Post #1

Through the first couple of chapters of The Stranger by Albert Camus, sleep seems to play a large role in the storylines. Meursault falls asleep at several points throughout the story, and the times he goes to sleep seem to be emphasized. For example on page 4, “ and on top of that bumb ride, the smell of gasoline, and the glare of the sky and the road, that I dozed off. I slept almost the whole way.” He dozes off likes this several other times. Describing the time he fell asleep while keeping vigil over his mother, "It was pleasant; the coffee had warmed me up, and the smell of flowers on the night air was coming through the open door. I think I dozed off for a while. It was a rustling sound that woke me up" (9). Saying how he was looking forward to sleeping, "the incessant drone of the motor, and my joy when the bus entered the nest of lights that was Algiers and I knew I was going to go to bed and sleep for twelve hours" (18). One interesting thing about the way sleep is introduced in the story is that every time very specific descriptive language is used. Language like "smell of gasoline, coffee warmed me, and incessant drove of the motor", is used. One thing that this use of sleep and descriptive language could mean is that Meursault is in a way sleep-walking through life. This conclusion is backed up by his incredible lack of empathy and emotion in the first two chapters. When he learns his mom dies he has very little emotion.  In fact he only seems to care about very trivial yet practical things. I believe that this, connected with the frequent use of sleep as a motif, could be trying to say that Meursault is sleepwalking through life. Life doesn’t seem to have a lot of meaning or impact on Meursault, he just seems to be going through the motions. The way Salamano and his dog interact also provides more proof that Camus is trying to portray this image of Meursault going through the motions of life. Salamano is very cruel to his dog, like some argue Meursault is cruel to his mother for not taking better care of her, but when his dog disappears he actually finds that he really misses it. . His intense reaction to his missing dog provides a contrast to the way Meursault reacts to his mothers death.