Shared Flashcard Set

Details

The Stranger
Albert Camus, nihilism, absurdism, The Stranger
100
English
10th Grade
04/06/2011
Click here to study/print these flashcards.

Create your own flash cards! Sign up here.

Additional English Flashcards

 

 

Cards

Term
Define "nihilism."
 Definition
"Nihilism" is a philosophical belief that "nothing matters" or has significance. It denies the existence of God or of meaning in life.
Term
Where did Camus grow up?
 Definition
Algiers, Algeria in North Africa.
Term
What nationality was Camus?
 Definition
He was French.
Term
How would you describe Camus' childhood?
 Definition
It was difficult. He was very poor. His mother was deaf, and a simple cleaning woman. His father was killed in World War I when Camus was a baby.
Term
When did Camus write and publish The Stanger.
 Definition
He wrote it, and it was published right at the beginning of World War 2.
Term
What literary award did Camus receive for writing The Stranger?
 Definition
He won the Noble Prize for literature for writing the Stranger. The year was 1957.
Term
When and how did Camus die?
 Definition
Camus died in 1960 as the result of a car wreck.
Term
From what medical condition did Camus suffer?
 Definition
He sufffered from tuberculosis.
Term
Before Camus became ill, he was a very good athlete. What was his sport?
 Definition
His sport was soccer.
Term
What does the extraordinary opening of The Stranger cover?
 Definition
It covers Meursault's reaction to a telegram announcing his mother's death.
Term
Why is Meursault's response to his  mother's death so strange?
 Definition
He's more concerned with when she died than he is with the fact the she died.
Term
Why does Meursault travel to Marengo?
 Definition
He does so he can sit at a vigil for his mother that night and go to her funeral the next day.
Term
How often did Meursault visit his mother at Marengo?
 Definition
The text doesn't say exactly but he says he did not go very often. It was perhaps once or twice a year.
Term
Why did Meursault not go to see his mother more often?
 Definition
Basically, he lists a number of reasons all of which amount to the fact that it was too much trouble.
Term
What does Meursault do on the busride to Marengo?
 Definition
He sleeps the whole, long way.
Term
When Meursault first meets the Director, he thinks the Director is criticizing him. Why?
 Definition
He thinks the director is criticizingt he fact that he put his mother in a home.
Term
What was Meursault's response when the caretaker asks Meursault if he wants to see his mother's body?
 Definition
He says, "No," without giving any sort of explanation.
Term
What does the Director say about the kind of funeral service Meursault's mother wanted that surprises Meursault?
 Definition
He says she wanted a religious service.
Term
Who is Thomas Perez?
 Definition
Sh eis Meursault's mother's boyfriend at the home.
Term
What does Meursault do at his mother's vigil that seems uncaring or disrespectful?
 Definition
He smokes.
Term
What gets all of Meursault's attention at the funeral?
 Definition
The heat and the sun consume Meursault's thoughts.
Term
How does Part 1, Chapter 1 end?
 Definition
I ends with Meursault saying how happy he was seeing the lights of Algiers and thinking about sleeping twelve hours straight.
Term
What is wrong with the nurse at the vigil for Meursault's mother?
 Definition
Her nose is missing because of an abcess (cancer). She keeps her face covered with a veil or mask.
Term
Where did Meursault go the Saturday morning after he got home from Marengo?
 Definition
He went to the beach.
Term
Who did Meursault meet at the beach the day after his mother's funeral?
 Definition
He met Marie, a former co-worker.
Term
What surprised Marie about Meursault's clothes when they got dressed after their swim?
 Definition
She was surprised that he was wearing clothes that indicated he was in mourning.
Term
Where did Meursault and Marie go on their first date?
 Definition
They went to see a comedic film and then went back to his place.
Term
How does Meursault spend the Sunday following his mother's funeral after Marie finally leaves his apartment?
 Definition
He spent the day on his balcony smoking and watching people go by.
Term
What does Meursault determine that first Sunday after his mother's death after a day of watching people walk by his apartment.
 Definition
He says that nothing had really changed.
Term
In chapter 3, the reader is finally introduced to Salamano. Who is he?
 Definition
He is an old man in Meursault's apartment who is widower. He owns a dog whom he abuses.
Term
What is wrong with Salamano's dog?
 Definition
He is old and has the mange.
Term
Who is Raymond Sintes?
 Definition
He is a low-life, almost Mafia-like figure, that lives in Meursault's apartment.
Term
When Sintes invites Meursault to his apartment he notices Sintes is injured. How is he injured?
 Definition
He has an injured hand which he got in a fight.
Term
Why had Raymond gotten into a fight?
 Definition
He had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend's brother becaus ehe had beaten her up.
Term
Why did Raymond say he had beaten his girlfriend up?
 Definition
He said she had been cheating on him.
Term
Why does Meursault agree to write the letter for Raymond?
 Definition
He says he didn't have any reason not to please him.
Term
What was it that Raymond wanted Meursault to do for him?
 Definition
He wanted Meursault to write his girlfriend a letter to lure her back so he could beat her up again.
Term
In part 1, chapter 4 Marie was at Meursault's apartment when they heard screaming. Who was screaming?
 Definition
Raymond's girlfriend was screaming because he had beat her up.
Term
Marie asks Meursault to call the cops to stop Raymond. What does Meursault say?
 Definition
He refuses. He says he doesn't like cops.
Term
When the cops do arrive, one of them slaps Raymond. Why?
 Definition
The cop didn't like the disrespectful way Raymond ignored his orders.
Term
When the police leave, Raymond comes by Meursault's apartment. What does he want from Meursault?
 Definition
He wants Meursault to be his witness and to write out a statement for him.
Term
What similarity exist between Meursault, Salamano,and Raymond?
 Definition
They all mistreat those with whom they are in a relationship, either by neglect, anger, or cruelty.
Term
What is ironic about Meursault's thought, when he hears Salamano crying over his lost dog?
 Definition
Salamano's crying cause shim to think of his mother.
Term
In part 1, chapter 5, Meursault's boss asks him to consider moving to Paris. Meursault responds that he doesn't want to move. Why?
 Definition
He says one place is as good as another and he tells Marie that Paris is dark and the people are pale.
Term
In part 1, chapter 5 Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her?
 Definition
He answers that it doesn't mean anything to him bu tthat he will if she wants?
Term
Marie then asks Meursault if he loves her. How does he answer?
 Definition
He answers just like the first time, that it doesn't mean anything but probably not.
Term
In part 1, chapter 5 Meursault sees what he calls "a little robot-like woman" at Celeste's. He describes and follows her. Why does Camus include her in the story? 
 Definition
He includes her as a representative of the way he thinks most of the world lives...lives of planned out, carefully organized meaninglessness.
Term
In part 1, chapter 6 Meursault, Marie and Raymond take a trip. Where do they go?
 Definition
They go to the beach house of Raymond's friend Masson.
Term
How does Meursault feel as the chapter starts?
 Definition
He has a dull headache. Marie describes him as having on his funeral face.
Term
What do Marie, Raymond, and Meursault notice befor ethey get on the bus to go to Masson's?
 Definition
They notice a group of Arabs watching them from across the street.
Term
What happens at Masson's on the beach after lunch?
 Definition
Raymond, Masson, and Meursault are confronted by the Arabs that have followed them to the beach. They fight and Raymond is severly cut.
Term
After Raymond returns from the hospital, the thre men go down to thebeach to find the Arabs. Where do they find them?
 Definition
They find them at a spring up the beach.
Term
Why does Raymond want to find them?
 Definition
He wants to get even for his injury.
Term
Though nothing happens with the Arabs at the spring something important occurs in the story. What is it?
 Definition
Raymond gives Meursault his gun.
Term
What happens when Meursault returns to the spring alone?
 Definition
He murders the Arab shooting him five times.
Term
What is similar in the scene at the spring to the scene at the funeral?
 Definition
The sun is unbearbly hot and making Meursault miserable.
Term
In part 2, chapter 1 Meursault is being examined by a magistrate. what is different about the French form of investigation and the American form?
 Definition

