Overall

The main theme of a Stranger’s discussion will always be existentialism, and the one we had in class was not an exception. As the main theme of existentialism kept arising, various aspects of this movement were clearly linkable to the story. From class discussion I was able to conclude:

-Mersault did care about his mother. However his personality blinds him from feelings of dependence on others. Therefore he defies the parameters of how life should be lived.

- The book begins with his mother’s death, then there is life in the middle in which not much is told, to finally end with death. Death, life, death. You end with what you began with: nothing.

- The sun plays a vital role. Unable to express his feelings, the sun and its heat appears when situations are uncomfortable: mother’s funeral, killing the Arab, his trail. Darkness as well makes him uncomfortable.

-Killing somebody is not a crime. Mersault states death will happen regardless it doesn’t matter if it is know or later. Society sees it as a crime, he only felt like killing someone at the moment “the sun was to bright”.

-Both Mersault and his mother suffer from bed side conversion because there is no true existentialist. As animals fighting for survival of the fittest we will fear death and evade it as much as possible.

-When Mersault is going to the guillotine, he just wants it to be over as soon as possible. His existentialism just crumbled, “the day you die you can see how much of an existentialist you are.”

-The trial at the end is a metaphor of society. Mersault for the first time feels judged, he believes everybody hates him. It shows that society will always judge you for your actions and points of view.