The first part of Columbine is so incredibly intriguing, I could not even put it down! I liked how the story jumps right into who the two killers were, instead of working around it, filling the story with a bunch of unnecessary summary. I still cannot grip this idea that Dylan and Eric were perfectly normal teenagers: handsome, jobs, social lives, they are the complete opposite of what people would consider to be natural born criminals/killers and it is because of this I think that the story is so interesting. Usually those who commit school homicides are typically kids who have been victims of bullying and continuous harassments; outcast, emotionally deprived kids, it is just so ironic because these kids had everything with absolutely (as we know it) no motive behind doing what they had done. As I continued to read, the story reminded me more and more of the novel “In Cold Blood”, by Truman Capote: this idea of no physiological motive behind inhumane acts of true crime. The narrative use of keen, specific detail, is done so without tone or emotion, this reflecting the acts themselves; they served no purpose. As the narrator describes what had happened to one of the victims Patrick’s skull the reader is almost repelled by the narrators ability to literally just say it liked it is : “other debris lodged in his scalp as well-probably wood splinters torn from the tabletop in the blast….It burrowed six inches through spongy brain matter..”(77). Aside from the use of detail, and the manipulation of emotion and tone, the overall strength and courage of the victims and families is something that struck me as a reader so hard. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have heard of the shootings, heard of the victims stories, not be able to know until hours later if your child had made it or not. The story in of itself is just so incredibly mind-boggling and I’m curious to reader further into the psycho-analysis of both Eric and Dylan. Now, this should get interesting…
The more i read the book the more i get wrapped in. I wasnt able to be a school today so i wasnt able to participate in a group discussion. Sorry guys =/. But i had soem questions i wanted to ask the group. Do you think this could happen at our school? I mean before reading i did some research of these kids and the writter. and there was no real motive behind why they wanted to blow up the school. Which really creeped me out. I mean, ok if they were bullied or something tramatic happened then i could understand or not so much understand but have an explanation to their thinking. It makes me realize that there really is true evil in this world.It makes me wonder if there are kids like this walking the halls of our school, and you honestly never know. Creepy! but so far im really enjoying the book. In some parts its a little more detailed then id like. There are parts in the book when the boys Eric and Dylan were getting into trouble, but little things like breaking into lockers , nothing you would ever associate with trying to blow up your school. It really bugs me out because you never know. lets see what happens next...
Part three, and the final parts of Columbine are very, very, overwhelmingly interesting. The last part of Columbine focuses mainly on the aftermath of the shootings and the analysis of the two killers; in my opinion it is the most interesting part. As you said Midori, Cullen almost uses this novel and the shootings to, not necessarily warn students that this could happen anywhere but to evoke nation wide awareness. It is so mind boggling, and I think that, as you had asked, yes this could happen anywhere, even at Malden High School. There are people out there who are just natural born “textbook psychopaths” as Cullen had described Eric as. However, it is creepy, and frightening to imagine something like this happening at MHS, but what Cullen attempts to portray in the third part of the novel is that this is the motives behind what the boys truly wanted: terrorism, they wanted the people around them to live in fear, all to provide them with a sense of power. The author Dave Cullen goes into deep analysis on the two subject describing Dylan as an “angry depressive” and Eric as a natural born “textbook psychopath”, ironically many locals imagined it the other way around. Out of the two, Eric had seemed more social, happy, the average teenage boy, this most likely what makes him the psychopath he is. As I researched psychopaths’ outside of the novel, I found that it is often called “personality disorder” which is “an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal”: this was Eric. As you said Midori, this is the scariest thing, their ability to hide their ambitions so well, that’s what not only frightens me but evokes such curiosity about these people. Another thing that blows my mind is that the boys were, intentionally or not, leaving clues everywhere the months and even days leading up to the attack. Everything from “the basement videos”, to the purchasing of weapons, their journals, and even an online website that outlined their plans; it makes me wonder: why were they being so open? Where they looking for someone to stop them? Or where they trying to prove to the world how “ignorant” and “dumb” society is that they could get away with such a large homicide and put it out their before it even happened? The end result of the diagnosis of the boys is still by the end of the story virtually unknown. Professionals are unaware of their motive, aside from their moral beliefs and their natural born instinct to kill. There was no possibility of psycho-analysis; therefore there is no possible explanation. Like a good novel in literature, the world is left guessing, we are left to infer, make of it what we must what happened that day. And like the victims of the attack, the world continues to view Columbine as something unrealistic, that of a movie, no one ever thinks it can happen to them, until it does. Eric and Dylan may not have set the world record for the biggest massacre in America as they had wanted, but they definitely have influenced young socially depressed teenagers everywhere: Virginia Tech being the most obvious example, as the killer states that he plans to “top the Columbine killers”. So, with that I wonder, is it okay to consider these two individuals, or at least Eric, inhumane? Are they less than human, because their mind functions on the same level as natural born killers? What is the world to make of people who commit such heinous crimes?
