Journal #3

Motifs:

Pleasure is repeated often in the book, demonstrating that Meursault's actions are (for the most part) only driven by what makes him happy. "Before leaving the office to go to lunch, I washed my hands. I really like doing this at lunchtime. I don't enjoy it so much in the evening" (Camus 25).

"I didn't like having to explain to them, so I just shut up, smoked a cigarette, and looked at the sea" (Camus 54). Once again, Camus uses the motif of pleasure to show that Meursault's actions are driven by his own individual pursuit of happiness, not caring about the needs of others.


Time is another element that Camus brings up over and over in the story. " She left at one o'clock and I slept awhile. Around three o'clock there was a knock on my door and Raymond came in" (Camus 37). This is just one of the many passages that mentions time. Camus may be using the motif of time to emphasize the importance of structure and schedule in a person's life.

"Of course I had read that eventually you lose wind up losing track of time in prison. But I hadn't understood how days could be both long and short at the same time: long to live through, maybe, but so drawn out that they ended up flowing into one another" (Camus 80). This passage highlights the importance of time in a human's everyday life and the feeling of being lost when there is not a schedule or routine to follow.


Meursault's lack of expression of feelings is also repeated throughout the book. "That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to" (Camus 41). Camus is likely using Meursault's lack of emotions to emphasize the importance of emotions in the day to day life of people by contrasting our normal views of feelings with this abstract view.

"I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings" (Camus 65). This particular passage suggests that Meursault is indeed capable of emotion, but is not capable of easily expressing his emotions.