The Stranger Reading Guide

I.  CHARACTERS:   Identify these key characters:

1. Meursault-
2. Meursault’s boss:
3. Celeste:
4. Maman:
5. The Director:
6. The Caretaker:
7. Thomas Perez:
8. The Nurse:
9. Maria Cardona:
10. Emmanuel:
11. Salamano:
12. Raymond Sintes:
13. Robot-like woman:
14. Masson:
15. Examining Magistrate:
16. Meursault’s Lawyer:
17. The Chaplain:

II. COMPRENSION/ ANALYSIS:  Be able to answer and discuss these questions:

Part One
Chapter One:

1. How does Camus set up Mersault’s personality?  How does Mersault respond to other people and to his mother’s death?
2. Mersault says at his mother’s viewing that he felt that the elderly people were judging him.  Why did he feel that way?  (Look for further references to “judgment” throughout the novel.)
3. How does Mersault describe the funeral procession?  Why was it difficult for him?  How did he feel after the burial?  Do his reactions strike you as unusual?

Chapter Two:

1. What happens between Mersault and Maria Cardona?  Why might it be considered inappropriate?  Does Mersault feel it is wrong?
2. How does this chapter deal with Mersault’s experience of the passage of time after his mother’s death?
3. What reflections does Mersault offer at the end of the chapter?

Chapter Three:

1. Why are we introduced to several of Mersault’s friends and acquaintances?
2. Mersault describes his meeting with Salamano and his old dog.  What is Salamano’s relationship with his dog?  How does that relationship contrast with the way Mersault lives his life?
3. Mersault describes his friendship with Raymond Sintes.  How does Mersault react to Sintes’ story of the fight with an Arab man?

Chapter Four:

How do you connect the main episodes in this chapter (Sintes’ trouble with his girlfriend and Salamano’s sadness over his lost dog) with Mersault’s perceptions of what happens in his own life? 

Chapter Five:

1. What changes are offered Mersault?  How does he react to them?
2. How does Mersault introduce the trip that will prove fatal to him?
3. What is the purpose of the episode in which a perky woman joins Mersault for dinner and then quickly leaves?

Chapter Six:

1. What role does the sun play in the unfolding of this chapter’s events, especially Mersault’s shooting of the Arab man on the beach? 
2. How does Mersault refer to his Arab opponents?  How much can we understand about their motives and their character?

Part Two
Chapter One:

1. Why is the Magistrate upset with Mersault’s responses?
2. Why is it difficult for Mersault to respond to the Magistrate the way in which he is expected to respond?

Chapter Two:

What strategies does Mersault use to adapt to prison life?  Does he change while in prison?

Chapter Three:

1. What appears to matter most during the trial:  the evidence or other factors?  Explain.
2. How do Mersault’s friends and acquaintances explain his actions?  How does the prosecutor “spin” their explanations? 

Chapter Four:

1. What is Mersault’s complaint about his trial?
2. If you were on Mersault’s jury, would you have convicted him?  Why?
3. Is Mersault a threat to “civilized society,” as suggested by the prosecutor?

Chapter Five:

1. Why does Mersault become upset with the priest?
2. Does Mersault accept his fate?
3. How would you describe Mersault’s final understanding of his situation?

III. LINK:  Refer to this site for more information:

• www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1957/camus-bio.html

IV.  BACKGROUND RESEARCH:  Do a bit of background reading on the following philosophies for a better understanding of the theme of The Stranger:

• Existentialism:
• Absurdism: