Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Mersault's Happiness in Part 1

"I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I'd been happy. Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness." (59)

In these three sentences, Mersault alludes that he had been happy throughout the events of part one. Was he actually happy, or was happiness just something he convinced himself he had, like mourning over his mother?

This seems to me to also be the first time Mersault has actually reflected on his actions. Will he become more reflective through the course of the book, as he becomes less happy?

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