Part three, and the final parts of Columbine are very, very, overwhelmingly interesting. The last part of Columbine focuses mainly on the aftermath of the shootings and the analysis of the two killers; in my opinion it is the most interesting part. As you said Midori, Cullen almost uses this novel and the shootings to, not necessarily warn students that this could happen anywhere but to evoke nation wide awareness. It is so mind boggling, and I think that, as you had asked, yes this could happen anywhere, even at Malden High School. There are people out there who are just natural born “textbook psychopaths” as Cullen had described Eric as. However, it is creepy, and frightening to imagine something like this happening at MHS, but what Cullen attempts to portray in the third part of the novel is that this is the motives behind what the boys truly wanted: terrorism, they wanted the people around them to live in fear, all to provide them with a sense of power. The author Dave Cullen goes into deep analysis on the two subject describing Dylan as an “angry depressive” and Eric as a natural born “textbook psychopath”, ironically many locals imagined it the other way around. Out of the two, Eric had seemed more social, happy, the average teenage boy, this most likely what makes him the psychopath he is. As I researched psychopaths’ outside of the novel, I found that it is often called “personality disorder” which is “an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal”: this was Eric. As you said Midori, this is the scariest thing, their ability to hide their ambitions so well, that’s what not only frightens me but evokes such curiosity about these people. Another thing that blows my mind is that the boys were, intentionally or not, leaving clues everywhere the months and even days leading up to the attack. Everything from “the basement videos”, to the purchasing of weapons, their journals, and even an online website that outlined their plans; it makes me wonder: why were they being so open? Where they looking for someone to stop them? Or where they trying to prove to the world how “ignorant” and “dumb” society is that they could get away with such a large homicide and put it out their before it even happened? The end result of the diagnosis of the boys is still by the end of the story virtually unknown. Professionals are unaware of their motive, aside from their moral beliefs and their natural born instinct to kill. There was no possibility of psycho-analysis; therefore there is no possible explanation. Like a good novel in literature, the world is left guessing, we are left to infer, make of it what we must what happened that day. And like the victims of the attack, the world continues to view Columbine as something unrealistic, that of a movie, no one ever thinks it can happen to them, until it does. Eric and Dylan may not have set the world record for the biggest massacre in America as they had wanted, but they definitely have influenced young socially depressed teenagers everywhere: Virginia Tech being the most obvious example, as the killer states that he plans to “top the Columbine killers”. So, with that I wonder, is it okay to consider these two individuals, or at least Eric, inhumane? Are they less than human, because their mind functions on the same level as natural born killers? What is the world to make of people who commit such heinous crimes?
