Wednesday, October 4, 2017

The Hypocrisy of Raymond in, "The Stranger", by Albert Camus

When reading "The Stranger", I quickly came to the conclusion that the characters in the story were aimless and indifferent to how people perceived them. I came to that conclusion primarily based off of the way in which the protagonist, Meursault, handles the death of his mother and his reactions people's attempts to console him. However as I continued to read I realized that I was wrong when I assumed that all the characters shared an aimlessness in regards to life. While that indifference to life is very prominent in Meursault's point of view, I realized when reading about Raymond, that other characters in the story are more driven to appear as moral and likable.

My first take on Raymond was that he was simply a hypocrite. After reading about the abuse he inflicts on his girlfriend combined with his utter disgust directed at Salamano for beating his dog I saw Raymond as an awful, but a very simple minded person. I treated his ability to differentiate the beating of the dog and his own beating of his girlfriend as arrogance and inflated ego but after finishing Chapter Three I believe that Raymond's ability to differentiate the two acts of violence are a deep rooted attempt within himself to justify his actions.

Throughout Raymond's dinner conversations with Meursault, he is continually trying to justify beating his girlfriend for her affair. From this attempt at justification, I realized that Raymond actually shows a true caring for how the world views him. While he may be trying to justify it to himself as well, It is important for Raymond that Meursault also acknowledges his actions as a practical reaction and in turn change Raymond from a ego inflated hypocrite, to an awful person who despite that, actually shows a desire for connection and morality.

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