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100 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Nihilism
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A philosophical belief that nothing matters or has significance. It denies the existence of God or of meaning in life.
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Where did Camus grow up?
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Algiers, Algeria in North Africa
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What nationality was Camus?
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He was French
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How would you describe Camus' childhood?
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Difficult. He was very poor. His mother was deaf and his father was killed in World War 1 when Camus was a baby.
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When did Camus write and publish The Stranger
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It was published right at the beginning of World War 2.
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What literary award did Camus receive for writing The Stranger?
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He won the Noble Prize for literature and the year was 1957.
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When and how did Camus die?
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Camus died in 1960 as the result of a car wreck.
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From what medical condition did Camus suffer?
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Suffered from Tuberculosis
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Before Camus became ill, he was a very good athlete. What was his sport?
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Soccer
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What does the extraordinary opening of The Stranger cover?
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Meursault's reaction to a telegram announcing his mother's death.
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Why is Meursault's response to his mother's death so strange?
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He's more concerned with when she died than he is with the fact that she died
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Why does Meursault travel to Merengo?
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He can sit at a vigil for his mother that night and go to her funeral the next day.
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How often did Meursault visit his mother at Marengo?
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The text doesn't say exactly but he says he did not go very often. It was perhaps once or twice a year.
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Why did Meursault not go to see his mother more often?
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Basically, he lists a number of reasons all of which amount to the fact that it was too much trouble
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What does Meursault do on the bus ride to Marengo?
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He sleeps the whole, long way
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When Meursault first meets the Director, he thinks the director is criticizing him. Why?
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He thinks that the director is criticizing him for putting his mother in the home.
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What was Meursault's response when the caretaker asks Meursault if he wants to see his mother's body?
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He says, "no" without giving any sort of explanation
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What does the Director say about the kind of funeral service Meursault's mother wanted that surprises Meursault?
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He says she wanted a religious service
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Who is Thomas Perez?
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He is Meursault's mother's boyfriend at the home
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What does Meursault do at his mother's vigil that seems uncaring or disrespectful?
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He smokes
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What gets all of Meursault's attention at the funeral?
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The heat and the sun consume Meursault's thoughts
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How does Part 1, Chapter 1 end?
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Meursault saying how happy he was seeing the lights of Algiers and thinking about sleeping twelve hours straight
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What is wrong with the nurse at the vigil for Meursault's mother?
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Her nose is missing b/c of an access (cancer). She keeps her face covered with veil or mask
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Where did Meursault go the Saturday morning after he got home from Marengo?
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The beach
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Who did Meursault meet at the beach the day after his mother's funeral?
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Marie, a former co-worker
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What surprised Marie about meursault's clothes when they got dressed after their swim?
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She was surprised that he was wearing clothes that indicated he was in mourning.
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Where did Meursault and Marie go on their first date?
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They went to see a comedic film and then went back to his place
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How does Meursault spend the Sunday following his mother's funeral after Marie finally leaves his apartment?
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Spends the day on his balcony smoking and watching people go by.
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What does Meursault determine that first Sunday after his mother's death after a day of watching people walk by his apartment.
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He says that nothing had really changed.
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In chapter 3, the reader is finally introduced to Salamano. Who is he?
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He is an old man in Meursault's apartment who is widower. He owns a dog whom he abuses
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What is wrong with Salamano's dog?
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Old and has the Mange
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Who is Raymond Sintes?
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He is a low-life, almost Mafia-like figure, that lives in Meursault's apartment.
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When Raymond invites Meursault to his apartment he notices Raymond is injured. How is he injured?
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Has an injured hand which he got in a fight
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Why had Raymond gotten into a fight?
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He had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend's brother because he had beaten her up.
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Why did Raymond say he had beaten his girlfriend up?
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He said she had been cheating on him.
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What was it that Raymond wanted Meursault to do for him?
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He wanted Meursault to write his girlfriend a letter to lure her back so he could beat her up again.
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Why does Meursault agree to write the letter for Raymond?
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He says he didn't have any reason not to please him
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In part 1, chapter 4 Marie was at Meursault's apartment when they heard screaming. Who was screaming?
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Raymond's girlfriend was screaming because he had beat her up.
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Marie asks Meursault to call the cops to stop Raymond. What does Meursault say?
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He refuses. He says he doesn't like cops.