Kerri i feel like the boys left all the videos around to prove to that the world is ignorant. They themselves believed they were invisbile and unstoppable that they were able to leave evidence around like the their website which had all their online plans, purchasing weapons (which is iffy because i thought you had to be a certain age to buy weapons) and their journals, which were very disturbing. The thing that blows my mind is the unknown. Psychologists still arent sure what their motives where besides their moral beliefs. It really makes me believe that there are people like this that walk the halls of maldenhigh. Basically Dylan was really the crazy one and Eric was just an angry kid. If it came down to it i believe that Eric would not try to commmit a massive murder like this by himself. To know people can be influenced to such a great extent is mind boggling. I really love how kerri summed up her last blog. Shes right these students may not have set the record of the biggest massacre in american history but it changed the lives of American people everywhere and has influenced teens negatively. We as students should not have to wrorry about things like this and the author has really opened up my mind to the posssibility that things like this could really happen. Overall this was a very interesting book. It was very detailed and long which made it pretty hard to read. But because its so interesting i found myself doing extra online reading of the book and looking at different references. This book made my skin crawl at time and some parts were a bit disturbing but that just made me want to read it more. Any book that can make me actual have a physical reaction (chills) is a good book. Id recommend it to people.
Sorry guys first blog I know im slacking but I love everything you two are saying and I can't wait to finish this project
Im a very observant person especially in school . I think Eric and Dylan would fool me because they really seemed like normal people. They walked the halls as if life was wonderful for them. Kids who usually do something that has to do with violence are usually kids who had a disrupt childhood life and who has consistently got in trouble with the school or the police. Kerri as you said a psychopath is the word that comes into my mind when it comes to Eric and Dylan just had so much anger within himself. I feel like they had so much problems that they didn't show and they needed help but didn't receive it because everyone thought they were okay. So they come up with this evil plan to show to society to keep an eye one everyone even the ones who smile everyday because they can be the ones who have the most issues. These boys have been planning this for awhile making videos , blue print online of there plan, journals, and the weapons they bought. They couldn't just do this in one day these boys were desperate to be noticed. As Midori and Kerri said leaving the videos around was to show how the world is so "ignorant" it is true the world is ignorant. Every single human being has a flaw , some may have more serious flaws then others, but its a message just like 9/11 you need to make sure that you don't trust everyone the devil can get the best of anyone. We as a society need to come up with better strategies to make our world safe because when I turn on the news all I watch is a homicide or something related to death people are sick in the mind for god knows what. Their smart about it too Dylan and Eric knew if they acted crazy in front of the public they will be watched so they acted normal and until this day professionals do not know the diagnosis of the boys. I feel like this world is based on principal and facts I feel like we need to focus more on kids who are in middle school and who are growing up because they are influenced by so many things and sometimes they will follow what's wrong because if they knew better they would do better. Our world needs to stop rotating around principal and facts and think of the unthinkable! This story was well written and it makes me more aware of people and my surroundings. Good job girls I feel like we hit every point there is to say!
In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus it opens up very sadly with Meursault mother dying and he has to take a trip to go where his mother was living which was an old persons home. He was upset, but didn’t show too much emotion. After the whole incident with his mom he seems to be busy with his friends like Marie Cardona, Emmanuel, Salamano , and Raymond. He slept with Marie and Marie starts catching feelings just like any typical girl and he tells her it didn’t mean anything. I feel like he just needs someone because his mother died. Then Raymond gets arrested for beating his mistress. THANK GOD! Any man who puts his hands on a woman is less than a man! Marie and Meaursault get engaged but I can tell he really doesn’t want to but what does he have to lose? Marie, Meaursault, Raymond go to Raymond’s friends beach house. His name is called Mason. The three men get into a confrontation with a few Arabs one of them was Raymond’s mistress brother. And out of nowhere Meaursault shoots him and gets arrested. His lawyer is upset with his actions because he seems not to care. There’s just a pattern with him he just seems not give a care in the world not even for his mother. He probably does care but is just holding everything in which is not good so it makes him act in a way that he shouldn’t act. Especially hanging with Raymond and marrying Marie when he really doesn’t have feelings for her. So far this book can relate to anyone who has gone through something that hurts them mentally and physically and causes them to do bad things which is no excuse because everyone in this world goes through something and if we use that excuse for anything everyone would kill each other and not get in trouble because their going through things
So Meursault doesnt believe in God at all. Which can be understandable everyone has those moments where we ask God why would he take away something so special from us. Then you start to believe theres no hope or God because you dont know why he would put you is so much grief.He's very heartless and due to that the court members found him "GUILTY" and sentenced him to the death by beheading. Instead of thinking right or maybe even pray to God he sort of gets more angry and starts yelling at the chaplain. Declaring that theres no hope in the after life and how everything is meaningless. This is really a bad way to think its like the devil is taking over him and he doesnt even know it.
