"When we got back, Masson was already calling us. I said I was starving and then out of the blue he announced to his wife that he liked me. The bread was good; I devoured my share of the fish."
Masson straight out says that he wants to be friends with Meursault and that he really likes him, and Meursault gives no idea into what he may think about Masson. He just goes on to talking about the meal they had. To me, it is so strange that Meursault has no opinion on becoming friends with some random, new guy in his life. He just takes it as it is. In fact, he pretty much just ignores it. I do not really understand how a person can be like that. It completely baffles me how someone doesn't have any response to someone announcing that they like you in front of other people.
Yeah that makes Meursault really annoying. Meursault says that he places his physical needs before all of his other needs. It's really extreme because he seems to always need something. I think this could be Camus' commentary on Maslow's pyramid of needs.
ReplyDeleteRIght, Camus makes a point of narrating Meursault's sleeping, eating, drinking, and smoking. It stuck out to me from the beginning that Meursault had absolutely no empathy, or feeling for anything at all, as well. It could be a binary in and of itself perhaps. (Physiological needs vs. empathy and feeling?)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Anna. It's mind boggling to me how little emotion he has. While I was reading the novel I would get so frustrated with him. As we talked about it in class, I think Camus tries to make Meursault as isolated from the outside world as possible to show the reader that one can be happy with the life they live even though they are isolated.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence made me laugh a little! I think Meursault´s personality is so nonchalant that the gesture Masson makes goes unseen. Meursault´s only really cares about himself. I think he likes the attention he receives from various people, his personality just does not allow him to show his gratitude towards that person.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this, I thought "yeah Mersault is really self-involved." But now that I'm thinking about it, if he were self involved he would care about what Masson said to him. He's just disconnected.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this, I thought "yeah Mersault is really self-involved." But now that I'm thinking about it, if he were self involved he would care about what Masson said to him. He's just disconnected.
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