In the American form the police do the questioning, while in the French form the magistrate of judge does the questioning.
Term
What does Meursault's lawyer question him about first?
 Definition
He question shim about his apparent insensitivity on the day of his mother's funeral.
Term
In Pt. 2.Ch.1, Meursault explains what his lawyer feels toward him? What does he say? Why?
 Definition

He says that he thinks his lawyer is slightly disgusted with him. He says that because of the way the lawyer responds to some of Meursault's answers to his questions.
Term
What does Meursault say to his layer that his lawyer begs him to never say again?
 Definition
Meursault says that all people at one time or another sometimes wish that their loved ones were dead.
Term
The examining magistrate seems to really only care about 2 things. That is he really only asks Meursault 2 questions. What are they?
 Definition
He asks him why he waited between shots, and he asks him if he believes in God.
Term
Meursault's unbelief affects the magistrate so much that he does something unusual. What is it?
 Definition
He gets a crucifix out of a file cabinet drawer and waves it over Meursault.
Term
Eventually, the magistrate gives up on Meursault and starts being polite. What does he call Meursault?
 Definition
He calls him Monsieur Antichrist.
Term
Why does Camus not give any of the judicial characters names in Part 2? That is, why doe she not name the lawyers and judges?
 Definition
By not giving them names he demonstrates that they are not personal but just represent society in a general sort of way.
Term
In part 2, chapter 2 Marie makes her last visit to the jail. Why is it her last?
 Definition
Only family is permitted to keep visiting.
Term
In part 2, chapter 2 Meursault quotes his mother and talks about living in a dead tree stump. What does he say she said?
 Definition
He says she used to say that a person can get used to anything.
Term
Is Meursault sympathetic about the man who was murdered by his mother and sister or about the later deaths of that same mother and sister?
 Definition

