I have to do an outline for my essay today, and I’m still not sure what I’m going to write on. It’s 11:00. I should be at work now. I don’t know what to write on. I’ll make a fake outline. That’s what I always do. What I end up writing on is never what I write my outlines on. Those stupid “plans” that Letko had us do…they were always on a different topic than I would end up writing the essay on. Hmm…I guess I’ll stick with the old boring formalist crap. No, I want to use the moral/intellectual approach. I want to talk about the philosophy the book conveys, and how he uses his style and the actions of Meursault to convey this idea that one’s own morals are the only important thing, and to never let society dictate morality? Something like that.

Perhaps my research question could be “What caused Meursault’s death?” It could be society, it could be ennui, it could be God, it could be anything. Interpretation of The Stranger is so open-ended, I could even argue that God willed that Meursault be put to death because he is a libertine. I’m still fascinated by the symbol of the sun. What does it mean? Maybe the sun is the abyss.

I’m reading about this book by Jean-Paul Sarte that I totally want to read now.

“Antoine Roquentin is a solitary man, recently afflicted with a recurrent feeling, one that he terms ‘the Nausea’. At times, he feels that life is repugnant, a vapid, shallow game between mindless people who have no real idea of their own purpose or consequence, himself included. At first he dismisses these feelings as the typical lonely thoughts of an ageing academic who is unable to complete the book he has been researching for years, but as the feeling continues and he is able to examine himself with greater and greater clarity, Roquentin begins to learn that maybe he has stumbled upon one of the great truths of our reality. “

Sounds very cool. And very me. I must make another trip to the used bookstore in Arcata to load up on Sarte once I finish my current pile.

I’m writing my outline…it’s just going to be a formalist snooze-fest, but at least I’ll get a good grade on it. I can admit that I have nothing original to say. I might as well regurgitate other people’s thoughts and get it over with.

Okay, the thing is done with. I’ve got to proof it, print it out, put it in Molly’s box, and then get the hell to work…I’m late.

English 1B

Research Paper Outline

November 29, 2004

The Stranger

I. I will discuss how I will approach analyzing the story, state my thesis, with some brief discussion of existentialism/absurdism and the time in which it was written.

II. I will summarize the plot of The Stranger with the précis approach.

III. I will discuss how Camus’ style helps him achieve the atmosphere that he creates, and I will compare the differences and similarities in the two translations I own.

IV. I will talk about how important point of view is in this novel, and how totally incomprehensible scenes like the killing of the Arab would be written in third person or any other POV besides first person.

V. I will discuss the character of Meursault, and with more research I may argue that he is a flat character. I will bring up whether he seems like he could be a real person and whether his actions fit his thoughts. I may question the character’s sanity, with a bit of the psychological/psychoanalytic approach.

VI. This will be the conclusion, I’ll reiterate a bunch of the stuff I already said and restate my bland, uninteresting point that’s been thought by a thousand people before me.