A or not A

In the most factual line of the novel, Meursault thinks to himself:
“You could either shoot or not shoot.”

Yes. Although at face value, this line means absolutely nothing, I would argue that it has more significance than to demonstrate that Camus’ characters are aware of the axioms of logic. This is particularly clear if we read the thought in its entirety:

“It was then that I realized you could either shoot or not shoot.”

It seems that Meursault has some sort of realization, which likely caused him to shoot the Arab afterward. It is clear from the beginning of the novel that Meursault is indifferent to practically everything. For instance, his mom dies, and he hears Salamano beat his dog, but he never reacts to any of it.

Up to this point, Meursault’s relationship with nature has been quite the opposite. The sun beats down on him and he feels too hot, later the sun makes him happy. He is very responsive to nature and its effects on him. With this in mind, one could justify why Meursault’s realization that he has two options as to what to do with the gun is startling enough to warrant conscious narration. (We don't normally consciously think about axioms in our daily lives.) His indifference is projected on the world, as he notices that the world doesn’t really care what he does either.

As we discussed in 6th period, this could be seen as a symptom of his narcissism. Meursault can’t tell the difference between the world and himself, so he projects his beliefs onto the rest of the world. In other words, since he doesn’t care what happens, and he is the world, the world doesn’t care what happens. Then, with the gun in hand, since the world isn't affected by his decision, one can presume that he flips a coin in his mind and basis his killing the Arab off that.


But pure indifference and narcissism doesn’t seem to tell the whole story. The way I understand it, one who is purely indifferent to everything takes the path of least resistance. Clearly, shooting the gun requires extra effort on Meursault’s behalf—at least for the muscles in his hand. Thus, it seems that something else is going on in Meursault’s head during the shooting—indifference cannot be the only cause.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 13, 2018 at 10:04 AM

    I agree with ALMOST all of this post. You had me convinced pretty much until the last paragraph. I still believe that Meursault is indifferent, at least based on how he describes it. In our class discussion, we emphasized the fact that Meursault doesn't purposely pull the trigger. It's more like an involuntary action. So while his brain may be indifferent, his body possibly is not. Do his brain and body act separately? An interesting thought to ponder.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Milkboy -> Milkman

For the majority of the novel, Milkman seems to behave like an adolescent despite his older age. Even in his early 30’s, he acts as if he were in his early 10’s—highlighted by the fact that he’s had the same job working for his dad for years and still has a nickname he got when he was in his mid 0’s. Similarly, he has steadily become more akin to his father. He collects rent at Macon Jr’s command and has a similar egotistical attitude, manifested in his disgust when he realizes that Ruth’s life doesn’t comprise exclusively of being his mother. More importantly, his arrogance has also manifested in a lack of interest in racial issues for African-Americans, such as when Guitar tells him about the murder of Emit Till. During Milkman and Guitar’s robbery in chapter 8, we see many of these negative character traits manifested. Milkman, a middle-aged man, obeys the order from his father to steal from his aunt. Believing that his desires are of utmost importance, he follows through and s...
Read more

The Significance of the Escalator

Throughout the Mezzanine, it seems that most of the events of the lunch hour, the objects Howie sees along his way, and Howie's recollections from childhood aren’t spectacular or meaningful on their own until Howie’s enthusiasm and digressions make them seem so. For example, the narrator walks to buy a cookie, notices that urinals look like gargoyles, and remembers that his dad used to hang ties on doorknobs, none of which seem like irreplaceable ideas or events in the book; You could imagine that Baker would have had no trouble writing a book of 10 or 100 times the length of the Mezzanine—he wouldn’t run out of interesting things to notice or comment on. On a surface level, the choice of the escalator as the vehicle of the Mezzanine also seems like an arbitrary and insignificant choice by Baker. But after closer inspection, it appears that the escalator is intended as a metaphor, suggesting that Howie is not only rising to his office but also a different mental state with a ...
Read more