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The Stranger

Get your inner existentialist on.

  • Course Length: 3 weeks
  • Course Type: Short Course
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • High School

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Have you ever felt like you just didn't get it?

You have something in common with Meursault, the un-heroic hero of Albert Camus' The Stranger. Even if you've never dozed through your mother's funeral, killed a man in Reno (er, Algiers) just to watch him die, or been sentenced to death, you know what it feels like to just not feel like you're picking up what the world is putting down.

Via strange readings and even stranger lesson and activities (all Common Core-aligned, of course), you will

  • analyze the ways in which the translation of The Stranger from French to English impacts everything about the novel.
  • analyze Meursault's Oedipal impulses…a.k.a. Daddy Issues.
  • discuss whether The Stranger is an Existential or Absurdist work of fiction…without using a dictionary.
  • close read the themes of friendship, love, and attraction in The Stranger.
  • craft original arguments about the importance of sunshine in The Stranger—don't forget the sunblock.
  • describe the search for meaning in The Stranger and decide whether or not Meursault finds it.

Unit Breakdown

1 The Stranger - The Stranger

In this unit, you'll read one of the slimmest, densest books you'll ever come across while we prove that there are more than 100 ways to make a pun on the title: The Stranger.


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.01: Lost in Translation

The translation of "Tour de France" is "I hate my mother."
(Source)

Pro-tip: if you're ever on Jeopardy and pick the "World's Most Memorable First Lines" category, remember the beginning of The Stranger.

Because if the answer isn't "What is Moby Dick?" or "What is Pride and Prejudice?", the answer is totally going to be "What is The Stranger?"

The line in question?

"Maman died today."

This line is weird…like the man who "speaks" it. It doesn't say much about weirdo Meursault by itself, but paired with the following line it's truly bizarre: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." Um…bad son alert! Callous jerk alert! Man whose destructive life choices will lead to his demise alert!

And also: nerd alert. Why? Because this is the line that started a huge translation hullabaloo.

Time to get cracking with all this translation fascination.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01a: Translator's Note and Part 1, Chapter 1

Go ahead and read the Translator's Note and Part 1, Chapter 1 of The Stranger.

And if you feel like a stranger in a strange land, we'll welcome you home with our chapter summaries.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01b: Translation Station

Once you're done, mosey on over to the following article and read about the issues surrounding the first line of the book.

Lost in Translation: What the First Line of "The Stranger" Should Be

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.01a: Translation Nation

The opening line isn't all that crazy on its own—but couldn't it have been followed up by…what's not there? How about "I miss her"? or "I'm sad about it"?

Nope, it couldn't have. If the opening lines weren't what they are, we wouldn't have the wonderful lizard-robot narrator we have: Meursault. 

Now, we at Shmoop don't have the passion necessary to write New Yorker articles that obsess over one sentence. But we do have the passion necessary to write activities that obsess over two sentences. Totally different.

Your task for this activity: go on an Easter egg hunt for Robot-Lizard eggs.

  1. Find three instances in the opening chapter where two adjacent sentences portray Meursault as a detached dude with a seeming lack of emotions.

    For example:

    Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know.

    Okay, your turn.

  2. Now rewrite one of the two sentences in each example so it makes Meursault seem human.

    For example:

    Maman died today. I've never been so sad.

    Your turn.

  3. Now tell us, in 50 words, why you think Camus chose to express Meursault's nuttiness over the course of two sentences each time, instead of with just one.

Expository Writing Rubric - 25 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Evidence / Support

All support is clearly and logically connected to the topic. Examples, evidence, and details are thorough and relevant with effective explanation.

(10)

All support about the main topic is relevant. Examples, evidence, and details are explained.

(9)

Most support is related to the topic. Examples, evidence, or details are given.

(8)

Insufficient examples, evidence, or details. Support may be irrelevant.

(7)
Content Understanding

All content is accurate and analysis is interesting and sophisticated.

(10)

All content is accurate.

(9)

May contain minor errors.

(8)

Major errors.

(7)
Style

Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

(5)

Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

(4)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

(4)

Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

(3)

Sample Lesson - Activity

  1. What is the line after "Maman died today"?

  2. Where did Maman live?

  3. How does Meursault get to the funeral?

  4. What is the weather like?

  5. What does the director tell Meursault?

  6. Why doesn't Meursault want to see his mother's body?

  7. What group of people come to take part in the vigil?

  8. How long is the vigil?

  9. What is Meursault's attitude toward the funeral?

  10. What happens to Thomas Perez?