A Stranger is Born

While we were reading the Stranger, we discussed that Mersault lacks the feeling of remorse. He goes throughout life with a flow that things fall where they may, yet at the end of the story he seems to burst with anger. We claimed it to be an epiphany. I feel that his epiphany was a realization of his life in a more holistic way rather than taking it one step at a time. The last sentence of the book, "For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and they greet with cries of hate," (123). He seemed to want the attention brought completely on him to finished with his last bit of life. No matter what type of attention, he wanted to be seen as he died. He went through his life without needing a change, and had a better view on life near the end.

I want to connect this with A Star is Born (2018).  The main character Jackson Maine, went through his life ignoring what happened to him when he was younger and the problems his father had left him with. He continued on in life, using drinking to block out a lot of his pains. Yet when he met Ally, he tried to use that as a way to bring himself up and out of his pathless hole, but it didn't work. Unlike Mersault, Maine did go through life with his emotions leading his path, even if they didn't take him the right direction. Maine did have similar change of path at the end after he went through rehab, he wanted to change for the better. He went through his own processes and apologized to the people who mattered to him the most, to make a difference. I wouldn't call it an epiphany, but it was a realization for him that things will not always be best.