Critical Analysis of So Long a Letter, and The Stranger - Essay Example

‘So Long a Letter’ and ‘The Stranger’ Introduction So long a letter is a string of letters published by Ramatoulaye for afriend to describe the memories of her life. This included the problems that they faced in their lives. She wrote these letters after her husband died. Her marriage life had not been smooth because her husband had left her together with her children. She had stuck with him even after abandoning him and marrying another woman. Both her and her friend Aissatou had been happily married at first, but things changed after a while. She wrote letters to her friend reminding her of the happy times they had during their marriage. The main issues in these letters involve polygamy. Both Aissatou and Ramatoulaye are faced with the problem of polygamy, and both their husbands marry other wives. Modou, Ramatoulaye’s husband had married a friend of his daughter. Ramatoulaye stays with him according to the Islamic laws on polygamy. She is a firm believer and follower of the Islamic faith. This is displayed in all the activities that she carries out. Her friend left her husband after he took in another wife, and though they reacted differently, they were still friends. The stranger is a novel by Albert Camus, which is narrated by a young man known as Meursault. The first part of the story is a first person narrative in which the main character receives information that the mother had died. He travels to see her mother, but finds that her mother’s coffin had been sealed. During that time, he meets with many of his friends who include his former co-worker and Raymond. Raymond tells him how he beat up his mistress after she had cheated on her. Raymond desires to use Meursault as bait to lure his mistress back to him. Meursault agrees to draft a letter to the mistress at that time. When the mistress comes to see him, Raymond beats up her, and is later arrested by the police; the novel is full of violence as Meursault also kills the mistress’s brother. It is evident from the novel that Meursault does not believe in God even when he is arrested. While, in the prison, Meursault adapts to the quiet life and forgets about the things that went on the outside. He is sentenced to death after he is found guilty. He is immoral as he does not experience grief even after the death of his mother and is, therefore, different from the others. Both Raymond and Meursault are immoral in the way they deal with the world around them. Comparison of Themes One of the common themes in both the stories is death. Both begin with a description of death, Meursault’s mother dies and Ramatoulaye’s husband dies. In The Stranger, Salamano’s dog is in a state of decay, Raymond’s mistress’s brother is killed, and Meursault is sentenced to death because of the murder. Death is, therefore, the central theme and is a way of describing the different views of the universe. According to The Stranger, death is what makes everyone equal and, therefore, every man has to die to accomplish this notion of death (Camus, 75). In So Long a Letter, Ramatoulaye mentions the death of his husband to her friend Aissatou. The death of her husband spurred communication between long time friends who were like sisters. In both stories, death brings freedom of mind and makes everyone equal in the universe. Another relevant theme in both literatures is the theme of friendship. This is largely displayed in So Long a Letter whereby Ramatoulaye and Aissatou had been friends since childhood. According to the author, friendship is better than love as it usually grows stronger with time (Ba, 54). They had been friends even though distance had separated them. Friendship kept them to be strong even though they were facing problems in their marriages. In The Stranger, the novel explores the theme of friendship, demonstrating the dissimilarities between friendship and companionship. Meursault does not seem to differentiate between friendship and companionship. Salamano and his dog are terrific friends and Salamano spends all his days with his dog (Camus, 18). Meursault and Raymond are also friends, although Meursault does not seem to know whether they are friends. Raymond uses him to do his dirty work and this indicates wrong use of friendship. Meursault ends up killing someone for Raymond, and this ends him up in jail. Through his friendship with Raymond, Meursault escapes his loneliness and boredom. Meursault also uses other individuals to gratify his needs. Religion is created by man in order to establish significance to an absurd existence. The theme of religion is another common thing in both books. In The Stranger, Meursault does not believe in the existence of God. He does not have faith in God and even blames the chaplain of “living like a corpse (Camus, 74).” He believes that religion makes us dead even before death comes. He is an atheist and cannot afford to waste his last moments on Godly matters. Both the magistrate and the chaplain talk to him into believing in God, but they do not succeed. The magistrate even calls him an “antichrist” (Camus, 45). He later on admits that religion is not harmful, but it is misused by men such as the magistrate and the chaplain. On the other hand, Ramatoulaye in So Long a Letter is highly religious and believes in Islamic faith. She even stays with her husband even after marrying another wife just because the Islamic faith allows polygamy. She does not do wrong to her husband or the other wife. She is a believer as she states, “my heart concurs with the demands of religion.” Ramatoulaye even criticizes the notion that her daughter desire to wear trousers. It also refers to both tradition religious practices and Islamic faith. Ramatoulaye and Aissatou denounce the traditional practices such as polygamy. She uses her beliefs to make vital decisions, marriage and family. The theme of women and femininity is prevalent in both books. In so long a letter, the husband of Ramatoulaye treats her badly and even takes a second wife. He tells her that her beauty has faded, and he has to take another young wife. He does not even spend his money on Ramatoulaye, and she only stays with him because of her beliefs. Both Ramatoulaye and Aissatou were well educated and advocated for gender equality (Ba, 15). Marriage had made them lose their value as extremely relevant people. They had deserted their dreams for people who abandoned them. These women appreciate the culture of other women. They were committed to survival even after what they had been through in their marriages. This novel deals with the issues that face Islamic women. It calls for egalitarianism among men and women. In the stranger, disconnection is evident in women. Meursault did not cry for his mother, and he does not feel sorry for Raymond’s mistress. He also does not seem to appreciate his