Gus 20th C Blog

One theme that I found repeated over and over in Wide Sargasso Sea is Antoinette’s attachment and resortment to objects in order to replace the people around her. In the very beginning of the novel, her narrative voice is established as somewhat void of emotion, yet sullen at the same time. She rarely narrated her emotions or provided vivid imagery, but when describing the nature at Coulibri, her tone completely changes. Antoinette describes in detail everything about the garden, painting it as a romanticized and beautiful scene. Contrast the sheer emotion she puts into her description of the garden with the narration involving her mother. When talking about Anette, Antoinette is cold and matter of fact, and we can only derive her emotions from small side notes or the facts she gives us. Slightly later, Antoinette describes the piece of wood that she keeps under her bed. She narrates, “I grew very fond of it, I believed that no one could harm me when it was near me, to lose it wou...

My biggest question after reading The Stranger is why was the whole court process the way it was? Why did they care so little about the crime itself? Why were they so determined and desperate to find anything they could to let Meursault off easy, while still focusing entirely on judging his soul? I don't know much about twentieth century legal proceedings; perhaps that's just how courts ran back then, but somehow I doubt it. Similar to Kafka’s slightly surreal world in The Metamorphosis, this world seems to be slightly off. If this reality is altered, then the big question is why? Why did Camus choose to alter reality in this way, and what does it contribute to the story? I think that the court is meant to represent the reader, and in turn humanity as a whole, to show the power of an uncomfortable empathy. Nobody cared about Meursault’s oddness for the first part of the book. Despite Meursault being very upfront about his lack of strong emotion for or desire to marry Marie...