The Stranger - Journal #5: Part 1 vs. Part 2

Parallel Concepts

I believe Camus divided the book into two parts to demonstrate the (somewhat obvious) theme of how a simple event in one's life can affect their life dramatically.

In the first part of the book, the narrator focuses on Mersault's thoughts and the daily routine that he is used to. This part introduces the characters and allows the reader to get a sense of their motivations which, at the beginning, seem somewhat hidden. Marie's blatant motivation of love and marriage can be seen from the beginning; whereas Salamano's motivation of not being alone is woven in through the story, and is not known until he tells the story of his wife and dog to Mersault. The only character's motivation that is not clear in part one is Mersault's. In part two it becomes obvious that Mersault's need for a routine and something he can rely on is what truly motivates him, "In fact, during the last few months I've been sleeping sixteen to eighteen hours a day. That would leave me six hours to kill with meals, nature's call, my memories, and the story about the Czechoslovakian" (Camus, 79). The desire to have a schedule, and to focus on the physical world around him shows Mersault's motivation. Without Mersault killing a man, the second part would not have happened, thus making his motivation difficult to decipher.

Although part on and two differ, there are parallels in both parts. Mersault describes the world around him quite accurately in both parts, all except for Marie. He refers to her as looking beautiful when they swim, as well as when she comes to visit him in jail, but he never goes into further detail, "I thought she looked very beautiful, but I didn't know how to tell her" (Camus, 74). Mersault's loss of words to describe Marie repeats throughout the first part and shows up again to show how little he feels or wants to feel about people. He attempts to be "just like everybody else", but through his descriptions, or lack of, one can see how he tends to focus on different aspects than people would normally do (Camus, 66). The precise detail of scenery and events caries throughout the book, in both parts, to show how Mersault's character and that a part of him does not change.