In the final sentence of the book, Meursault wishes that during his execution a huge crowd gathers and greets him with 'howls of execration.' I think this final wish of Meursault is a reflection of how he finds freedom in his lack of options.
Towards the end of the book, Meursault emotionally unloads on the chaplain. after this, he feels quite calm and thinks about his life. he calmy experiences the cool summer night, and thinks about his mother. He feels that like his mother, they both 'felt like someone on the brink of freedom, ready to start life all over again.' I think this directly shows how after showing a high level of anger and frustration to the chaplain, Meursault now feels a certain freedom that comes with the lack of choice. Maybe he feels that this execution is a chance to start over or to somehow rectify the mistakes he made.
This ties into his final statement regarding the crowd watching his execution, because it shows how he changed his mindset regarding crowds that judged him. Previously he felt claustrophobic and self-conscious when people were judging him, but now he feels freedom in the lack of choice. He faces the negativity surrounding his execution like the final negative venting before he embarks on a new life. This seems similar in spirit to the emotional breakdown in front of the chaplain.
I think that the "negativity" he wants at his execution is his way of making a mark on the world. He discusses how everyone lives and dies, and its inevitability, so maybe this is his way of standing out. I found this line very disturbing when I read it though, since it didn't match his character (it was also just a little creepy lol). Throughout the book, he was always worried about people judging or blaming him for things, so it was a shock to see that he didn't care about this at his execution. In fact, he was hoping that they would blame him. I guess it makes sense though - if you're going to die anyways, it doesn't make sense that he would be worried about people's feelings towards him.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Taehan! Since Meursault realizes the crowd will likely react negatively to him, he wants the best spectacle made out of him possible. If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. A sad and pitiful execution is just depressing, but a violent and raucous execution is exiting and entertaining. It's the last thing that will happen to him that will have any "meaningful" impact on anyone else, so he would rather go out with a bang than with a puff.
ReplyDeletep.s. check your title, you flipped a few letters around :)
I thought the quote you pointed out 'felt like someone on the brink of freedom, ready to start life all over again.' was interesting too. At first this quote seemed very similar to the idea of salvation after death proposed by the chaplain. I'm still wondering why Meursault rejected the chaplain's offer while accepting the interpretation of death as starting life over... maybe he finds freedom not in getting rectified from his present life but just starting over all again without being tied to his present life? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI really like your post. I think Meursault's final wish is the biggest display of his development within the novel. In the first half of the novel, it seems crazy to even think about Meursault having any ambitions or desires. Even though his final wishes are still a little bit strange, it's notable that he even has those wishes in the first place, which I think are motivated by his experiences during the trial and his rejection of religion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. Meursault's embrace of the way he feels and the mistakes he has made is the final arc of his character development, and he reaches his definitive version as a character here. I think this is also the moment when many more readers started to see him less as a psychopath and more in tune with his thinking style. Overall, I think you did a good job explaining this in the blog post.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Mersault has reached the culmination of his mental maturity by the end of the book is something I really resonate with. It felt as though at the end of the book, everything from the tone by which he narrated his encounters to the way that he describes his surroundings felt more upbeat and even hopeful. Despite the fact that he was given a death sentence, he somehow feels more at peace than when he was given total freedom. This idea that lack of choice is helping him to rediscover, come to appreciate life and even make amends for a life after death is also very interesting to me. It almost feels like he is preparing himself for his "next" life because he seems to reconcile his internal conflicts but doesn't feel the need to make ammends with any sort of external mark he has left on the world. He has essentially given up on making a positive mark on the world, and is simply satisfied with any mark at all.
ReplyDeleteI like the points you have brought up in this post. We do see a shift from Meursault's initial thoughts about the people around him. He does begin by thinking too much of what people will say or think about him that it makes him self-conscious. In his final moments all of that self-consciousness floods away as he finally feels peace in his mind. In fact, he wants people to watch this last breath, indicating he has changed his mindset and is ready for something new. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis post was interesting I didn't think about it like this before but you're right Meursault's views on how he want people to perceive him in his last moments greatly differ from how he wanted to be perceived in the beginning of the novel which does show a sense of peace that he has found in himself.
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