Study Guide: The Stranger (Part Two)

On your own paper, clearly label each chapter and question. Write thoughtful answers to all questions in complete sentences. Yes or no answers need to be explained. Remember to use names not pronouns to start each answer.

Chapters 1 and 2

  1. Meursault told the magistrate he thought his case was “pretty simple” and that he didn’t see the need for an attorney (p. 63). How do you suppose he views his case?
  2. How does Meursault manage to anger both the lawyer and the magistrate?
  3. What do you think about Meursault’s totally honest replies to the questioners? What is Camus trying to say here?
  4. Do you agree with Meursault’s statement that “all normal people have wished their loved ones dead”? Do you think that the lawyer agrees with him?
  5. The examining magistrate grows angry when Meursault cannot explain why he fired all the bullets at the Arab. Would it help Meursault’s case if he had fired only once? Can you think of any plausible explanation for him emptying the gun?
  6. What effect does all the cross-talk and noise during Marie’s visit have? What is ironic about Marie being able to visit only this one time?
  7. What do the young man and his mother contribute to the visiting room scene?
  8. Do you think Meursault suffers very much from his imprisonment? Explain.
  9. Why do you think Camus included the newspaper story?
  10. Prediction: What tactcs will the prosecution and ther defense use in the upcoming trial?

Chapters 3 and 4

  1. Why do you think Camus chose to have the trial begin on a day “with the sun glaring outside” (p. 82)?
  2. What effect did the testimonies of the director and caretaker have on Meursault’s case? How did Meursault “shoot himself in the foot” (hurt his case)?
  3. How do you interpret the lines “…for the first time I realized that I was guilty” (p. 90)?
  4. How do Meursault’s friends’ efforts to help his case actually make him look worse?
  5. What do you notice about the last paragraph of Chapter 3?
  6. What is Meursault’s reaction to the prosecuting attorney’s summation? How does he answer the judge’s request that he state his motives for the murder? What do you think he should have said?
  1. How does the defense attorney’s summation compare to the prosecutor’s? The defense attorney says that Meursault is a man of good character. Has he presented any evidence to prove that? How did his friends make him look?
  2. List several things Meursault did to hinder his own case.
  3. Do you think Meursault understands the cause-and-effect relationship between his murder of the Arab and his conviction and death sentence – or is this all part of a system he doesn’t understand or believe in?
  4. Prediction: What will Meursault think about as he considers his impending death?

Chapter 5

  1. How is Meursault’s tone in this chapter different than in the previous ones? What has caused this change?
  2. Why does Meursault – who slept 18 hours a day before the trial – now sleep so little? What is ironic about his answer?
  3. How do you explain Meursault’s wish for life and freedom if he believes that “everybody knows life isn’t worth living” (p. 114)?
  4. What is ironic about Meursault’s thoughts regarding the guillotine?
  5. What is Meursault’s main reason for not wanting to see the chaplain? Why do you think the chaplain comes to Meursault’s cell anyway?
  6. Explain the difference in how the chaplain and Meursault view the murder of the Arab.
  7. In “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Camus’ philosophical essay published in the same year and The Stranger, Camus made it clear that the absurd arises not from the fact that life is meaningless but from the human need to find meaning. How is this theory represented in Chapter 5?
  8. The chaplain – who offers “the stranger” a way out of his isolation – is the biggest challenge so far to Meursault’s resolute honesty. Why?
  9. How do you interpret the last sentence of the novel: “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”?
  10. Reader’s Response: To what extent do you think lack of remorse and lack of concern about consequences contribute to criminal behavior today?