After finishing the story, I think the last sentence of "The Stranger" is open for interpretation. What do you guys think about the last sentence: "For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate."
Why do you think Meursault would WANT to be greeted by spectators with "cries of hate"? From this quote, do you think he died happily?
yes i do think he died happy. what i take from this quote is that in order to prove his revelation or even to test himself that he doesn't care he needs people to yell cries of hate at him, in order to make sure he could stick to his views till his death
ReplyDeleteLike what Nick said, for Mersault to test his theories, to prove himself right, he needed people to show up at his execution hating him. And for him, the more people who were there to denounce him, the more he would be convinced that he was right, that people truly do lead meaningless lives.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he died happy. I don't believe he when through any true change throughout the book. I think he felt the same as he did in the beginning when he was about to die.
ReplyDeletei think he did die happily. he wanted the cries of hate because it shows that he accepted death and did not care about his death because it did not really mater. he died happy because he accepted his future
ReplyDeleteI think Meursault told himself he would be happy if he was greeted with hate. However, I don't think he was happy at the end of it all. He was just angry and made himself believe that other's hatred towards him would make him happy, because in reality he had an underlying hatred for himself.
ReplyDeleteI think this quote goes back to the fact that earlier in the book Meursalt was always aware of what people thought of him and now at the end he doesn't care. I think this is just reaffirming his change as a person to a more of an existentialist.
ReplyDeletepersonally i think he's bragging at this point; meursault is sure he is right: that life is absurd and meaningless, and people become more irrational the more logic they try to use. so if crowds come to his execution with cries of hate, doesn't that just prove he is right? These people, who hate him because they can't understand him, who can't understand his simple crime, who used so much irrational, unrelated logic to his case until it was blown out of proportion and his crime was no longer murder, but not crying at his mother's funeral! Meursault sees them all as fools! Fools that cannot accept the simple truth, and go around waving their meaningless meanings and illogical logic, thinking they are better than him! but he knows that their lives are just as meaningless as his own. he dies, gloatingly, with that knowledge that all they're doing is pointless, as everyone, too blinded by their own lies to see this truth too, hates him for it.
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