In class, we have accepted to interpret The Stranger as a story of a man who is a stranger to society, and therefore, a complete stranger to us. Yes, we do come to know and understand him, but that is simply through knowing the truth about his past rather than actually understanding his personality and drive in life. But what if we subconsciously do understand him? After we get the hang of his character, we stop judging him as a person. Meursault's neutrality is so natural that we adopt his character easily and we stop feeling for him. In reality, we don't consciously feel for ourselves when we are hurt or something or other. Sympathy is something that is used on others and rarely on oneself, and in this case, we have accepted Meursault's mind to the point that we don't feel for him. We go along with his story as we go on with our lives. In fact, his actions are almost taken for granted in our minds. We are no longer surprised by him, and we can half-predict his responses to his environment. Could this be yet another way by which an author synchronizes the mind of the character with that of the reader? People say that Chapter 6 was the most human part of the whole book as we see so much emotion coming from Meursault's mind, whereas I would argue that that was the 'strangest' part of the book. It was unlike anything that we have seen of Meursault, and it was out of place in our understanding of his mind. At that moment, his thought process is almost possessed, alien in way, estranged from us as our mind comes to think that this is not the Meursault that we knew.
Whatever the stance on familiarization with the main character is, there could be completely different interpretations on our relationship to Meursault, and although this one is more like playing the devil's advocate, I, just the slightest, think that this could be a possible interpretation of the book.
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