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0Today, Duoji is telling you about The Stranger by Albert Camus who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
A man doesn't cry at his mother's funeral
The next day he swims in the sea watches a comedy and finds a girlfriend
Soon after he shoots a man on a beach
At his trial the prosecutor barely asks about the shooting
He keeps asking about the funeral
In the end the man is sentenced to death and when the sentence is read he says he is happy
What kind of man is this
The story begins with a telegram
Meursault is a clerk in Algiers
One day the nursing home sends word that his mother has died
He asks for two days off and takes the bus to Marengo
His mother moved into the home three years ago because his small salary couldn't pay anyone to care for her
She hadn't visited him in a long time and he had almost stopped visiting her
At the vigil the doorkeeper offers him a cigarette
He takes it
The doorkeeper brings him a cup of milk coffee and he drinks that too
Near dawn he even dozes off
When the coffin is closed the director asks if he wants to see her one last time
He says no
On the walk to the grave the sun is heavy and all he thinks about is going back to the city and sleeping for twelve hours
On the Sunday after the funeral he goes to the public beach and runs into Marie who used to work in his office
They watch a comedy together
That night she asks if he wants to marry her
He says it doesn't matter and if she wants to they can
She asks if he loves her
He says the word doesn't mean much and probably he doesn't
His neighbor Raymond is friendly with him
Raymond says his mistress has betrayed him
He asks Meursault to write a letter that will bring her back and then punish her
Meursault writes it
When the police come after Raymond Meursault agrees to testify that the woman treated him badly
That Sunday Raymond invites him and Marie to a friend's cabin by the sea
On the beach they meet two Arabs
One of them is the brother of Raymond's mistress
There is a fight and Raymond is cut
At noon in the worst heat of the day Meursault walks back to the beach alone
The sun hangs over him like a red hot blade
The sand is so white it hurts his eyes
The Arab has come back too
He stands by the spring with his hand in his pocket
Meursault only wants to get out of the sun but sweat runs into his eyes salty and sharp and the world blurs
Then a blade flashes in the Arab's pocket
The light from its edge cuts into his forehead
Sweat and light fall on him together
He can't hold on any longer
His whole body tightens and his finger finds the trigger of the gun Raymond lent him
One shot
He knows that shot has broken the quiet of the beach and the quiet of his old life with it
Then he fires four more times into the body on the ground
Meursault is arrested
He doesn't take it very seriously
He thinks the case is simple
The magistrate asks if he loved his mother
He says he loved her the way everyone does
The magistrate waves a crucifix at him and tells him to believe in God and repent
He refuses
He says he doesn't believe in God
But in court the prosecutor barely asks about the shooting
One by one the witnesses talk about the funeral
The director of the home testifies that Meursault didn't cry
He drank coffee he smoked he slept
Marie testifies that the very next day they went to see a comedy
The prosecutor stands up and speaks to the jury
A single shot might be explained by a moment of madness but a man who can't shed one tear for his mother carried that coldness from the funeral to the beach
I accuse this man of burying his mother with the heart of a murderer
No one speaks for him
Meursault sits in the dock and listens to people talk about him as if he isn't there
He tries to interrupt and he is told to sit still
All through the trial he feels like an outsider
The verdict comes death in public
Back in his cell he waits for the appeal
He doesn't think much about dying
Sometimes at dawn he listens to the sounds in the corridor
If a shot came now the day would break right after it
The chaplain comes again and again to ask him to repent before God
He keeps refusing
At the last visit the chaplain won't let it go and Meursault explodes
He grabs the chaplain by the collar and shouts what he has been holding inside
If there is only one fate and his fate is death then what difference does any other fate make
Everyone dies
People were doomed to die thirty thousand years ago and dying now is no different
After that he lies on his bunk and looks at the stars
For the first time he opens himself to the gentle indifference of the world
He finds that he was happy before and he is happy now
For this to be complete he has one last wish
He wants a crowd at his execution
He wants them to greet him with cries of hate
