Friday, May 15, 2015

Where in Camus' The Stranger do characters try and make rational sense of Meursault's actions?

In section I of Part Two, the police question Meursault
and try--and apparently fail--to make rational sense of his statements. This is
indicated when Meursault notes in his narrative that the magistrate, to whom the police
take him next, “eyed [him] with distinct curiosity.” After this, Meursault is assigned a
lawyer who begins to try to make rational sense of Meursault’s actions starting with the
“charge of callousness” surrounding his behavior at his mother’s vigil and funeral. The
lawyer is irritated and disgusted with Meursault, especially when in reply to whether
“he could say that on that day [Meursault] had kept [his] feelings under control,”
Meursault said, “No. … That wouldn’t be true.” Meursault describes the lawyer’s reaction
as one of revulsion:



readability="8">

He gave me a queer look, as if I slightly
revolted him; then [spoke] in an almost hostile tone … . Soon after this he left,
looking quite vexed.



Finally,
after the lawyer, the magistrate re-examines Meursault. The lawyer is meant by law to be
present there with the prisoner, however, Meursault’s lawyer does not come--the
insinuation is that he stays away out of the disgust and revulsion Meursault engenders
in him. The magistrate however has permission to proceed with the examination. In a
thematically very significant scene, the magistrate, repelled by Meursault’s shocking
answers, such as,


readability="6">

I said that what I felt was less regret than a
kind of vexation—I couldn’t find a better word for it. But he didn’t seem to understand.



turns the conversation to
religion and belief in God in hopes of breaking through Meursault’s exterior to his
spiritual interior. Yet, Meursault baffles him once again by claiming atheism, thus
preventing the magistrate from making rational sense of Meursault’s actions or
beliefs.

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