The
Outsider: Chapter Notes – Part 1, Chapter 4
Summary:
·
In this Chapter Meursault meets
with Marie again and they go to another beach.
·
Marie stays the night at his house. The next morning they
are interrupted by loud noises from the fight between his neighbor, Raymond,
and his mistress.
·
The police are called and Raymond is taken away and the
mistress is asked to leave.
·
Marie leaves and Meursault goes
back to bed, he is woken by Raymond, they go for a walk and he is asked to be a
witness in court.
·
Salamano loses his dog and, later,
the old man asked Meursault what will happen if
someone finds his dog. Meursault explains that the
pound would keep the dog if they found him for three days, after which they
would deal with him in a way that seemed fit to them.
·
After this Meursault heard Salamano pacing up and down before sitting on his bed, and Meursault realized that Salamano
was crying.
Themes:
Physical
Attraction but not ‘love’
Meursault shows a lot of physical
attraction towards Marie. For example page 38: ‘sparkling eyes’, ‘when she
laughed I fancied her again’. These lines are all showing that his feelings of
attraction towards Marie are real and true however there is nothing more to it.
There is no ‘love’ or greater justification.
This is most obviously shown by Meursault’s response to when Marie asks if he loves her, he
says: ‘I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.’ This
shows that Meursault does not believe in anything
more elevated then attraction between two people. He doesn’t believe in the
human construct idea of ‘love’.
In this line the words: ‘it didn’t
mean anything’, are very significant as they could mean a number of different
things. Primarily it could be interpreted as: it simply doesn’t matter in
general: there is no real or objective importance to the idea of love, this ‘it
doesn’t matter’ is a reoccurring motif throughout the book. Another way to
interpret this line is that: it doesn’t matter to him, so he sees no sense in
this idea of love, which is also a clearly well supported idea throughout the
book. Either statement reinforces the sense of Meursault’s
disbelief in the human constructed idea of ‘love’, instead, he only believes in
the attraction between two people and of nothing greater than that.
Absurdism
Throughout
the chapter, we sense a lack of externally authenticated meaning. The only judgments
and justifications we get are entirely human and the majority are linked to
simple pragmatic truths: “I really fancied her because she was wearing a pretty
red dress and leather sandals. The observations he makes are realistic and
completely down to earth and do not call on any higher idea or higher power to
validate them. This contrasts with Marie who appeals to the concept of ‘love’
when she asks whether Meursault loves her or not, to
which he replied “It didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so” thus
suggesting that in actual fact Meursault has believes
/ has realized that the ideas to which Marie is referring are not really real –
they are just human constructs and so easily dismissed.
Equally Meursault is seemingly oblivious to things which would
spark outrage to the modern man, for instance when he says “So we made our way
slowly back and he kept telling me how pleased he was that he’d managed to punish
his mistress. I found him very friendly towards me and I thought it was a good
moment”. This serves to indicate how much of a stranger / outsider Meursault is but is probably also meant to reveal to the
reader how the ideas and judgments which we take for granted are not felt by
everyone and are therefore not as obvious and indubitable as we have previously
felt.
Meursault’s absurdist view can also
be seen in his reaction to the police turning up at his friend’s house, he doesn’t
seem moved by the incident and simply goes back to sleep again when it is over,
‘I slept for a bit’ page 40. This is absurdist as he does not feel the necessity
that we would usually feel, to be concerned or curious about how his ‘mate’ is
and what happened at the police station. This is emphasized when Raymond
returns from the police station and Meursault doesn’t
rush to make sure his ok when he turn up as his door instead he stays in bed: “…Raymond
came in. I didn’t get up.’ and doesn’t ask questions or feel the need to act
worried or supportive for his friend.
The Importance
of the Present
In the chapter you can see that Meursault is not concerned with the past or the future,
instead, he only sees importance in the present. This can be seen on page 38
where he says “When she laughed, I fancied her again.” This shows, that he love
her permanently or believe that he is going to love her forever. Instead, he seems
to feel something more akin to lust or infatuation for her beauty when she
smiles, or when she looks particularly beautiful at a given moment. This is reinforced
at the end of the chapter, on page 42, where he mentions his mother; ‘I thought
of mother. But I had to get up early in the morning’. This shows that he also
does not dwell in the past. He is not interested in the past event and instead
only is worried about the present moment, as he adds, ‘but I had to get up
early in the morning’.
Motifs:
‘It doesn’t
matter’
This phrase is repeated in this
chapter suggesting the unimportance of everything. The absence of meaning is
emphasized by the repetition of this phrase throughout the book.
“Filthy lousy animal”
Throughout
the chapter the phrase, “Filthy lousy animal” is used repeatedly and amongst
other things it helps to draw attention to that fact that Meursault
doesn’t respond to basic human constructs. We might expect that after hearing
such abuse and indeed witnessing it too Meursault would
be outraged by the way in which Salamano treats his
dog, ‘man’s best friend’. However this doesn’t seem to have any effect on Meursault.
