THE STRANGER ESSAY TURN YOUR OUTLINE INTO AN ESSAY

THE STRANGER ESSAY TURN YOUR OUTLINE INTO AN ESSAY

PICK YOUR EXAMPLES OR CENTRAL IDEAS You may have many examples or points Choose wisely MEURSAULT MAMAN DEATH W/ ONE OVERALL CENTRAL IDEA ARAB

GENERATE YOUR THESIS Introduce your claim what Camus is revealing about your topic. Turn your bulleted remarks into a fluent, focused thesis. Sample: Throughout the novel, Camus argues that it is human nature to find meaning in the meaninglessness, yet like Meursault the protagonist of the novel people must learn to embrace the futility of life. Albert Camus, author of The Stranger, claims human beings can enjoy relationships even more if they were to accept that these relationships are, in fact, inconsequential.

YOUR THESIS WILL DEFINE YOUR PARAGRAPHS Throughout the novel, Camus argues that it is human nature to find meaning in the meaningless universe, yet like Meursault the protagonist of the novel people must learn to embrace the futility of life. Body Paragraph 1: Elderly at funeral Body Paragraph 2: Magistrate, chaplain, etc. Body Paragraph 3: Meursault

PARAGRAPHS CONTINUED Albert Camus, author of The Stranger, claims human beings can enjoy relationships even more if they were to accept that these relationships are, in fact, inconsequential Paragraph 1: How meaningful relationships cause pain and misery (Sal and Ray) Paragraph 2: How meaningless relationships are great (example 1) Paragraph 3: How meaningless relationships are great (example 2)

TOPIC SENTENCES Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence. According to Camus, those who qualify human relationships in a meaningful way unnecessarily experience hardship and suffering, and the character Salamano especially embodies this idea. Toward the beginning of the novel, Camus introduces the idea that man s destiny is defined by routine, structure, and monotony.

ANALYSIS AND DETAILS Reference paraphrased and direct quotes, details, and examples that relate to the topic sentences, thesis statement (central idea or theme). Paragraph 1: Show M. lives in the moment first. Details, examples, quotes that prove this. Paragraph 2: What s the result? Examine details that show M. s way of life is positive.

SAMPLE ANALYSIS Meursault constantly focuses on immediate physical stimuli and experiences that allow him to live in the moment and enjoy his life. Even when Meursault is on trial for his life for accidentally killing an Arab man he explains to the court that he has always been far too much absorbed in the present moment, or the immediate future, to think back (Camus, The Stranger 62). Meursault clearly recognizes that in a meaningless world, it is futile to harp on the past or fantasize about the future, for it does not change anything: man will still meet his ultimate fate, death, regardless of what he does, so he might as well enjoy the life that he does have.

SAMPLE ANALYSIS CONTINUED Because of his perspective, he tries to focus on things that give him immediate pleasure and allow him to live in the moment and move on. At his mother s funeral, for example, he drinks coffee, smokes cigarettes, and sleeps (Camus, The Stranger 6), physical stimuli that he has always enjoyed; he is not distraught by his mother s death or consumed by his emotions, which allows him to appreciate whatever he is doing, for he understands that it [doesn t] seem to matter (Camus, The Stranger 6) what he does; he cannot escape the prison of life that all experiences are equally insignificant and result in death. Unlike the elderly people who attend his mother s funeral who are so absorbed in their thoughts that they [don t] know what they [are] up to (Camus, The Stranger 8), Meursault understands that his mother is dead and nothing in his [his] life changed (Camus, The Stranger 16), so he can go swimming, have sexual relations with Marie, and see a film the day after his mother s funeral (Camus, The Stranger 13) without feeling guilty.

INTRODUCTION TECHNIQUES Hypophora or a rhetorical question A quote Philosophical discussion Brief anecdote/image Transition into discussion of the topic and Camus philosophy State thesis

HYPOPHORA What if everything man has learned about life is a lie? Would a person be able to live happily, knowing that life is completely random and meaningless? Albert Camus, the author of The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger, believes it is possible to live a happy life, especially if life has no meaning. He reasons that everyone has the potential to live this paradoxical existence, where man has been given the ability to reason in an irrational world, by evolving into the Absurd Hero: the truly lucid man who accepts he cannot really accomplish anything, thereby liberating himself from hope, purpose, and society s expectations ( The Myth of Sisyphus ).

A QUOTE The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is absurd (Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus ); he is a prisoner of a cyclical, repetitive existence that ultimately ends in death no matter what he does. He is a victim of what Camus calls the Absurd: an existential state where man recognizes that he has been paradoxically given the ability to reason in a meaningless, irrational universe. In his novel The Stranger, Camus through his protagonist Meursault offers a solution to the meaninglessness: live anyway and find moments of fulfillment in the present.

BRIEF ANECDOTE, IMAGE He rises from bed, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, and quietly enters the kitchen to make his breakfast. He is ready to begin his day as he leaves his house to perform a task, a job that renders his life meaningful, that convinces him that he has been put on Earth for a reason. This man is no different than Sisyphus, however, a great king who was condemned to push a rock up a hill for the rest of his existence; this man is no different than any other person on the planet: he believes his life is meaningful, that it has purpose, but he is utterly mistaken: he is living in a random, irrational universe that is indifferent to him, and he works everyday at the same tasks, an absurd (Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus ) existence that leads nowhere but death, and in the novel The Stranger, Albert Camus claims that man must accept this irrevocable fate in order to find moments of fulfillment.

CONCLUSION Restate your thesis/claim. Summarize the sub-points of your essay. Leave the reader with an interesting final impression. Bring in an additional point to tie everything together.

CITATIONS Must use when quoting or paraphrasing. Works cited: use your book and use the online text version. (Camus, The Stranger 55). (Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus ). Other Rules Elipsis to remove information Brackets [] to change a word (tense, for example)

MLA HEADING Sara Jones Mrs. DiLeo English 11H January 12, 2016 Title of Paper