As I read the end of part one and part two of The Stranger, I could not help but draw the parallel to current court cases like the George Zimmerman and Jason Van Dyke trials. As soon as I read Meursault's killing, I was almost positive he would walk away unscathed. The parallels were almost too perfect.
Meursault was an armed white man attacking a person of color with no effective arms. Though the Arab had the knife, Meursault was under no threat when he decided to pull the trigger. Similarly to these current killings in America, the power was completely unbalanced, yet the one with more used it in the worst way possible.
As I read the end of part one, I could already see the story playing out. Meursault sits in jail for a couple weeks awaiting trial before walking away free on a claim of self-defense or similar defense. However, part two of the story was a pleasant surprise. I have become so accustomed to hearing white men walking free after killing a person of color that I couldn't imagine the trial to go fairly. Even last week, when Jason Van Dyke was ruled guilty in the trial of Laquan McDonald, I could hardly believe the news as I heard it.
To hear the story talk about Meursault staying in prison for an extended period and coming to terms with his internment was a new angle that simply felt right. Meursault is obviously a peculiar case, but seeing justice served against him was a surprise that I was not disappointed by. In a time where we have become highly desensitized to the injustices of judicial systems, the story of Meursault was an awakening to how justice should proceed.
