In The Meursault Investigation, Kamel Daoud, takes off from where Camus’ The Stranger leaves us. He explores the aftermath of that book. While Camus’ story takes place from the point of view of the French in Algeria, Daoud’s story looks at the Arab experience and its result, the main characters wind up in much the same place. It could be that Daoud is telling us that not only are the European and Arabs much alike, there paths will eventually lead them to the same place, despite all their protestations. In this sense Harun is as much the absurd hero as Meursault, despite his attempts to distance himself from that possibility. While they experiences vary, they wind up in the same place.
No, discussion of The Stranger can begin without mentioning …show more content…
Camus’ murder takes place in Algiers, the capital city. This is where Harun and his family live at the time. After the murder, the son and the mother leave Algiers and they “gravitated around Hadjout and its vicinity for years before we were able to settle behind solid walls” (Daoud 29). This physical change represent an attempt at distancing Harun from Meursault and offering a different way of life. This change winds up pointing out to Harun the fact that despair is everywhere as ne notes: “Rural life was hard, it revealed what the cities kept hidden, namely that the country was starving to death” (Daoud 29). The twin relation of this is death, it is Harun noticing that someone can be shot to death quickly or the death of others slowly by starvation, the result is still death. This echo’s Meursault’s realization of the futility of life, that there is only one outcome, …show more content…
In fact Harun moves twice, each time further away from the location of the murder, but he never truly leaves it behind. It is the murder of his brother that drives his life and the book. He attempts to stay connected with his mother, yet winds up simply in the same room and not speaking to her – no different than Meursault not speaking to his mother. He falls willingly in love, the opposite of Meursault, who saw no point in love. Yet, he winds up alone, just like Meursault. That the two stories echo each other so much is easily seen. Each story opens the same way, speaking of each other’s mother, one dead, and one alive. To no one’s shock they close the same way as well. For Meursault, “that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). For Harun, “I too would wish them to be legion, my spectators, and savage in their hate” (Daoud 143). With this quote Harun is every much the absurd hero as Meursault is. Despite all the attempts to distance and separate the two, we find it to no
No, discussion of The Stranger can begin without mentioning …show more content…
Camus’ murder takes place in Algiers, the capital city. This is where Harun and his family live at the time. After the murder, the son and the mother leave Algiers and they “gravitated around Hadjout and its vicinity for years before we were able to settle behind solid walls” (Daoud 29). This physical change represent an attempt at distancing Harun from Meursault and offering a different way of life. This change winds up pointing out to Harun the fact that despair is everywhere as ne notes: “Rural life was hard, it revealed what the cities kept hidden, namely that the country was starving to death” (Daoud 29). The twin relation of this is death, it is Harun noticing that someone can be shot to death quickly or the death of others slowly by starvation, the result is still death. This echo’s Meursault’s realization of the futility of life, that there is only one outcome, …show more content…
In fact Harun moves twice, each time further away from the location of the murder, but he never truly leaves it behind. It is the murder of his brother that drives his life and the book. He attempts to stay connected with his mother, yet winds up simply in the same room and not speaking to her – no different than Meursault not speaking to his mother. He falls willingly in love, the opposite of Meursault, who saw no point in love. Yet, he winds up alone, just like Meursault. That the two stories echo each other so much is easily seen. Each story opens the same way, speaking of each other’s mother, one dead, and one alive. To no one’s shock they close the same way as well. For Meursault, “that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). For Harun, “I too would wish them to be legion, my spectators, and savage in their hate” (Daoud 143). With this quote Harun is every much the absurd hero as Meursault is. Despite all the attempts to distance and separate the two, we find it to no