IB Junior English Journal Response #10

Cultural Journal:

The influence of language and treatment towards others in society has been changed through the French occupation of Algeria.  When Raymond meets someone new or in close relation to a friend of his, he uses a social title before mentioning the person’s name, “mademoiselle” or “monsieur”.  As Meursault starts to learn about Raymond’s personal life even more, he begins to be considered a “pal” and therefore, gives Raymond the impression that social titles do not need to exist between them.

Connections of the Title to the Novel:

The current title for the English (American) version of the book gives several connotations that affect how we view the protagonist.  The first of which being a person who is not outspoken in society or has no outside connections other than his own community.  When Meursault refuses his boss’s offer to work in a new office that was planned to open in Paris, he replies that, “I never gave him a straight answer, that I had no ambition” (41).  This can suggest that the character is just barely conforming to what people expect out of his social class.  In the novel, he seems to be working for a low wage occupation and does not give any particular interest to style or stereotypes of society.  In a sense, he also seems to be free of some of the restrictions of how a person should act if he was higher in social class.  Another connotation that can be drawn from this is, how the main character is conservative in his decisions.  The protagonist often expresses his feelings through his thoughts and less through communication with other people.  For instance, the author does not choose to make Meursault say, “for some reason I thought of Maman” (39). while in the conversation with Salmano in order to sympathize, but with this non-interest of his, he thinks of most feelings as insignificant thoughts to be disregarded.  This causes other people to look upon him as indifferent to many important events that he encounters.  One other view of the title can be from a literal and/or connotative perspective.  The Title itself could mean The Stranger or that the actions and thoughts that he expresses are getting stranger (more dulled/extreme) as time progresses which prior to the climax.  This suggests that the protagonist may be starting to begin an obvious separation from the expectations of society as a whole.