In the last section of the book The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault is sentenced to death and awaits his sentence out in prison were he spends a lot of time thinking about society and the pointlessness of human life. I found this part of the book the most interesting because as much as the reader is convinced not to like Meursault, he has a lot of great points—also, a lot of things were clarified for me in these last few pages of the book. Meursault, I believe, is a text book psycho-path, and the way in which he acts towards thing that “normal” humans would find emotionally disturbing reminded me a lot of Erica Harris in the novel Columbine- the lack of remorse for human life, lack of emotion, lack of affection towards others, they can simply be characterized as crazy, mentally ill. Meursualt ponders about human worth while he is imprisoned. He considers the idea that it is okay that he is going to die now rather than later of old age, because either way he is going to die someday, so realistically there is no difference- which is true. Although, personally, I would rather die of old age then right now, its true, regardless we all die, and what we do here is, realistically, of no importance- I suppose it’s the experience that counts, but what its matter, because when you die, you don’t remember anything. The only certainty in life is death, and I think this is a reoccurring theme throughout the novel. No one can promise you wealth, a future, an education, a job, but there is one thing that you know you will ALWAYS have death. The only thing I didn’t understand about the ending of the story is when Merusault is awaiting his execution, and as it comes closer he hopes that at his execution there will be “cries of hate”—why would someone want that? Why would you want people to be excited that your dying, its almost as if he enjoys being misunderstood, hated, and outsider. I found it interesting that the book was once supposed to be called “The Outside” until it was switched to “The Stranger” : I think the outside fits it better, it flows better with the story, because after all that is what Meursault is, an outsider, to the world and to himself. What do you guys think of the ending? I like it, its interesting, intriguing, I really want to analyze and meet an individual like Meursault!
10 Comments:
The first part of Columbine is so incredibly intriguing, I could not even put it down! I liked how the story jumps right into who the two killers were, instead of working around it, filling the story with a bunch of unnecessary summary. I still cannot grip this idea that Dylan and Eric were perfectly normal teenagers: handsome, jobs, social lives, they are the complete opposite of what people would consider to be natural born criminals/killers and it is because of this I think that the story is so interesting. Usually those who commit school homicides are typically kids who have been victims of bullying and continuous harassments; outcast, emotionally deprived kids, it is just so ironic because these kids had everything with absolutely (as we know it) no motive behind doing what they had done.
As I continued to read, the story reminded me more and more of the novel “In Cold Blood”, by Truman Capote: this idea of no physiological motive behind inhumane acts of true crime. The narrative use of keen, specific detail, is done so without tone or emotion, this reflecting the acts themselves; they served no purpose. As the narrator describes what had happened to one of the victims Patrick’s skull the reader is almost repelled by the narrators ability to literally just say it liked it is : “other debris lodged in his scalp as well-probably wood splinters torn from the tabletop in the blast….It burrowed six inches through spongy brain matter..”(77). Aside from the use of detail, and the manipulation of emotion and tone, the overall strength and courage of the victims and families is something that struck me as a reader so hard. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have heard of the shootings, heard of the victims stories, not be able to know until hours later if your child had made it or not. The story in of itself is just so incredibly mind-boggling and I’m curious to reader further into the psycho-analysis of both Eric and Dylan. Now, this should get interesting…
The more i read the book the more i get wrapped in. I wasnt able to be a school today so i wasnt able to participate in a group discussion. Sorry guys =/. But i had soem questions i wanted to ask the group. Do you think this could happen at our school? I mean before reading i did some research of these kids and the writter. and there was no real motive behind why they wanted to blow up the school. Which really creeped me out. I mean, ok if they were bullied or something tramatic happened then i could understand or not so much understand but have an explanation to their thinking. It makes me realize that there really is true evil in this world.It makes me wonder if there are kids like this walking the halls of our school, and you honestly never know. Creepy! but so far im really enjoying the book. In some parts its a little more detailed then id like. There are parts in the book when the boys Eric and Dylan were getting into trouble, but little things like breaking into lockers , nothing you would ever associate with trying to blow up your school. It really bugs me out because you never know. lets see what happens next...
