Post #4:
Meursault's behavior is very dull. He does not care about anything in his life. In my opinion, he seems as if he is just telling his story more than experiencing the events in his life. The fact that he keeps saying how things don't mean anything upsets me. He shows no emotions, and does not care about anything. This upsets me because I believe life is meaningful. Every experience we have has a meaning behind it, for the good or for the bad. Emotions also play a key role in our lives. Meursault, on the other hand, does not agree/go by my thinking. When his mom died, he did not care about it nor showed any emotions for it. Also, when Marie opened up to him about her feelings for him, he did not seem thrilled to know she loves him. He didn't even respond with an emotion; he did not tell her how he feels about her but rather said he does not know what he thinks of her. His character is very dull because there are no excitements with him. He is dry of emotions and doesn't care about anything. This makes me mad in a way because I can't stand people not caring about anything. This makes me think why they even try living each day if nothing excites them or triggers them to do something worth wild. His character also bores me because he is not entertaining with this kind of behavior. I would like to know why he is like this, whether he has always had this attitude or if an experience in his life made him this way.
Post #5:
I think Meurault does not care about anything and thinks everything is meaningless because he is existentialistic. He has an existential personality because he shows absurdity and shows no emotions for love or death. One of the pillars of existentialism is death; although, death in this context does not mean the act of dying but more of an ending. His response to his mother's passing is very dull. He tells the readers, "maman died today. Or yesturday, maybe, I don't know. That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesturday" (Camus, 3). The fact that death had no influence on him seems to be existentialistic because he could care less about her death. It means nothing to him as it is just the end of his mother's life, not his. His attitude is that death is a part of life and nothing to dwell upon. Existentialists have similar beliefs to Meursault's attitude about death.
Another pillar he shows is absurdity. Absurdity's philosophy contains existance in a meaningless world with no order. Things are illogical and sometimes untrue. Meursault shows this for he does not care about anything for everything means nothing to him. He explains, "when I was a student, I had lots ambitions....But when I had to give up studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered" (41). At a moment in his life, Meursault was living to pursue life, but after realization, he began to not care about anything. It is as if he began thinking how the world is meaningless and everything in it does not matter. He repeats himself many times how things don't mean anything. With his attitude, he is exitential.
