The Most Memorable Moment Journal

The Stanger

Most Memorable Moment Journal

Tanasha Kardeo

In my section of the novel “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, I found several moments that I thought were memorable. The first memorable moment that I found, was in the beginning when Meursault received a telegram that his mother had died. In the beginning of the novel it says “Mother had died today. Or maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY.FUNERAL TOMORROW.DEEP SYMPATHY.”(Camus 4). This quote was one of the most memorable for me because I wondered why he didn’t know and of course what were the incidents that made him not know when his mother had died. This quote led me into many different directions, at first I thought he was adopted and that telegram would allow him to know who his true mother was, as I continued on reading it was because they didn’t live with each other and he wasn’t that much involved in his mothers life as a child should be. Meursault didn’t have space in his life for his mother, it was either because of his job or he didn’t want to make time to be with her. When his mother moved out and went to live in the home for aged persons he only went to visit her once, and she’d been living there for almost 3 years.

            Another moment in my section that I thought was memorable also happened in the beginning of the novel, the quote is “I have fixed up with my employer for two days’ leave’ obviously, under the circumstances, he couldn’t refuse. Still, I had an idea he looked annoyed, and I said, without thinking: Sorry Sir, but it’s not my fault” (Camus 4).

 I found that quote memorable because it showed that Meursault is an inconsiderate person. When Meursault goes to the home to see his mother he is met with the Warden, whom tells him that his mother depended entirely on him. Meursault felt like he was blaming him or everything that happened; he was very close to saying that it wasn’t his fault why his mother died. Meursault nearly made that mistake again, when he told his friend Marie about his mother “I was just going to explain to her that it wasn’t my fault, but I checked myself, as I remembered having said the same thing to my employer”(Camus 14).

The finial quote of my section that I thought was memorable was at the end of my section, the quote was “It occurred to me that I’d got through another Sunday, that mother now was buried, and tomorrow id be going back to work as usual. Really nothing in my life had changed.” (Camus 17). I found this quote memorable because it shows that his mother didn’t have a big impact upon his life. If his mother was alive it would have made no difference to him if she was dead because as he said “nothing really changed”.