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Reflective Statement

Score 3

Reflective Statement IO #3

The Stranger, written by Albert Camus published in 1942 starts with Monseur
Meursault, the narrator, informing the readers that his mother died that day or the day before.
The first interactive oral on this story revolved around Meursault's reaction to his mothers
death and we debated whether Meursault is an existentialist, nihilist, sociopath or depressed.

We began the interactive oral discussing the significance of the subplots such as Marie
and Meursault's relationship and Salamano's dog. To begin with, my peers talked about how
Marie is seen as something sexual for Meursault even though she sees him as something more
and she appears to love him. Even though he tells her he does not love her, she does not end
the relationship with him which can refer to how women are always attached. This can
possibly lead to Beauvoir's philosophy of how one is not born as a women but becomes a
women not through her female parts, but through her actions. Before this discussion, I lacked
knowledge on Meursault and Marie's relationship as I did not think too much about it.
However, after this discussion, we came to the conclusion that Marie is the epitome of women
during Camus' time period. Also, subplots emphasize Meursault's emotional detachment
which can be seen through Meursault comparing the loss of Salamano's dog with his own
mother and replacing his mother with Marie. Moreover, we analyzed Meursault's emotional
apathy through an existentialist lense. One of my peers discussed his alienation, and how his
actions and reactions are different from how usual individuals will react. An example is when
he smoked a cigarette in front of his moms coffin.

Furthermore, a lot of my peers and I came to the conclusion that Meursault can be seen as a
nihilist because of his lack of emotions and remorse. Evidence to prove this is the fact that he
had no reaction to his mothers death whatsoever, he never talks about emotions and always
narrates physically, and lastly losing a dog reminds him of his mothers death. Lastly,
Meursault displays existentialist ideals through his free choice which is seen with his actions
of killing the Arab man.

Overall, Meursault lacks guilt, shame, remorse which is viewed through his actions and
thoughts. The end of the discussion left me wondering the purpose of Meursault and Marie's
relationship in the novel.

word count - 391

Score 3

Ms.Book

IB English HL

26 November 2015

Marie Me: A Feminist Critique on Women in The Stranger

Simone De Beauvoir, a feminist philosopher, bases her works on the idea that "one is
not born, but becomes a women." In other words, the role a female has in society is not given
to her by birth or biology, it is socially constructed. This can be seen in Albert Camus' novel,
The Stranger. The French Algerian author depicts an existentialist philosophy regarding
absurdity and the portrayal of women. He does this through the characterization of Marie
Cordona. Therefore, through Simone De Beauvoir's philosophy, it is evident that Beauvoir
would argue Marie Cardona is the epitome of women during the 1900s due to the way Camus
uses characterization, diction, and symbolism when he illustrates her values, actions, and
physical appearance.

To begin with, Camus creates Marie Cardona's character in order to emphasize values
such as love and marriage. Specifically, love and marriage are significantly important to her.
When Meursault first mentions Marie in the novel, he mentions how he was "rather keen on
her those days" and he "fancies she liked him too" (Camus 14). A relationship emerges soon
after Meursault's mother's death. Using "keen" indicates that Marie is a replacement of his
mother. Marie and Meursault did not see each other for quite a while, however, they develop a
relationship which indicates she is looking for someone to fall in love with. Therefore, Marie
symbolizes women during that era because they were constantly looking for a man to love.
After the relationship develops, Marie "asked [Meursault] if [he would] marry her" and
"asked again if [he] loved her" (Camus 28). Usually, the man is meant to ask the woman to
marry him, however, in this case Marie asks Meursault. Camus uses characterization in order
to demonstrates the extent of her desperation of finding a man in her life. Throughout the
novel, Camus makes her seem oblivious to how Meursault objectifies her due to her wanting
to get married. Even though he is honest and tells her he does not wish to get married, she still
holds on to the idea of love and matrimony. This is because this is what was socially expected
from women during that era. De Beauvoir's philosophy connects to Marie's value of marriage
because the philosopher believes that each individual is not necessarily born as a female, but
becomes a female through her actions and through society. Marie constantly bringing up the
topics of marriage and love to Meursault indicates what she truly desires, revealing that Marie
is only interested in this because of female's values in society. Since Marie is clinging onto
marriage, she displays basic female traits of women during that era.
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Furthermore, her values of love and marriage affect her judgement of Meursault. For
example, when Meursault tells her that his mother died the day before, "she made no remark,
though she shrank away a little" (Camus 14). Words such as "shrank away" suggest that
Marie chose to ignore Meursault's insensitive reaction. Again, Camus does this to emphasize
her desire to find someone to love and spend her life with as well as to indicate that her main
role is to find a man willing to marry her. Connecting back to Beauvoir's philosophy, Marie
believed that in order to be identified as a real female in society, she must fulfill the basic
requirements a women had. In comparison, Meursault focuses on finding a replacement for
his mother, rather than finding someone he would like to marry. Therefore, by disregarding
his unusual reaction to his mother's death, she mindlessly chooses to marry a man that is
viewed as an outsider because that is what makes her a women. In addition to her obsession
with marriage, when Meursault is in jail, she assures him that "'It’ll all come right...[they]
shall get married'" (Camus 47). Even though he is a prisoner and may die, she focuses on
getting married. She ignores the fact that he just killed a man and that he is in jail. This
displays the importance of marriage from her point of view. Additionally, this can lead to the
deduction of her believing that a woman is defined through her marriage, and one is a women
because of association with a man. In the article, "Simone De Beauvoir: Questions of
Difference and Generation," the author Dorothy Kaufmann discusses how De Beauvoir
mentions that "'No biological, psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the
human female presents in society'"(Kaufmann 1). Connecting this to Marie, she disregards the
fact that Meursault killed someone which connects back to psychological fate. Beauvoir
believes that the way a woman is taught how to be a woman affects the woman's goals in life.
Marie insisting on getting married, who is a stranger in societies eyes, symbolizes how
women during this era were obsessed with the idea of marriage. This is because Marie
associates marriage as her goal. Therefore, Marie believes that her fate is getting married
because that is what she was taught in society.

