Journal #6

Thesis:
Through the philosophy that a man's life is his own responsibility, Mersault has built a wall between himself and society, where he is capable of expressing himself physically yet he cannot evoke meaningful thoughts and feelings, as can be seen through the symbols of the sun, darkness and death.

So here is my thought process...
- Question: Why does Camus keep Mersault's thoughts vague even though he is the narrator of the story?
- Mersault is telling a story without really investing any thoughts or feelings into the events
- The lack of knowledge of Mersault's thought process actually develops Mersault's character
- It shows how Mersault creates a wall between him and the world
- This barrier causes him to be convicted of murder, I could use the example of his mother, I really love that his philosophy impacts his reaction to his mother's death.
- Mersault is not able to express himself verbally, though he can go into detail on himself physically. He went into great detail of his physical feelings when he shot the Arab rather than his mentality.
- Though he did express that he had shattered his happiness, that rare look into his mentality was super vague
- Mersault really begins to open up in the last chapter, when he knows that he is about to die, we are really able to look into how he thinks
- The fact that this is the only time we really have a good look inside Mersault's mind makes it stand out even more.
- To incorporate the sun into my analysis: Mersault really expresses his feelings through the physical presence of the sun and how it affects him physically.
- Philosophy that a person's way of life is their choice and responsibility, therefore, it is Mersault's fault for his isolation. How to word that concisely..?!