The Stranger Blog Post #2

The story of the wealthy man and his mother really intrigued me. I was appalled that Meursault said "I thought the traveler pretty much deserved what he got and that you should never play games." I'm assuming he doesn't like deceitful people. We can tell from the book that Meursault is an honest person, not afraid to say what he really feels such as telling Marie that he doesn't love her. His opinion on the story lets us know that he finds it stupid that people like creating excitment in their lives that isn't necessary and as a result the man is punished for it. For Meursault, life pretty much has no meaning and he has no interest in getting out of the boring life that he leads because it's perfectly natural. He also refers to the story as unlikely but natural. The fact that the event happened by chance made it both unlikely and natural. And because this was so natural he didn't express any kind of emotion towards the story. This is what his whole life is about. The natural occurances of things and that they don't need any sort of analyzation or opinion.

This makes me think of our unit question: What is the right way to live life?
There is no one definition of the right way to live that will encompass everyone's life. As long as you yourself agree with the way you're living, then I say that's the right way. Meursault is completely content with living a pointless life. And for a lot of us, the key is to lead a meaningful life filled with experiences, emotions, dreams and goals. Both hold their own truths.

People say to live life everyday as if it were your last. For people like me, I would try to do something "meaningful" that will give me a surge of emotion. We base our lives on emotions. Every decision and action that we make is based on what we're feeling and how we think the decision will affect the way we feel or how others will feel. Meursault is different. He tells us that even if he dies later, he would still spend his last day the way he spends it now. The fact that he's so sure that his last day will always be one of indifference shows how much he actually believes that life is meaningless. And when I say meaningless, people would automatically think of it as a pessimistic idea because we are raised to think that we have to make something out of our lives. The mere thought of just letting the motion pass is frown upon because "we must not let our one life go to waste." This saying implies that life is valuable. Meursault's detached attitude obviously contradicts this perspective. And who is it to say that he's wrong? To us, he's stupid for wasting his life. To him, we're the stupid ones adding excess events into our lives just for the heck of triggering emotions (such as Marie's proposal and the chaplain's belief in God).