The Stranger

    While reading Albert Camus' The Stranger, I began to think about the interpretation of the court vs. Meursault, how the court was biased not necessarily towards Meursault for killing the Arab man, but how they were biased to not focus on the actual crime, but why Meursault is the way he is. It seems a bit strange to be in a court, on a jury, be prosecuting someone, and barely mention the crime whatsoever. I just thought it seemed a bit off. The fact the prosecution focused on who Meursault is in his own head is fascinating, as a man was murdered on the beach, in a cold-blooded manner if I do say, yet the prosecution seems to not care at all. While yes, he is sentenced to death, during the trial it just seems like the main focus is on Meursault's brain, not his actions. 

Some of this though, I feel is not real. A real court in a real country would still focus on the crime taking place, and while I understand at this time and in this location the crime may have been less frowned upon, as Meursault killed an Arab man, I feel that it would not have been glossed over as much. I believe Meursault is facing his own trial in his mind throughout this half of the book, and he is asking himself why he is the way he is. Why was he acting like this? What made him do it? Why did he shoot him an extra four times? I don't even think he knows the answers to any of those questions, but he is trying to find out.

Comments

  1. MitchellNovember 21, 2022 at 2:17 PM

    I agree that this court is not quite "real" in this novel--I often describe these scenes in the courtroom as "surreal" and "absurd," and that's the effect of the superficial appearance of order, tradition, laws, testimony, judges, and juries. But within this formal context, we see a ridiculous sham of a trial that spends no time discussing the victims or even really the crime itself, apart from it being more evidence that Meursault is "weird" and makes people uncomfortable. The language of his sentence underscores this absurdity--the bizarre "exchange" wherein his head it to be removed in a public square in the name of an abstraction called "the French people."

    One effect of this ludicrous court is that we wonder if they have any capacity or authority to actually JUDGE Meursault (or anyone), let alone sentence him to death. Can they *really* understand him? Are his "reasons" for not seeming "normal" in terms of his emotional expression enough to undermine faith in the court's ability to uncover the truth? The point is not that he is "innocent" (although a case could be made for him committing this crime with basically no intention at all, either way) but that this court is not in any position to assess his guilt in any meaningful way.

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