Chapters 4-6
Group 1
Maggie -- love is complex. Page 34-35 "I wanted her so bad." But Meursault focuses on her looks.
He only loves her looks, not really an emotional connection. If it's based only on looks, is that
what love is?
Why would she want to marry him if he doesn't really love her?
Nikita -- Maybe Meursault doesn't know what real love is.
Kevin -- He just doesn't care what happens in the relationship.
Maggie -- is there some previous relationship that marred his ability to love?
Vicky -- Maybe that's why he reacted so carelessly to his mother's funeral.
Iqra -- He's not afraid of something new, he just likes how his life presently is. He likes the old;
marriage would be something completely different.
Emily -- No depth to Marie and Meursault. A very surface-level relationship.
Nikita -- "Oh, I'm hungry right now." he says
Vicky -- Salamano loves his does. He is a character capable of love. He lost his wife and now loves
his dog.
Maggie -- This changed my perspective of Salamano. He is capable of love. Page 39 "For some
reason I thought of Maman." Why does Salamano's tears make Meursault think of his mother?
Emily -- Meursault feels guilt for NOT feeling for his mother. He should feel sad like Salamano, but
he does not.
Nikita -- Salamano needed the dog because he was lonely. But he also says "he got used to the
dog." Is he lonely or loving? Are these the same things?
Iqra -- Salamano and Meursault do not know the meaning of love. They've gotten used to having
somebody there with them, but there's no respect for those people in their lives. Meursault
doesn't respect Marie and wouldn't be able to handle a relationship
Emily -- Meursault likes when someone else is there. His relationship to Marie is lust.
Vicky -- He feels lonely, and wanted to be alone. He put his mother in a home.
Nikita -- Perhaps Meursault wanted to be with his mom. He seemed used to his relationship with
her in the apartment.
GROUP 2
Alex -- Most characters are content with their lives and don’t want change. Marie, however,
wants to get marriage and seems to want change. Meursault is motivated by Marie to go to
Paris.
Geena -- Meursault acts on a whim rather than thinks about consequences and change.
Billy -- Salamano is aware of change in his life. He's aware of how the loss of his dog is going to
change his life in the future.
Nick -- He doesn't think of consequences. Nothing seems to bother him, all seems trivial. He will
testify for his friend. Shoots the Arab.
Priya -- Ambition for Meursault doesn't really matter.
Geena -- Meursault is caught on the idea that people don't change, but life does. ?????
Live do change, though.
Jeff -- What is M.'s motivation for change? Does he have any motivation for change? He's just
going through the motions. Why does he go about living his life in this way?
Billy -- Everyone is aware of how Meursault's life should change. Even Meursault, but he just
doesn't change.
Nick -- He says what he says out of bitterness, not happiness. There's a lot that seems to upset
him outside of his control. Not even aware of them
Alex -- He's aware of changes, but not aware of their effects.
Billy -- Raymond is similarly unaware of the consequences of his actions, like beating the Arab or
fighting his wife.
Geena -- Raymond is blinded by anger. He doesn't think about what he does, he just does it.
Nick -- The events that occur in this book are not easily predicted by the characters. How much
time lapses between events? Marie probably didn't expect Raymond to come back with a
slashed lip and arm.
Mr. Catapano -- Why is Meursault happy, then killing the Arab introduces unhappiness?
Alex --He has been comfortable in his life.
Geena -- He is very balanced and is content with predictability. Things happen to other people,
but not him. And he likes things not happening to him.
Nick -- He is content with being lazy. Prefers small actions, day to day "ordinary" activities. He is
content, but not happy. (Is there a difference between the two?)
Billy -- He was going to get married, but then immediately shoots the Arab.
Jeff -- Is there some connection between the Arab's death and his mother's death?
Miller -- The book focuses on the theme of death. Meursault is just walking around oblivoius, but
death is all around. Meursault is either unaware or totally accepting of death.
Lori -- He is unaware of change and how it effects his life. He doesn't seem to realize that killing
the Arab destroys his chance for marriage and a future with Marie.
Alex -- Actually, that's the first time he recognizes change. He is "knocking on the door of
unhappiness."
Lori -- But he still ignores the consequences and carries through with the action anyway.
Krystina -- He's not aware of his actions until he shoots the Arab.
Nick -- Just going through the motions and not going out of his way to do anything new. Getting
married is just perhaps another way of "spicing up his life."
Jeff -- Could the walking on the beach symbolize his sort of willingness and recognition of change?
Billy -- The scene on the beach is like a chemical reaction. A building up of emotion. He is
stimulated by Marie, the heat, and it "exploded" upon the Arab.
Maggie -- Could there be any relation between the nurse being an Arab and the Arab he shot? Is
he connecting something to the death of his mother?
GROUP 3
He thinks he's better off the way he is
Ricky -- Meursault's definition of happy is not the same as our definition. This allows him to
organize and use his emotions differently.
Lori -- He defines happiness as "nothing going wrong directly with him." Even when his mom dies
he's not unhappy because it doesn't affect him.
Ricky - He doesn't have a "jump for joy" happiness. This makes his character much shallower.
Nothing much to read about.
Varun -- He always talks about how he feels happy when he's peaceful. Nothing major is
happening.
