The Stranger: tarjeta de la tema

Themes:
-Death should not be feared because it is imminent.
-The act of independent thought is the mark of an individual and therefore of human consciousness.

Subjects:
-Alienation
-Death
-Consciousness
-Indifference
-Judgement

Conflicts:
-Man vs. court
-Man vs. society
-Conformity vs. individualism

Vehicles:
-Imagery
-Paradox
-Irony
-Flashback

Quotes:
-"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything Maybe it was yesterday."

-"Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd llife I'd lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled everything that was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living."

-I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I wasn't dissatisfied with mine here at all.

-She said, “If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.” She was right. There was no way out.

-A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so.

Summary:
-Camus' novel opens up with the death of the narrator's mother. From a start, readers realize that he is different and completely unaffected by his mother's death. He goes through a series of obstacles which end up in society questioning his moral values towards the end. He starts dating his girlfriend and questionable fiancee Marie, becomes entangled in the middle of a confrontation between his neighbor, Raymond, and his strumpet and her Arab brother, and ends up shooting the Arab. This all leads to a trial where the magistrate, prosecutor, and chaplain become misled in their assumptions about Meursault's morals. The novel ends with the death of Merusault.

Major Characters:
-Raymond
-Arab
-Perez
-the prosecutor
-the chaplain
-the magistrate
-Marie
-Meursault

Title's Significance:
-The title, The Stranger, is exemplary of the relationship between Meursault and society, as well as Meursault and himself. To both himself and society, he is a stranger because makes a decision to not conform or follow any rules.