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When the cops do arrive, one of them slaps Raymon. Why?
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The cop didn't like the disrespectful way Raymond ignored his orders.
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When the police leave, Raymond comes by Meursault's apartment. What does he want from Meursault?
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He wants Meursault to be his witness and to write out a statement for him.
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What similarity exist between Meursault, Salamano,and Raymond?
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They all mistreat those with whom they are in a relationship, either by neglect, anger, or cruelty.
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What is ironic about Meursault's thought, when he hears Salamano crying over his lost dog?
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Salamano's crying cause him to think of his mother
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In part 1, chapter 5, Meursault's boss asks him to consider moving to Paris. Meursault responds that he doesn't want to move. Why?
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He says one place is as good as another and he tells Marie that Paris is dark and the people are pale.
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In part 1, chapter 5 Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her?
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He answers that it doesn't mean anything to him but that he will if she wants
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Marie then asks Meursault if he loves her. How does he answer?
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He answers just like the first time, that it doesn't mean anything but probably not.
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In part 1, chapter 5 Meursault sees what he calls "a little robot-like woman" at Celeste's. He describes and follows her. Why does Camus include her in the story?
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He includes her as a representative of the way he thinks most of the world lives...lives of planned out, carefully organized meaninglessness.
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In part 1, chapter 6 Meursault, Marie and Raymond take a trip. Where do they go?
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They go to the beach house of Raymond's friend Masson.
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How does Meursault feel as the chapter starts?
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He has a dull headache. Marie describes him as having on his funeral face.
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What do Marie, Raymond, and Meursault notice before they get on the bus to go to Masson's?
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They notice a group of Arabs watching them from across the street.
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What happens at Masson's on the beach after lunch?
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Raymond, Masson, and Meursault are confronted by the Arabs that have followed them to the beach. They fight and Raymond is severly cut.
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After Raymond returns from the hospital, the three men go down to the beach to find the Arabs. Where do they find them?
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They find them at a spring up the beach.
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Why does Raymond want to find them?
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He wants to get even for his injury
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Though nothing happens with the Arabs at the spring something important occurs in the story. What is it?
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Raymond gives Meursault his gun.
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What happens when Meursault returns to the spring alone?
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He murders the Arab shooting him five times.
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What is similar in the scene at the spring to the scene at the funeral?
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The sun is unbearbly hot and making Meursault miserable.
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In part 2, chapter 1 Meursault is being examined by a magistrate. what is different about the French form of investigation and the American form?
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In the American form the police do the questioning, while in the French form the magistrate of judge does the questioning.
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What does Meursault's lawyer question him about first?
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He question him about his apparent insensitivity on the day of his mother's funeral.
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In Pt. 2.Ch.1, Meursault explains what his lawyer feels toward him? What does he say? Why?
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He says that he thinks his lawyer is slightly disgusted with him. He says that because of the way the lawyer responds to some of Meursault's answers to his questions.
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What does Meursault say to his layer that his lawyer begs him to never say again?
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Meursault says that all people at one time or another sometimes wish that their loved ones were dead.
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The examining magistrate seems to really only care about 2 things. That is he really only asks Meursault 2 questions. What are they?
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He asks him why he waited between shots, and he asks him if he believes in God.
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Meursault's unbelief affects the magistrate so much that he does something unusual. What is it?
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He gets a crucifix out of a file cabinet drawer and waves it over Meursault.
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Eventually, the magistrate gives up on Meursault and starts being polite. What does he call Meursault?
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He calls him Monsieur Antichrist
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Why does Camus not give any of the judicial characters names in Part 2? That is, why does he not name the lawyers and judges?
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By not giving them names he demonstrates that they are not personal but just represent society in a general sort of way.
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In part 2, chapter 2 Marie makes her last visit to the jail. Why is it her last?
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Only family is permitted to keep visiting
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In part 2, chapter 2 Meursault quotes his mother and talks about living in a dead tree stump. What does he say she said?
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He says she used to say that a person can get used to anything.
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Is Meursault sympathetic about the man who was murdered by his mother and sister or about the later deaths of that same mother and sister?
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No, he says people shouldn't play games
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What did the Czech man's mother and sister do to him?
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Because they didn't know who he was, they beat him to death with a hammer so they could rob him.
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What is ironic about the fact that in Pt. 2 Ch. 2 Meursault complains that his life has come to a standstill in prison?
