Journal #15

        Camus decides to split The Stranger into two parts because he wanted to identify the two significant "modes" of Meursault's life. In Part One, Meursault is honest to himself, indifferent, and nonjudgmental. In Part Two, these characteristics are not dependent on him or his nature. He's the object and it's society's turn to judge him in the form of the trial.
        I believe that Camus also parallels these two parts by illustrating the similarities in Meursault's life pre and post-murder. Meursault's strange attraction to patterns and repetition is shown in Part One when he describes how "[t]here was a stack of freight invoices that had piled up on my desk, and I had to go through them all. Before leaving the office to go to lunch, I washed my hands. I don't really like doing this at lunchtime" (25). Meursault expresses this cycle of actions he goes through and although he doesn't like doing it, he still follows his pattern. Likewise, in Part Two, Meursault's time in jail leads to his life becoming "the same unending day that was unfolding in [his] cell" (Camus 80). Meursault's pattern of his recreational walks and thinking time in his cell and other things show how even within his cell, Meursault is still following a repetitious lifestyle. Camus illustrates this parallel in order to show how Meursault is still the same character.

Another parallel that occurs between the two parts is the continuation of Meursault's priority of physical needs over his personal feelings. An example of this in Part One, when Meursault's physical need of sleep overpowers his desire to stay awake. This is evident when "the smell of gasoline, the glare of the bumpy road" cause Meursault to "doze off" (4). Meursault's experiences with Marie also demonstrate how he disregards his personal feelings for the sexual thrill he feels with Marie. This is significant in Part Two as Meursault tells the reader exactly what they've been suspecting for half of the book. He says that "[his] nature was such that [his] physical needs often got in the way of [his] feelings" (65). He understands how to play society's game, but he still allows physical discomfort to guide his actions as the magistrate questions him. He realizes that he must answer intelligently, but ultimately tells the magistrate that "[he] felt kind of annoyed" in order to escape from the heat (70).

Sidenote - On page 76, an Arab says, "Goodbye, Maman." Does this mean that Meursault DID love his mother? Maman wasn't the name of his mother, but an affectionate Arab term for "mother". Maybe Camus was either showing how Meursault was similar to the Arabs or how race wasn't the reason for the other Arab's death. Cool beans.