Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Stranger - Cultural Journal Compiliation

I tracked Meursault's cigarettes throughout these first two chapters. They are all over the novel, but from the very beginning those cigarettes are being part of his character. Where ever he is, funeral or home, he is smoking.

"I drank the coffee,and then I wanted a cigarette. But I wasn’t sure if I should smoke, under the circumstances—in Mother’s presence. I thought it over; really, it didn’t seem to matter, so I offered the keeper a cigarette, and we both smoked." (7)

This passage develops Meursault's apathetic stance towards social norms, such as showing grief and respect at one's mother's funeral!

"I slept until ten. After that I stayed in bed until noon, smoking cigarettes."
His life seems rather boring. For two whole hours he smoked cigarettes. Either he was savoring them or chain smoking for 'entertainment'.

"The first few days were really tough. That may be the thing that was hardest for me. I would suck on chips of wood that I broke off my bed planks."

Meursault likes his cigarettes. Is it addiction or the sole fact that he is denied something he had as a free man? Probably a mixture of both.

"The policemen told me we had to wait for the judges and one of them offered me a cigarette, which I turned down"

I believe this is the last mention of cigarettes in the novel. I am probably mistaken, but another re-read will prove it. Anyway, ever after Meursault is offered a part of his free life back he rejects it. Indifference is quite the powerful little tool.

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