The Stranger Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd Quotes Page 10
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Matthew Ward's translation, published by Vintage International published in 1989.
| Quote #28 I was listening, and I could hear that I was being judged intelligent. But I couldn’t understand how an ordinary man’s good qualities could become crushing accusations against a guilty man. At least that was what struck me […]. "Has he so much as expressed any remorse? Never, gentlemen. Not once during the preliminary hearings did this man show emotion over his heinous offense." (2.4.4) |
Meursault realizes the paradoxical fact that he was being penalized for being intelligent and remorseless – not for the murder itself.
| Quote #29 Fumbling a little with my words and realizing how ridiculous I sounded, I blurted out that it was because of the sun. People laughed. My lawyer threw up his hands […]. (2.4.6) |
An element of nature and an absurdist, Meursault finds himself in quite a bind: he has no explanation (regardless of its truth) that society would find valid. But this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an explanation that – in his mind – is in fact cogent.
| Quote #30 But all the long speeches, all the interminable days and hours that people had spent talking about my soul, had left me with the impression of a colorless swirling river that was making me dizzy. (2.4.7) |
Meursault is uninterested in any discussion as to the condition of his soul; to him, such matters are nonsensical.
