the wrist.  Camus also didn't give this character a name.  Camus does this to show how little voice women had in society, and to demonstrate what was basically socially acceptable.  He did this to also show how women were treated in the justice system.