I finished The Stranger and I thought it was quite an excellent read. At times, Mersault’s emotions appealed to me and I could sympathize and relate to him. His epiphany towards the end of the story, when he realizes he spent his entire life only in the present and thinking about the future, made me sad for him. It only took a murder and deprivation of liberty for Mersault to understand himself and everyone else a little but better. Mersault, in my opinion, was blinded by ignorance, selfishness, and a lack of desire. (He had desires, but it appeared he rarely acted upon them, waiting for someone else to bring them to fruition.) He kept quiet when he had nothing important to say, which made him seem socially inept. Mersault had so many flaws, no wonder he was found guilty. If you could visualize Mersault, I think anyone would find him guilty based on the way he presented and carried himself. It’s not until after the guilty verdict does he see clearly the repercussions of his actions. Mersault reflects on the events that led up to the murder and wonders what would happen if anything were different; if the weather wasn’t so hot, if Raymond hadn’t given him the revolver, and probably if he had never gone to Paris. I loved how The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus can be seen as companion pieces. In The Myth of Sisyphus, I interpreted the absurdity to be the gray matter that separates human life from human death. As we talked about during the lecture today, the end for all living things is death. Death conquers all. So what then is the point to keep on living? If you believe in an afterlife, why not just die to spend eternity there? I think the answers are fear, the desire to keep living (biological function), and the possibility that we can become or make something extraordinary. I don’t wish to comment on suicide because I honestly feel it’s not up to me whether you want to die or not. On a last note, the image that stuck with me the most was when Sisyphus looked back down at the rock and decided to fetch it and roll it back up the hill. It was like realizing defeat and continuing with hope that something will change. I think that says a lot about a person’s character and the strength that they have, mentally and emotionally.