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It's ironic because it wasn't all that much different before he went to prison.
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How long was the period between Meursault's arrest and trial?
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One year
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In Pt.2, Ch. 3, Meursault does not accept the offer of a cigarette. Why?
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He has gotten used to doing without them and doesn't want to have to break himself off them again.
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How is Meursault treated by the court personnel, a reporter, and his lawyer before the trial begins? How does this behavior compare with how Meursault has been treated by others in the novel?
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Except for his boss, who is marginally annoyed by Meursault's lack of ambition, everyone else in the Stranger treats Meursault kindly.
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What are the first two questions the prosecutor asks Meursault? What is the prosecutor trying to get Meursault to admit?
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Both questions have to do with why Meursault returned to the spring armed? He wants to show that the murder was premeditated.
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Do you think Meursault's murder of the Arab was premeditated?
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The way camus tells the story, no. Still, it is hard to imagine anything else in reality.
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Why is Meursault's answer that it just happened that way significant?
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Meursault is trying to show that events were beyong his control and that he is really a victim of nature.
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What does Meursault realize after the testimony of the director of the retirement home? What is Meursault's reaction?
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He says he realizes he was guilty. He also realizes how much people hate him.
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Who is the one witness in the trial that evokes Meursault's gratitude?
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Celeste. He says eveything that happened was bad luck. Meursault says he wishes he could kiss him.
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List some non-criminal acts cited by the prosecutor as facts, which show Meursault has a criminal soul.
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He didn’t know his mother’s correct age; he went swimming with a woman; he watched a comedy film, and he took “his mistress” home.
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What explanation does Meursault use for not feeling any remorse about killing the Arab man?
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“I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything.”
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For what other crime does the prosecutor say he holds Meursault responsible?
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He says that he is in a sense guilty of the parricide as well.
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what is a Parricide?
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It is when a child kills their father. Matricide is killing one's mother.
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Cite the words used by Meursault as the motive for his killing the Arab man.
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It was because of the sun.
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If the sun symbolizes the world and events over which he has no control, does Meursault's explanation make any sense?
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The answer makes sense to Meursault, but not to those who do not share his worldview. His existentialism makes him say he has no control over events: the sun (symbolically, the world, the power, the heat, and the enormity of it) drove him to murder.
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What is the Verdict?
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Death by beheading on the guillotine
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What is the climax of the Stranger?
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The climax occurs when Meursault shoots the Arab on the beach.
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If the shooting of the Arab is the climax of the story, what are the trial and verdict?
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They are part of a long denouement (wrapping up of loose ends).
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What reasons does Meursault give for not wishing to see the chaplain after his sentencing?
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Meursault says that he has nothing to say to the chaplain, that he does not feel like talking, and that he will be seeing the clergyman soon enough as it is.
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What does Meursault mean by “seeing him soon enough”?
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The chaplain accompanies condemned men to their executions.
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Explain the significance of the story about Meursault's father. What conclusion does Meursault reach?
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Finally, Meursault finds something in life (stange that it would be death) in which to be interested.
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What does Meursault agree with his mother about concerning happiness?
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He says you can always find something to be happy about. In his case, it is the fact that dawn has come and gone and he hasn't been executed.
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At the end, what two things give Meursault hope?
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He hopes either for an appeal or a pardon.
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What kind of literary device is used in the following quite: Every stone here sweats with suffering.
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Personification
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What exactly does Meursault wish for in the last sentence of the novel?
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He wishes for a large crowd of spectators to they greet him with cries of hate.
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Why does Meursault want the crowd at his execution to hate him?
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It is hard to be certain. Perhaps, it is defiance on his part.
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Define Absurdism
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like nihilism but more cynical. It views life as simply a bad joke, an absurdity.
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Define Existentialism
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It is the belief that their is no God, no morality, no truth but that no one can live that way and must instead decide for themselves what menaing they give life.
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What did Ryken mean when he said Camus intended to write the Stranger in the American style?
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He meant he wrote it with short phrases and simple language which was both concrete and visual...like Hemingway.
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What phrase does Ryken use that best describes Camus' way of writing?
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He says he shows rather than tells.
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What book of the Bible does Ryken say provides a helpful framework to interpret the Stranger?
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Ecclesiastes
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List two ways in which Ryken describes the Stranger.
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He says it is a conventional murder story, and a classic modern novel.
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