Part three, and the final parts of Columbine are very, very, overwhelmingly interesting. The last part of Columbine focuses mainly on the aftermath of the shootings and the analysis of the two killers; in my opinion it is the most interesting part. As you said Midori, Cullen almost uses this novel and the shootings to, not necessarily warn students that this could happen anywhere but to evoke nation wide awareness. It is so mind boggling, and I think that, as you had asked, yes this could happen anywhere, even at Malden High School. There are people out there who are just natural born “textbook psychopaths” as Cullen had described Eric as. However, it is creepy, and frightening to imagine something like this happening at MHS, but what Cullen attempts to portray in the third part of the novel is that this is the motives behind what the boys truly wanted: terrorism, they wanted the people around them to live in fear, all to provide them with a sense of power.
The author Dave Cullen goes into deep analysis on the two subject describing Dylan as an “angry depressive” and Eric as a natural born “textbook psychopath”, ironically many locals imagined it the other way around. Out of the two, Eric had seemed more social, happy, the average teenage boy, this most likely what makes him the psychopath he is. As I researched psychopaths’ outside of the novel, I found that it is often called “personality disorder” which is “an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal”: this was Eric. As you said Midori, this is the scariest thing, their ability to hide their ambitions so well, that’s what not only frightens me but evokes such curiosity about these people.
Another thing that blows my mind is that the boys were, intentionally or not, leaving clues everywhere the months and even days leading up to the attack. Everything from “the basement videos”, to the purchasing of weapons, their journals, and even an online website that outlined their plans; it makes me wonder: why were they being so open? Where they looking for someone to stop them? Or where they trying to prove to the world how “ignorant” and “dumb” society is that they could get away with such a large homicide and put it out their before it even happened? The end result of the diagnosis of the boys is still by the end of the story virtually unknown. Professionals are unaware of their motive, aside from their moral beliefs and their natural born instinct to kill. There was no possibility of psycho-analysis; therefore there is no possible explanation. Like a good novel in literature, the world is left guessing, we are left to infer, make of it what we must what happened that day. And like the victims of the attack, the world continues to view Columbine as something unrealistic, that of a movie, no one ever thinks it can happen to them, until it does. Eric and Dylan may not have set the world record for the biggest massacre in America as they had wanted, but they definitely have influenced young socially depressed teenagers everywhere: Virginia Tech being the most obvious example, as the killer states that he plans to “top the Columbine killers”. So, with that I wonder, is it okay to consider these two individuals, or at least Eric, inhumane? Are they less than human, because their mind functions on the same level as natural born killers? What is the world to make of people who commit such heinous crimes?
Part three, and the final parts of Columbine are very, very, overwhelmingly interesting. The last part of Columbine focuses mainly on the aftermath of the shootings and the analysis of the two killers; in my opinion it is the most interesting part. As you said Midori, Cullen almost uses this novel and the shootings to, not necessarily warn students that this could happen anywhere but to evoke nation wide awareness. It is so mind boggling, and I think that, as you had asked, yes this could happen anywhere, even at Malden High School. There are people out there who are just natural born “textbook psychopaths” as Cullen had described Eric as. However, it is creepy, and frightening to imagine something like this happening at MHS, but what Cullen attempts to portray in the third part of the novel is that this is the motives behind what the boys truly wanted: terrorism, they wanted the people around them to live in fear, all to provide them with a sense of power.
The author Dave Cullen goes into deep analysis on the two subject describing Dylan as an “angry depressive” and Eric as a natural born “textbook psychopath”, ironically many locals imagined it the other way around. Out of the two, Eric had seemed more social, happy, the average teenage boy, this most likely what makes him the psychopath he is. As I researched psychopaths’ outside of the novel, I found that it is often called “personality disorder” which is “an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal”: this was Eric. As you said Midori, this is the scariest thing, their ability to hide their ambitions so well, that’s what not only frightens me but evokes such curiosity about these people.
