About Albert Camus' The Stranger

Let me talk you all about The Stranger, an Albert Camus’ novel. I assume that everybody here has read this classic book. If you didn't i’ll give you a brief summary: Mersault is a guy that didn't cry after his mother’s death, Mersault would marry María just beacuse she wants this and not because he fell in love with her. He tells her that. Mersault kills an arab and is sent to jail (The Cure made a song about that chapter of the book). In the trial, when the judge asks him why he killed the arab, Mersault answered “because of the heat”. The attorney tells Merasult that he has to lie if he wants to save his own life. He refuses, Mersault never lies, he always tells the truth, he is an honest man that says what he thinks. At the end of the book Mersault is sentenced to death.

Albert Camus in the prologue of The Stranger’s english version said that what he wanted to do with Mersault was a modern version of Jesuscrist. Someone that was sentenced to death only for believing in the Truth.

If everyone behaved like Mersault the social building would fall apart. Because of that we need to “enter in the game”, we need the lies, the hypocrisy, the daily rituals that maintain the cohesion of human relationships.

Find The Cure's song below:
http://youtu.be/ZMqPlQgHww8