The Stranger by Albert Camus - Essay Example

The Stranger The Stranger is written by Albert Camus, in early 1940’s in France during the era of World war. The story in the novel revolves around a man named Meursault who is an emotionally disconnected unethical person. He is known to be an apathetic character whose religious views do not revolve around God or the life hereafter. His apathetic behavior is justified by his uncaring attitude at his mother’s funeral. He murders a person who he does not even know and yet is not guilty over his filthy act because everything in life does not have a meaning for him.

Marie Cardona is one of the main characters in Albert Camus’s The Stranger who will be discussed in this essay. She is a former co-worker of Meursault with whom she comes into a relationship and spends time with him as his partner. Their relationship however doesn’t have a name. Meursault agrees to marry her but in the beginning claims that he doesn’t love her although they have a strong sexual relationship. She is womanly, soft and forms a great contrast to Meursault. Marie Cardona’s character in the novel is depicted as a blindfolded person.

She is a straight-forward, uncomplicated, amusing, caring and a frank person, who at several instances in the novel frankly expresses her love and feelings for Meursault. The author describes Marie Cardona as a selfless person who in spite of being rejected several times by the person she loves, does not give up on him. I claim Marie Cardona to be a blindfolded person as she refuses to see that Meursault does not really care about her feelings and he does not really think about either being with her or without her.

Marie’s presence does not really affect Meursault and yet she does not stop loving him. This can be proven by a quotation from the text where when Marie asks Meursault that if he loves her to whom Meursault replies: “It didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” Although she gets miserable on this reply but still she does not bring her love for Meursault to an end. Marie Cardona knows that Meursault spends time with her only because he wants to satisfy his lust as she is shown to be a very gorgeous character.

She also knows that this relationship for Meursault is nothing more than lust but Marie does not care as she is emotionally connected to him and she would never loses hope in getting the same love and affection in return from Meursault. Knowing that Meursault is a cold person Marie Cardona does not stop loving him. This can be seen in the story when he asks her out on a date, a day after his mother’s funeral which at first comes as a shock to Marie Cardona but later on she forgets all about it and enjoys her time watching a movie at the theatre with Meursault.

Marie Cardona goes on asking Meursault if he wants to marry her but he replies her indifferently, showing her that it does not really make any difference to him if he married her or not which makes her gloomy, yet all this does not put an end to her efforts of getting his love. Later on in the novel Meursault is detained on killing an Arab at his friend’s beach house after which Marie Cardona pays him a visit to the prison and shows him sympathy and love. She also assures him of his release from the prison but he does not pay much attention to Marie Cardona and is rather interested in the grief-stricken prisoner sitting beside him, talking to his mother.

After this incident Marie Cardona leaves and later on writes him a letter saying that she would not be allowed to meet him again since she was not married to Meursault. This letter however does not leave an impact on Meursault and he continues as the same person throughout the story. All these instances in the novel prove Marie Cardona to be a blindfolded person who willingly refused to see what was happening to her. Her love for Meursault became a hindrance for her to see that he did not pay much heed to her feelings.

Deep down she always hoped of an affirmative reply from Meursault, who had no clue as to how his marriage would turn out to be with Marie Cardona. In spite of his unresponsive behavior towards Marie Cardona, she stood by him in his difficult time and continued to care about him. And yet all this did not change Meursaults heartless nature towards her. Work Cited Top of Form Camus, Albert, and Matthew Ward. The Stranger. New York, NY: Vintage International, 1989. Print. Bottom of Form