Today was more challenging for me than
yesterday, but I had already thought that it would be. I read some of the day’s
reflection questions before class started, and I felt like I was stuck on the
guilt one. I’m still kind of stuck on it.
What was the meaning of guilt? Placing
guilt on Mersault allowed the people in the courtroom to what? What was the
point of attacking his character? Make him inhuman so they don’t have to
understand him? He never felt remorse, “Monsieur Antichrist?” it’s kind of
funny because neither side understood him. Not the prosecutor or his lawyer.
There was a point though that he “realized he was guilty.” But only after
noticing the attitudes of the people in the room who believed him to be.
How can someone or a group of people as
insignificant or equal to Mersault decide if he was guilty? This reminds me of
one of my favorite Killers songs. It’s called, “Don’t Shoot Me Santa.” It
highlights the ridiculousness of Santa being able to judge character and
distribute punishments or rewards accordingly.
But I definitely think that killing someone should have some sort of
punishment or is a crime that should be accountable to someone/something. Oh,
but it was so easy to identify with him in the second part. When he spoke of
wanting to cry, I could feel his desperation. I wanted to say something too,
but like him I wouldn’t know what to say. And his affection for Celeste in that
moment was something I felt as well.
Anyways, class today was fun, but also
frustrating. I felt like there were multiple ways to interpret the text to find
Camus’s thesis. I don’t know if I chose the right one. If there is a right one.
We also discussed such big subjects that
it was hard to find words or time to fill all of them. There are still 25 days
of class left though. There is still hope.
Or is there?
When I first read The Stranger, I had some trouble with definitions of guilt. We tend to use it in everyday speech to replace the word "remorseful" but the legal definition is whether you've actually committed a crime or not.
ReplyDeleteIn a way the outcome of Mersault's trial would never have been any different - he confessed to shooting the arab, five times even, he should be seen guilty in the eyes of the law. What I wonder is that if Mersault felt guilty in the sense that he could not escape his fate (of going to prison or sent to the guillotine) or if he truly felt remorseful for killing a man.
Then again, if he did it might only be because it had inconvenienced him :P
Oh, well in that case, I'm pretty sure that he did not feel remorseful for killing the man.
ReplyDelete