Last week I read a French book by Albert Camus which is called “L’étranger”. In this book, the main character, whose name is Meuersault, tells us the last days of his life.
Everything started when he was told by mail that his mother was dead. Then,
he attended the funeral, where he met his mother’s friends. Everybody
there noticed that he wasn’t sad. He didn’t cry, he slept all night
long, and finally he even refused to see his mother’s corpse.
In
fact, next morning he was on the beach having a good time with Marie, a
former work-mate who loved him. That showed he wasn’t sad.
Marie
wanted to know if he loved her, and he said he didn’t. He wasn’t able
to feel anything. Words like love, fear, regret or hate didn’t make any
sense for him. And, besides, he couldn’t lie, he was unable to make up
an excuse.
This
lack of feelings drived him to shoot a muslim who had attacked his
friend Raymond, who was also his neighbour. Raymond had had problems
with a girl who was the sister of the muslim who attacked him.
Soon after the murder, he was caught by the police. Some months later, the trial started. His lawyer tried to save him,
but he had said he shot the muslim “because the heat” and he didn’t
show any regret, and it was impossible for the lawyer to save him.
Finally,
he is found guilty because he hadn’t cried when his mother had died,
and that showed he was a soulness person. Even when his life was
falling apart before his execution, he was unable to feel anything.
Roque
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