Journal #15: Part Two

Hola.

• The very first thing I noticed about Part One vs Part Two was the abrupt and dramatic change that takes place. The first part of The Stranger is Meursault's life; how he lives his life to its not-fullest (because he's so apathetic it almost disgusts me). The second part is Meursault's life after he, ya know, commits MURDER- but this is all obvious. Is there something more to the drastic change that occurs in the book between the two parts?
• There was also the young man and his mother that Meursault takes note of during one of Marie's visits. It was a little strange, because I couldn't quite grasp what was actually going on during this particular scene; Camus describes so many things all at once. I did, however, manage to pick up on a few nuances that may be of some relevance. The mother was there to visit her son, I believe, and almost the entire time, they simply stare at each other in silence. Meursault describes it curiously;
• "The man on my left, a small young man with delicate hands, wasn't saying anything, I noticed that he was across from the little old lady and that they were staring intently at each other." (76)
• "The young man and his mother were still staring at each other." (76)
• "The only oasis of silence was next to me where the small young man and the old woman were gazing at each other." (76-77)
• "The little old woman moved closer to the bars, and at the same moment a guard motioned to her son. He said, "Goodbye, Maman," and she reached between two bars to give him a long, slow little wave." (77)
• I find Meursault's description peculiar because of the strong parallelism to his relationship with his own mother. It seemed, to me at least, that Meursault didn't have an especially strong connection with his mother. Look at how he acted when she died- but yet again, that may just be Meursault being his apathetic self. The part I find interesting is when the young man's mother leaves him imprisoned. Here's where the whole philosophical thing comes into play. Meursault's mother dies, and is therefore freed of the burdens of life. Meursault is left behind, still trapped in the world he cares nothing about. In a strange way, this connects with the concept of absurdism, and therefore existentialism- both of which Camus was very into. Interesting....

Esto es todo. Buenas noches.