Dialectical Journal: The Stranger, by Albert Camus

Part 1, Chapter 4

Note Taking / Note Making
“A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but I didn’t think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her” (35).
“The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn’t say anything. She asked me to go find a policeman, but I told her I didn’t like cops” (36).
“ He [the cop] also said that Raymond ought to be ashamed to be so drunk that he’d have the shakes like that”(37).
“Marie and I finished fixing lunch. But she wasn’t hungry; I ate almost everything” (37).
“So we took our time getting back, him telling me how glad he was that he’d been able to give the woman what she deserved. I found him very friendly with me and I thought it was a nice moment” (38).
“I realized he was crying. For some reason I thought of Maman. But I had to get up early the next morning. I wasn’t hungry, and I went to bed without any dinner” (39).

Dialectical Journal: The Stranger, by Albert Camus

Part 1, Chapter 5

Note Taking / Note Making
Meursault’s boss “was planning to open an office in Paris which would handle his business directly…he wanted to know how I felt about going there. I’d be able to live in Paris and to travel…Then he asked me if I wasn’t interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was a good as another and that I wasn’t dissatisfied with mine here at all…I would rather not have upset him, but I couldn’t see any reason to change my life” (41).
“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. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her. ‘So why marry me, then?’ I explained that it didn’t really matter and if she wanted to, we could get married” (41)
“then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, ‘No’….She wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved with in the same way. I said, ‘Sure.’”(42).
“…she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might hate her for the same reason. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t have anything to add” (42)
Findsignificant quotes about the encounter Mersualt has with the “strange little woman” (43-44)
Find quotes that show how Salamano relationship with both his dog and his wife was similar.
“…he realized that some people in the neighborhood though badly of me for having sent Maman to the home, but he knew me and he knew I loved her very much. I still don’t know why, but I said that until then I hadn’t realized that people thought badly of me for doing it, but that the home had seemed like the natural thing since I didn’t have enough Maman cared for”(45).
Pick one Quote that you think helps develop a theme, a character, or supports a philosophical idea.