Throughout The Stranger, minute characters are sprinkled throughout the story to reveal prodigious themes. Of these minute characters is the reporter. With his scene condensed into one page, his role seems small. When talking to Meursault the reporter reveals that he, "bl[ew] [Meursault's] case up a little" (84). Today, the media always inflates stories. Most people, however, fail to see the effect of this. Although this book was written during a time when the media was less prevalent, the media nonetheless still swayed the public.
By exaggerating Meursault's case, I believe that the reporter left Meursault open to more public scrutiny, which helped convict him. If Meursault's case was not exaggerated, then I think that his punishment not have surmounted to death. But because his case got so much attention from the public the stakes were higher.
In class, there was a discussion about how the heat could have represented society's expectations and this would reinforce the claim that Meursault's punishment was inflated because his case was. Throughout the court case, Meursault boils in the heat. In comparison, everyone else is provided a fan. Therefore, Meursault faces more of society's expectations which is why he believes that he was convicted because he didn't cry at his mother's funeral.
Raymond beats his girlfriend and Salamano tortures his dog, yet both of them never get punished. I think that this is because their wrongdoings were not published in the media. If they were, however, then they like Meursualt could have been sentenced harshly. However, because the media did not represent Raymond's or Salamano's wrongdoings but they do not get punished. Ultimately, I think that the media functions as an evil because their choice to exaggerate Meursault's case led to his death.
I definitely agree with you that the media played a part in feeding the fire regarding Meursault's case and that he could have perhaps gotten off easier if the trial was kept out of the news. But I must respectfully disagree that Raymond's and Salamano's abuse would have been harshly punished if it was on the news. Unfortunately, I think that abuse in relationships and animal abuse were not uncommon and sadly even today these types of actions often do not get punished justly.
ReplyDeleteMeursault's thought process and belief system though, I think, would lead him to not even care about the reporter. By the end of the book Meursault realizes that it does not matter if he dies by execution for his crime or old age, because death is death is death. So, I think that to Meursault, the reporter would have been insignificant because even though the publicity surrounding his case might've led to his death, Meursault was going to die at some point anyway, and to him it did not really matter when.
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