Mariana -- There's only one part where he actually says he's happy. "We were happy."
Carter -- If he says "we were happy" it's only because Marie is, that makes him happy.
Ricky -- Carter means that Meursault is dependent on other's happiness.
Lori -- Perhaps Meursaul was like us, but something must have happened. What would he be like
if he didn't give up his ambitions?
Mariana -- He would be a lot different
Ricky -- Is Meursault stoic and will eventually burst into tears, or is he totally emotionless
Monil -- He is probably preparing for something
Ashley -- He is satisfied, but never truly happy.
Lori -- Ordinary is his happy (disagrees with Monil, it seems)
Kelsey -- Is it only Marie's physical appearance that makes him happy?
Zach -- There's no real emotion. There's nothing that goes deper than her looks,
Catapano -- How does happiness influence Meursault's murder?
Zach -- He's taking revenge of Raymond
Ricky -- He shot him 4 times for good measure
Varun -- It seemed like his reaction to the senses of the moment stimulated him to do it.
Ashley -- When Marie is happy, he's happy, so when Raymond is unhappy, Meursault is too and
commits murder.
Ricky -- Marie's character allows Meursault to be that distant character. (Does this mean that he
needs someone's approval of love and commitment to be the way he is? What if he had no one?
Eric -- page 59 "shattered his happiness." By shooting the Arab he feels he broke the feeling of
happiness because he knew he was going to get into trouble.
Ricky -- Maybe he recognizes that his window for happiness is closing.
Catapano -- How much of this is a decision for him? Did he choose to murder?
Ashley -- it just happened. So much was going on around him.
David -- Why would he make the decision to approach the Arab? He had to have known what
would happen? I think that he confuses physical feeling with emotion. He doesn't understand
his emotion, but connects his thoughts to his senses and mistakes the two. The murder resulted
from him blurring physical discomfort with emotional.
Lori -- Meursault is happy in what he considers happy so far, but he's afraid of change. He doesn't
care about Marie's or his boss's offers. He's just afraid of the change that will be forced upon him
once he's convicted of his murder.
Group 4
David -- First person narrative. The main character's thoughts and feelings are the main thing.
We learn about the other characters through the main character. This book is actually the
opposite, though. We don't learn about Meursault himself, but learn more about him from the
way the characters interact with him. (Do we learn about Meursault from his lack of self
description?)
Krystina -- There are lots of details. He's shy and quiet, it seems.
Kelsey -- He rarely shows how he is feeling. He only describes what he is looking at, and we have
to infer what he is feeling.
Maggie -- He only looks at things and doesn't think or feel about them in depth.
Aaron -- most of his details are minor and insignificant to the story. Nothing that affects the plot.
Rachel -- He leaves out a lot of detail about people. Can't infer about their internal feelings. Only
observes their external appearances.
David -- The LACK of emotional description actually helps progress the story line. We have to infer
more.
Kelsey -- We and he are oblivious to his feelings. He never says how he feels. He goes with the
flow. There's really not much thought about his actions.
Aaron -- That's why he doesn't promote change in the story -- he doesn't think about it. Nothing
big picture.
David -- For this story to be good, he has to change as a person. The writing style might also
change. Perhaps it will become more of a customary, traditional focus on writing, not just
moment-to-moment description.
Alison -- The way he talks is just the same thing over and over again. He only describes what he
sees.
Aaron -- …and only give simple, one word answers to everything. Does he realize he makes the
connection between things (like how the sun is same as it was during his mother's funeral).
David -- Physical descriptions are ery important to him because in a way he is describing his
emotional state.
Alison -- He has NOTHING else to do. There's nothing inside that he cares about, so he focuses on
externals.
Kelsey -- He feels little for his mom.
Rachel -- He's trying to suppress the feelings.
David -- He doesn't reveal much about himself. He did perhaps have ambitions, and maybe those
will come up again.
Krystina -- The only way we'll find out about him is if he sees things and connects things that
relate to his past.
Kelsey -- There's very little discussion of what he will do in the future. Just day by day.
Vicky -- Meursault spends a long time describing a woman instead of things. Is there some
significance in that?
Krystina -- but then he forgets about her a few minutes later.
Aaron -- He is just going through the motions every day. This description of the woman is a
representation of himself through someone else.
Kelsey -- Meursault only listens to Salamano's sad story. There's no advice or feedback. Salamano
had a lot of feelings for his dog, but then again it connects back to Meursault and his mother who
didn't feel anything. This is an important contrast that reveals Meursault and how he's different
from others.
Aaron -- He does the same thing when he listens to Raymond and just easily agrees.
Alison -- He's never actually had a close relationship, so he doesn't know how to react
If Mersorult is happy, is he justified in his apathy?
Are there any negative consequences for Ms apathy & self-centeredness
Could the murder be a cry out for something to happen,
-Is it possible that he is unhappy in his" happiness" & happy in his "unhappiness"?
-t town rich do we trust him as a narrator? He says he's not guilty, but he acts like it what is the
role of Death in Port At, since it begins and ends with it. Are these deaths brought about the
some way? Responded to? Justified?
Is Mersault justified in his murder? Was he at) act red ? what was the real stimulus?
Does Mersuult think he is justified in the murder?