Another thing that blows my mind is that the boys were, intentionally or not, leaving clues everywhere the months and even days leading up to the attack. Everything from “the basement videos”, to the purchasing of weapons, their journals, and even an online website that outlined their plans; it makes me wonder: why were they being so open? Where they looking for someone to stop them? Or where they trying to prove to the world how “ignorant” and “dumb” society is that they could get away with such a large homicide and put it out their before it even happened? The end result of the diagnosis of the boys is still by the end of the story virtually unknown. Professionals are unaware of their motive, aside from their moral beliefs and their natural born instinct to kill. There was no possibility of psycho-analysis; therefore there is no possible explanation. Like a good novel in literature, the world is left guessing, we are left to infer, make of it what we must what happened that day. And like the victims of the attack, the world continues to view Columbine as something unrealistic, that of a movie, no one ever thinks it can happen to them, until it does. Eric and Dylan may not have set the world record for the biggest massacre in America as they had wanted, but they definitely have influenced young socially depressed teenagers everywhere: Virginia Tech being the most obvious example, as the killer states that he plans to “top the Columbine killers”. So, with that I wonder, is it okay to consider these two individuals, or at least Eric, inhumane? Are they less than human, because their mind functions on the same level as natural born killers? What is the world to make of people who commit such heinous crimes?
Kerri i feel like the boys left all the videos around to prove to that the world is ignorant. They themselves believed they were invisbile and unstoppable that they were able to leave evidence around like the their website which had all their online plans, purchasing weapons (which is iffy because i thought you had to be a certain age to buy weapons) and their journals, which were very disturbing. The thing that blows my mind is the unknown. Psychologists still arent sure what their motives where besides their moral beliefs. It really makes me believe that there are people like this that walk the halls of maldenhigh. Basically Dylan was really the crazy one and Eric was just an angry kid. If it came down to it i believe that Eric would not try to commmit a massive murder like this by himself. To know people can be influenced to such a great extent is mind boggling.
I really love how kerri summed up her last blog. Shes right these students may not have set the record of the biggest massacre in american history but it changed the lives of American people everywhere and has influenced teens negatively. We as students should not have to wrorry about things like this and the author has really opened up my mind to the posssibility that things like this could really happen.
Overall this was a very interesting book. It was very detailed and long which made it pretty hard to read. But because its so interesting i found myself doing extra online reading of the book and looking at different references. This book made my skin crawl at time and some parts were a bit disturbing but that just made me want to read it more. Any book that can make me actual have a physical reaction (chills) is a good book. Id recommend it to people.
THIS IS NATASHA'S BLOG:
Sorry guys first blog I know im slacking but I love everything you two
are saying and I can't wait to finish this project
Im a very observant person especially in school . I think Eric and Dylan
would fool me because they really seemed like normal people. They walked
the halls as if life was wonderful for them. Kids who usually do
something that has to do with violence are usually kids who had a
disrupt childhood life and who has consistently got in trouble with the
school or the police. Kerri as you said a psychopath is the word that
comes into my mind when it comes to Eric and Dylan just had so much
anger within himself. I feel like they had so much problems that they
didn't show and they needed help but didn't receive it because everyone
thought they were okay. So they come up with this evil plan to show to
society to keep an eye one everyone even the ones who smile everyday
because they can be the ones who have the most issues. These boys have
been planning this for awhile making videos , blue print online of there
plan, journals, and the weapons they bought. They couldn't just do this
in one day these boys were desperate to be noticed. As Midori and Kerri
said leaving the videos around was to show how the world is so
"ignorant" it is true the world is ignorant. Every single human being
has a flaw , some may have more serious flaws then others, but its a
message just like 9/11 you need to make sure that you don't trust
everyone the devil can get the best of anyone. We as a society need to
come up with better strategies to make our world safe because when I
turn on the news all I watch is a homicide or something related to death
people are sick in the mind for god knows what. Their smart about it too
Dylan and Eric knew if they acted crazy in front of the public they will
be watched so they acted normal and until this day professionals do not
know the diagnosis of the boys. I feel like this world is based on
principal and facts I feel like we need to focus more on kids who are in
middle school and who are growing up because they are influenced by so
many things and sometimes they will follow what's wrong because if they
knew better they would do better. Our world needs to stop rotating
around principal and facts and think of the unthinkable! This story was
well written and it makes me more aware of people and my surroundings.