“They’ll take him away from me”
In
contrast to the above this is phrase also recurs throughout the final part of
the chapter, Salamano appears genuinely worried and
indeed upset following the disappearance of his dog. His emotions completely contradict
the manner in which we had seen Salamano treat his
dog in the previous chapters. He worries that if he can’t find him no one will
take him in, “but they won’t, everyone’s disgusted by his scabs.” What’s ironic
here is that Salamano is worried for his dog because
he may not find proper care due to his lack in appearance, an appearance that
he created through constant abuse, which is on top of the skin disease that he
developed. It’s absurd. Salamano cares for his dog in
such a devoted manner that we have to question where that care has emerged
from, especially as it was clear from his previous behaviour that really he
didn’t care for the dog at all. Perhaps this shows that we become so attached to
our routines (taking the dog for a walk, beating the dog and swearing at the
dog) that when they are broken we can’t bear it.
Constant sensory observations
“I really
fancied her because she was wearing a pretty red dress and leather sandals”, again
Camus makes Meursault dwell on Marie’s appearance. His
reasoning for pursuing her is clear physical which can be seen clearly in the
contrast between “She asked me if I loved her, I told her that it didn’t mean
anything but that I didn’t think so” and “You could see the shape of her firm
breasts and her suntanned face was like a flower”.
Characters:
Meursault’s neighbors Raymond and Salamano are both significant, as they are both social
outcasts and yet Meursault doesn’t display any discomfort
or other socially expected reactions towards them.
Salamano’s relationship with his
dog is poor. He always calls it a ‘Filthy, lousy animal’ and doesn’t treat it
well. The image that we get from the description of the relationship between
him and his dog is something that usually people would frown upon however, Meursault does not respond to them in a negative way and
treats them in the same way that he would treat everyone else. Another, more
extreme example of a socially unacceptable person is Raymond. His vengeful
actions against his ex-mistress show that he isn’t a person that society would
embrace. Nevertheless, Meursault on the other hand
expresses his like for Raymond and shows how much he likes him. This shows Meursault’s absurdist attitude, and shows his disbelief in
the artificial construct of these socially based expectations and emotions.
Imagery and
Setting:
Firstly the scene is set when Meursault describes the day he had prior to seeing a film
with Emmanuel. He had gone with Marie a few miles out of
From then
on the chapter is set in Meursault’s building, where
Raymond and Salamano also live. Meursault
is able to oversee a lot of activity; in this chapter Meursault’s
sense of hearing is accentuated in that he is constantly listening to Raymond
and Salamano in their different apartments. He hears
Raymond unleashing a ferocious beating on his mistress at one point and in
another he listens closely as he can hear Salamano
crying for his lost dog. Camus reliance on the sense of hearing could perhaps
be used to suggest, once again, Meursault’s
alienation from everyone else. Aware of what is going on around him but unmoved
to respond Meursault simply listens.
Narrative
Style:
The narrative style of this chapter
is very simple as in the chapters prior. On page 37, when Meursault
describes his surroundings in nature he uses long, detailed sentences, suggesting
the depth of his feelings and how comfortable he is with the area e.g. “The
four o’clock sun wasn’t too hot, but the water was warm and rippled with long,
lazy waves.” However, when he feels restricted and usually when he is inside
his sentences become short and dull. They almost seem to be suggesting the
meaninglessness of things constructed by humans by implying that (almost
literally) there is nothing more to be said other then what he is stating,
e.g.: ‘She looked sad.’ Page 38 or, ‘I didn’t get up.’ Page 40.
Relation of
Part to Whole:
The paragraph: ‘We went out…good
moment’ on page 40, seems to sum up the chapter very well as it creates an
absurdist atmosphere, and shows Meursault’s unusual
ideas: Raymond asks him if he would like to go to a brothel, and he says no
(because he doesn’t want to), then Raymond talks about his old mistress and how
he thinks he has punished her enough this time. After this ‘awkward’ conversation
Meursault comments: ‘I found him very friendly
towards me and I thought it was a good moment’. This is the most convincing
demonstration of his absurdist attitude and the lack of usual human feelings
that that he feels. In this instance he doesn’t feel awkward, in a situation
that someone would usually feel extremely uncomfortable in, he concludes with
how much he likes his new friend.
Overall the chapter shows us Meursault’s lack of belief in any kind of human construct.
He doesn’t share society’s expectations of a reaction towards a tragedy. He
doesn’t believe in the greater picture of love, or in the need to feel awkward
in a silence or during a ‘strange’ conversation. Previously, this has also been
evident in his discomfort in enclosed human constructed buildings, his
preference to nature and his description of the people in the old people’s home
as ‘inmates’. The characters of Raymond, Salamano and
Marie are all used to reveal just how much of a ‘stranger’ Meursault
is.
This in turn develops Meursault’s refusal to invest anything with a greater
significance that it immediately has to him and thus his unflinching awareness
of the absence of meaning in the artificial human construct of life.