No, he says people shouldn't play games.
Term
What did the Czech man's mother an sister do to him?
 Definition
Because they didn't know who he was, they beat him to death with a hammer sothey could rob him.
Term
What is ironic about the fact that in Pt. 2 Ch. 2 Meursault complains that his life has come to a standstill in prison?
 Definition
It's ironic becaus eit wasn't all that much different before he went to prison.
Term
How long was the period between Meursault's arrest and trial?
 Definition
one year
Term
In Pt.2, Ch. 3, Meursault does not accept the offer of a cigarette. Why?
 Definition

He has gotten used to doing without them and doesn't want to have to break himselff off them again.
Term
How is Meursault treated by the court personnel, a reporter, and his lawyer before the trial begins? How does this behavior compare with how Meursault has been treated by others in the novel?
 Definition

Except for his boss, who is marginally annoyed by Meursault's lack of ambition, everyone else in the Stranger treats Meursault kindly.
Term
What are the first two questions the prosecutor asks Meursault? What is the prosecutor trying to get Meursault to admit?
 Definition

Both questions have to do with why Meursault returned tothe spring armed? He wants to show that the murder was premeditated. 
Term
Do you think Meursault's murder of the Arab was premeditated?
 Definition
The way camus tells the story, no. Still, it is hard to imagine anything else in reality.
Term
Why is Meursault's answer that it just happened that way significant?
 Definition
Meursault is trying to show that events were beyong his control and that he is really a victim of nature.
Term
What does Meursault realize after the testimony of the director of the retirement home? What is Meursault's reaction?
 Definition

He says he realizes he was guilty. He also realizes how much people hate him.
Term
Who is the one witness in the trial that evokes Meursault's gratitude?
 Definition
Celeste. He saus eveything that happened was bad luck. Meursault says he wishes he could kiss him.
Term
List some non-criminal acts cited by the prosecutor as facts, which show Meursault has a criminal soul.
 Definition

He didn’t know his mother’s correct age; he went swimming with a woman; he watched a comedy film, and he took “his mistress” home.
Term
What explanation does Meursault use for not feeling any remorse about killing the Arab man?
 Definition

“I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything.”
Term
For what other crime does the prosecutor say he holds Meursault responsible?
 Definition
He says that he is in a sense guilty of the parricde as well.
Term
What is a parricde?
 Definition
It is when a child kills their father. Matricide is killing one's mother.
Term
Cite the words used by Meursault as the motive for his killing the Arab man.
 Definition
It was because of the sun.
Term
If the sun symbolizes the world and events over which he has no control, does Meursault's explanation make any sense?
 Definition

The answer makes sense to Meursault, but not to those who do not share his worldview. His existentialism  make shim say he has no control over events: the sun (symbolically, the world, the power, the heat, and the enormity of it) drove him to murder.
Term
What is the verdict?
 Definition
Death by beheading on the guillotine.
Term
What is the climax of the Stranger?
 Definition
The climax occurs when Meursault shoots the Arab on the beach.
Term
If the shooting of the Arab is the climax of the story, what are the trial and verdict?
 Definition
They are part of a long denouement (wrapping up of loose ends).
Term
What reasons does Meursault give for not wishing to see the chaplain after his sentencing?
 Definition

Meursault says that he has nothing to say to the chaplain, that he does not feel like talking, and that he will be seeing the clergyman soon enough as it is.
Term
What does Meursault mean by “seeing him soon enough”?
 Definition
The chaplain accompanies condemned men to their executions.
Term
Explain the significance of the story about Meursault's father. What conclusion does Meursault reach?
 Definition

Finally, Meursault finds something in life (stange that it would be death) in which to be interested.
Term
What does Meursault agree with his mother about concerning happiness?
 Definition
He says you can always find something to be happy about. In his case, it is the fact that dawn has come and gone and he hasn't been executed.
Term
At the end, what two things give Meursault hope?
 Definition
He hopes either for an appeal or a pardon.
Term
What kind of literary device is used in the following quite: Every stone here sweats with suffering.
 Definition
personification
Term
What exactly does Meursault wish for in the last sentence of the novel?
 Definition

He wishes for a large crowd of spectators to they greet him with cries of hate.
Term
Why does Meursault want the crowd at his execution to hate him?
 Definition
It is hard to be certain. Perhaps, it is defiance on his part.
Term
Define absurdism.
 Definition
Absurdism is like nihilism but more cynical. It views life as simply a bad joke, an absurdity.
Term
Define existentialism.
 Definition
It is the belief that their is no God, no morality, no truth but that no one can live that way and must instead decide for themselves what menaing they give life.
Term
What did Ryken mean when he said Camus intended to write the Stranger in the American style?
 Definition
He meant he wrote it with short phrases and simple language which was both concrete and visual...like Hemingway.
Term
What phrase does Ryken use that best describes Camus' way of writing?
 Definition
He says he shows rather than tells.
Term
What book of the Bible does Ryken say provides a helpful framework to interpret the Stranger?
 Definition
Ecclesiastes
Term
List two ways in which Ryken describes the Stranger.
 Definition
He  says it is a conventional murder story, and a classic modern novel.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!