The Stranger Blog Response #2

As I finished reading The Stranger I wondered several things. My main thoughts were about Mersault and how someone could become like that. I kept on wondering about his execution and why Camu decided to exclude it from the novel. The absence of this critical part of the novel made we think what Mersualt would have thought about in his final moments. In the end of the novel we see how he comes to terms with his situation and embraces it: “all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should great me with howls of execration.” (76) This however doesn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t feel fear or dread for what was to come.  Death can be thought of as the ultimate test for an existentialist and as to the way Mersault faced it can only be speculated upon.