girlfriend. They treat the women badly and do not seem to respect them. Raymond beat up his mistress and hurt her (Camus, 21). This indicates that he does not respect women. Men always seem to be concerned with them only, and this is demonstrated through the attitude Meursault displayed towards Marie his girlfriend. Inequality is widespread in this story between women and men. Another theme, which is represented in both literatures, is the theme of society and class. In The Stranger, Meursault was separated from the real world and did not care about the world. This is termed as amoral as he does not seem to find the societal rules relevant. Meursault was blamed for having no social principles. Meursault separates himself from the society because he does not seem to understand its creations (Camus, 75). He is, therefore, ignorant of knowledge. In the So Long a Letter, the novel concerns females who live in a world full of attitudes from men. These attitudes and rules usually deny women of their rights. Education gave Ramatoulaye and other elites class in the society (Ba, 15). This, however, was eroded when she got married to a traditionalist. The author at that point was living in a setting full of social and cultural values. The society accepted the issue of polygamy and this Ramatoulaye had to follow. The cruelty towards women is because of traditional and religious practices. These practices according to the author have effects on women in the societies. The theme of sadness is also prevalent in both books. Both the principal characters express sadness in dissimilar ways. Sadness in the stranger is expressed by the Meursault In a different manner. Meursault does not express sadness when he hears of his mother’s death; neither does he express sadness when he is sentenced to death. He was given this sentence because according to the magistrate, he did not have remorse or emotions. He also states that when he shot the man it was “like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness.” Sadness is not part of his life because he believes that when an individual dies he, or she has no significance. The priest is sad that Meursault has to remain in the prison which is associated with human torment (Camus, 73). On the other hand, Ramatoulaye is unhappy because of the fact that her husband took another husband. The husband did not care for her, and the love that they had for each other was no longer there. The letters, the two friends wrote to each other described the happy times they had before marriage and during the first years of marriage. She is also angry that her daughter got pregnant before marriage (Ba, 80). The treatment she received from her in-laws had made her sad and full of remorse. Although she faced all those problems, she still kept hope. “I can feel new buds springing up in me” (Ba, 89). Women are usually enemies instead of being friends and helping each other. To her, happiness is not real, and problems always arise. Violence is widespread in the stranger and occurs throughout the novel. Raymond beats up his girlfriend for nothing and ends up hurting her. Salamano also beats up his dog while Meursault kills an Arab who was Raymond’s girlfriend’s brother. Salamano even drags his dog and forgets that the dog had taken his place after his wife had died. Earlier on, Raymond had tried to kill the brother, but Meursault forbid him. The brothers of Raymond’s also wanted to use violent acts in order to punish Raymond for beating up their sister. Raymond also beat up a man known as Masson until he fell down. He also beat up another man until blood flowed from his face. Raymond’s arm was also hurt by another man while they were fighting. In so long a letter, violence is evident verbally. The narrative begins with an indication of violence when Ramatoulaye states, “frequenting each other for so long has taught me that sharing personal secrets drowns pain.” Drown is a form of physical violence. Ramatoulaye also uses violent language by the use of a twisting knife in his narrative. “I know I am shaking you, that I am twisting a knife in a wound hardly healed (Ba, 26).” Her imaginations are sometimes filled worth violent actions. Her husband’s brother proposes to her, and this makes her raise her voice and insult the brother violently. She uses language violence during most of the times. This enables her to express her feelings in the manner that she desires. The theme of isolation is also a common theme in all the books. The Stranger focuses in seclusion from the society which includes his girlfriend, emotions and friends. The main character is lonely most of the time and usually spends his time smoking or pacing around his house. He also does not seem to be interested in Marie at all, and it is Marie who proposes that he should marry her (Camus, 75). He also isolates himself from emotions, and he does not even cry when he hears that his mother had died. He also did not cry when he was sentenced to death. He shows seclusion when he declines to see his mother in the coffin for the last time. He displays both emotional and societal isolation. In so long a letter, Ramatoulaye faces isolation and seclusion when her husband marries a second wife. He gives the second wife more attention than Ramatoulaye. She is neglected together with her twelve children. He abandons her because she is no longer beautiful and just like Meursault; she keeps herself busy by shopping and does things for herself. The fact that she had studied in a French school isolated her from the traditional activities (Ba, 15). She is only because her only true friend is far away and; therefore, she has to write letters to her friend. She had also faced seclusion by her mother who had been against her marriage. Her mother disliked her husband, and she had married him without dowry and celebrations (Ba, 16). She had an unsteady relationship with her mother and cold not talk to her when her husband married another wife. Isolation made her unhappy, and she sometimes regretted leaving her dreams for the man who had abandoned her. She also asked for an addition of her widow’s rest (Ba, 75). Through this, we learn that she did not want to relate to the world. She desired to be isolated from the world. Conclusion These books have numerous common themes which are properly displayed in the text. The themes found in both So Long a Letter, and The Stranger is death, friendship, religion, isolation, Feminism, society and class, sadness and violence. All of them are relevant in the creation of a mood in the stories. Works Cited Ba, Mariana. So Long A Letter. Johannesburg, South Africa: Heinemann publishers limited, 1989.pp 8-89. Camus, Albert. The Stranger, New York: Vintage Books, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1946. pp 4-76 Web: 23rd May 2012, http://www.macobo.com/essays/epdf/CAMUS,%20Albert%20-%20The%20Stranger.pdf Read More