Too Little is Too Much

After I finished reading this novel today I began to think about the ending of the novel. It was a rather vague finale. We never really knew what ended happening to Mersault. Was he condemned to die? Was his appeal approved? What happened to Marie and the other characters? Really it doesn't matter, and it really isn't relevant to the story at all. Truthfully, no one really cares, because it wont change the meaning of the story. Whatever happens after Mersault's revelation in the end, is just meaningless. 

"As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really—I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (Pg. 123)  

The point Camus had by finishing the story this way, I believe is to emphasize on Mersault's acceptance of himself. To accentuate on his formation as a person, when he truly realized whom he is and accepts it. Mersault grasps the fact that he indeed is a stranger to society; that he is repudiated by it. He finds that he is happy with how he has decided to live life all along, and comprehends society's hate towards him. This gap in the novel highlights the actual meaning of the book. It reveals society's judgmental opinions and ideals. How in the end life is meaningless. How everything that happened throughout the book was pointless. The lack of information in the end just emphasizes the true meaning of the book. 

And So, What's Your Reason?

Human beings are creatures that live for a reason. People grasp onto something that gives life a meaning: a reason to keep on living Some people bind to love, others to adventure, and others to God. Everyone's opinions differ, and there is no one that can tell you how to live your life. 

Monsieur Mersault, has a rather odd view for life. Through out the book, I've noticed he only describes what's going on and lives for the moment. That is his way of living his life. He doesn't seem to feel. He doesn't seem to care. It doesn't mean he is a terrible person, or that he should be punished. It means he's just not the same as everyone else, and there is nothing wrong with that.  "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed." (Pg. 24) Here you can see that Monsieur Mersault just lives. He doesn't worry about what has happened, or what will happen in the future. He focuses solely on the present and no more. Even if it was something as significant as death, his view on life can be clearly be seen with his simple and vague reaction to Maman's death. 

Mersault is honest. He doesn't feel and doesn't care. What he has to say, he says it. Mersault doesn't feel the need to hide is lack of feelings with lies. "A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad." (Pg. 35)  That's just the way he "rolls", and so that's why he is seen to the world as The Stranger, an outsider. Someone not belonging in this moral society that we call earth. So what's your reason to live? Think about it carefully, because maybe, just maybe, you will be considered a stranger too.

The Green Color of Hope

Green. Green is the color that takes the image of dream in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald mentions this color through different parts of the novel. "I saw that I was not alone...He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and as far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock." (Pg. 26)  Here, the reference to the color Green is implicit. Fitzgerald mentions the color at the end of Daisy's dock and how Gatsby tries to reach for it, however he leaves its meaning vague and unmentioned. Here, what the reader can infer later through out the book, is that this light represents Gatsby's love for Daisy. How the light is the object he simbolizes as Daisy, as if Daisy herself were the unreachable green light. It becomes the symbol of Gatsby's desire and how he tries to reach it. 

The color is once again mentioned in the end. 
"I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for the Dutch sailor's eyes-a fresh, green beast of the new world...Gatsby belived in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther." 

Fitzgerald use of the same color for both quotes, can make the reader infer that both symbols mean the same thing. Daisy and Gatsby's story represent the american dream itself and how an average american tried to reach it by uselessly but optimistically trying to transform their desires into a reality, portraying Daisy as the golden girl, or in other words the american dream. Therefore, if Daisy represents the american dream, and the green light represents Daisy: The green light is representation of the pursuit for American Dream.