The Surprisingly Hopeful Ending of "The Stranger"
One thing that I noticed during the final pages of The Stranger was that it almost mirrors the first few chapters of the book, but with Meursault coming across much more at-ease and hopeful. Instead of “the same glowing countryside flooding with sunlight,” where the heat of the sun is “unbearable,” Meursault hears, “sounds of the countryside…smells of night, earth, and salt air…cooling my temples” (Camus 122). At the beginning everything felt like it was moving very quickly and without any emotion. But at the end, it feels like everything has slowed down and he’s taking the time to describe his surroundings in a very sentimental way.
He also looks back on his mother with much more understanding. He says he “understood why at the end of her life she had taken a ‘fiance,’ why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, everything was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again” (Camus 122). I feel like this is one of the only moments in the book where Meursault shows compassion and tries to see things from other people’s point of view. It feels like he’s finally accepted his mother’s death after ignoring it for the entire book.
Despite how sad the ending of The Stranger is, I also thought it was surprisingly hopeful. We see a different side of Meursault when he’s put in the same position as his mother, because he’s finally able to understand her. In the very last paragraph, Meursault thinks, “As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world” (Camus 122). This feeling of indifference is very different from his problematic indifference throughout the rest of the book. It’s more like an acceptance and understanding of the world around him. The peacefulness of the last page compared to the confusion and indifference of the first page makes you hopeful for Meursault’s future.
Woah, I hadn't noticed this! I was a little focused on his head getting chopped off. But I guess you're right. It's too bad it took death row to make him understand the world around him.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! It's really interesting that Meursault's sentence led him to understand his mother better. Even though the circumstances of their deaths were very different, the proximity in time kind of linked them and made Meursault understand what his mother faced. Meursault's fate and his mother's fate are another connection between the two parts of the book.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me to really rethink how Meursault was at the end of the book. This shows that he had changed, he is actually thinking about other people's point of view. His time in prison, and him being so close to death now, he has shifted his point of view on the world, in a positive hopeful way.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that Meursault finally found peace as well as the missing piece to his mental puzzle. I always thought the ending of The Stranger shouldn't be interpreted as just depressing, but should feel quite melancholic or even peaceful, which is strange as Meursault is about to die, but this blog showed me why I thought of it like that: the story comes full circle and Meursault is able to rest in peace, great post.
ReplyDeleteI really do agree that the ending of the Stranger is not entirely depressing for the reader and for Mersault. He seems to have a major change in heart and in the way he sees the world that makes his want to live life all over again, just like his mother did. There seems to be a short glimpse of hope that Mersault will find peace with his death and be at ease when the time comes. In additon to him having more resolve to live life to the fullest, the book also seems to potentially hint that Mersault has a slim chance to be acquited through a second verdict, and with the hopeful tone of the end of the book, it feels more likely that he might end up getting spared.
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