Good job girls I feel like we hit every point there is to say!
In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus it opens up very sadly with Meursault mother dying and he has to take a trip to go where his mother was living which was an old persons home. He was upset, but didn’t show too much emotion. After the whole incident with his mom he seems to be busy with his friends like Marie Cardona, Emmanuel, Salamano , and Raymond. He slept with Marie and Marie starts catching feelings just like any typical girl and he tells her it didn’t mean anything. I feel like he just needs someone because his mother died. Then Raymond gets arrested for beating his mistress. THANK GOD! Any man who puts his hands on a woman is less than a man! Marie and Meaursault get engaged but I can tell he really doesn’t want to but what does he have to lose? Marie, Meaursault, Raymond go to Raymond’s friends beach house. His name is called Mason. The three men get into a confrontation with a few Arabs one of them was Raymond’s mistress
brother. And out of nowhere Meaursault shoots him and gets arrested. His lawyer is upset with his actions because he seems not to care. There’s just a pattern with him he just seems not give a care in the world not even for his mother. He probably does care but is just holding everything in which is not good so it makes him act in a way that he shouldn’t act. Especially hanging with Raymond and marrying Marie when he really doesn’t have feelings for her. So far this book can relate to anyone who has gone through something that hurts them mentally and physically and causes them to do bad things which is no excuse because everyone in this world goes through something and if we use that excuse for anything everyone would kill each other and not get in trouble because their going through things
So Meursault doesnt believe in God at all. Which can be understandable everyone has those moments where we ask God why would he take away something so special from us. Then you start to believe theres no hope or God because you dont know why he would put you is so much grief.He's very heartless and due to that the court members found him "GUILTY" and sentenced him to the death by beheading. Instead of thinking right or maybe even pray to God he sort of gets more angry and starts yelling at the chaplain. Declaring that theres no hope in the after life and how everything is meaningless. This is really a bad way to think its like the devil is taking over him and he doesnt even know it.
In the last section of the book The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault is sentenced to death and awaits his sentence out in prison were he spends a lot of time thinking about society and the pointlessness of human life. I found this part of the book the most interesting because as much as the reader is convinced not to like Meursault, he has a lot of great points—also, a lot of things were clarified for me in these last few pages of the book. Meursault, I believe, is a text book psycho-path, and the way in which he acts towards thing that “normal” humans would find emotionally disturbing reminded me a lot of Erica Harris in the novel Columbine- the lack of remorse for human life, lack of emotion, lack of affection towards others, they can simply be characterized as crazy, mentally ill. Meursualt ponders about human worth while he is imprisoned. He considers the idea that it is okay that he is going to die now rather than later of old age, because either way he is going to die someday, so realistically there is no difference- which is true. Although, personally, I would rather die of old age then right now, its true, regardless we all die, and what we do here is, realistically, of no importance- I suppose it’s the experience that counts, but what its matter, because when you die, you don’t remember anything. The only certainty in life is death, and I think this is a reoccurring theme throughout the novel. No one can promise you wealth, a future, an education, a job, but there is one thing that you know you will ALWAYS have death. The only thing I didn’t understand about the ending of the story is when Merusault is awaiting his execution, and as it comes closer he hopes that at his execution there will be “cries of hate”—why would someone want that? Why would you want people to be excited that your dying, its almost as if he enjoys being misunderstood, hated, and outsider. I found it interesting that the book was once supposed to be called “The Outside” until it was switched to “The Stranger” : I think the outside fits it better, it flows better with the story, because after all that is what Meursault is, an outsider, to the world and to himself. What do you guys think of the ending? I like it, its interesting, intriguing, I really want to analyze and meet an individual like Meursault!
Did it post? MY THINGS NEVER POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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