Subsequently, Marie portrays women during the 1900s through her actions. De
Beauvoir's philosophy stresses that the environment a female is raised in is what makes her a
female. For example, Marie constantly "laughed" (Camus 14) and "giggled" (Camus 32) when
she was around Meursault, which mainly confuses him because he does not know why she
laughs. The diction Camus uses to address her constant laughter emphasizes her interest to
him. The article, "Marie Cordona, An Ambivalent Nature Symbol in Albert Camus's
L'etranger" by Arthur Scherr, discusses how Marie's constant laughter is "encouraging rather
than passive, indicating her enjoyment of the opposite sex" (Scherr 5). Therefore, her constant
laughter is a symbol of women's sexual desire during that time period. Also, whenever Marie
and Meursault go for a swim, sometimes she would "come up and hug [Meursault] in the
water, and put her mouth to [his]" (Camus 24). Marie's characterization reveals how she is a
very open character. Her actions towards him reveal that she has feelings for him, or rather is
infatuated with the idea of having feelings for him and being with him. Their relationship is
intimate through sexual desires instead of a real connection between them. Connecting to
Beauvoir, Marie's actions portray the actions of a female during that time period because she
is sticking by the man she 'loves', which is what a women was meant to do. Marie was taught
to find a husband and stay with him. Actions such as visiting him in jail demonstrate how
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desperate she is to get married and how she believes that makes her a successful female.
Hence, in Meursault's presence, her actions are an effect of societies female expectations.

Lastly, Meursault constantly objectifies Marie, which indicates how a man would see a
women during that time period. Meursault focuses on Marie as an object, and treats her as
one. When Meursault talks about her, he mentions how he would let his hand "stray over her
breasts" (Camus 14) and how "one could see the outline of her firm little breasts" (Camus 24).
The sexual diction used to describe Marie suggests Meursault's attraction to Marie. This goes
against De Beauvoir's philosophy because in the eyes of a man, women during that era were
objectified through their breasts rather than being understood through their actions.Marie is
aware of being objectified by Meursault and allows it. By allowing him to objectify her, she is
allowing Meursault to see her as a women due to her female parts, rather than who she really
is. At last, Meursault says Marie was "wearing one of [his] pajama suits, and had the sleeves
rolled up" (Camus 37) which symbolizes how a women is meant to be a man's property. In
Felicity Joseph's article, "Becoming A Woman: Simone de Beauvoir on Female
Embodiment," the author mentions that " None of the uniquely female experiences have a
meaning in themselves; in a hostile society they can come to take on the meaning of being a
burden, as women come to accept the meanings of patriarchal society." Therefore, Beauvoir
believes that gender is not identified through biology, which is evident in Marie's character
because she accepts the meanings of patriarchal society.

In Albert Camus's The Stranger, Marie Cardona is the archetype of women during the
1900s. Specifically, she portrays Simone De Beauvoir's philosophy "one is not born, but
becomes a woman" through her values, actions and appearance. Therefore, women were
defined particularly through marriage and love and physical appearance. De Beauvoir's
philosophy can be applied to females today because many prefer a women who is more
provocative and has values. De Beauvoir's philosophy presents human freedom with the
female body however, Marie Cordona misuses this freedom Marie's character is the result of
her own choices, meaning her values are what define her as who she truly is, because she is
not "born (as a women), but becomes a woman."

word count -1478

Works Cited

Kaufmann, Dorothy. "Simone De Beauvoir: Questions of Difference and Generation." Yale

Scherr, Arthur. "Marie Cardona. An Ambivalent Nature-Symbol in Albert Camus’s

Joseph, Felicity. "Becoming A Woman: Simone De Beauvoir on Female

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. 1st ed. Toronto: Vintage Books, 1942. Print.