Thursday, August 29, 2013

What does Marie do when Meursault tells her about old Salamano and his dog?

Marie, like
most of the other characters in , acts as a character foil to Meursault. She reacts with
sympathy for the dog and Salamano. However, Meursault acts indifferently, thinking that the
relationship between Salamano and the dog works well for them and it is not chaotic (in his
mind), so there is no need to pass judgment on them.

Marie and the other
characters in the novel act as the voice of society and they often are used as the mouthpiece
for Camus to comment on how society views non-conformity. They think that because Salamano
abuses the dog, then he is a bad person. However, the reality of the matter is that Salamano
loves his dog and only abuses it because he wants to know that there is a connection between
them, be it an abusive one. We can see that there is genuine love from Salamano for the dog when
we learn that the dog has run away. Salamano acts as if does not care for the dog, but Meursault
later hears him crying through the wall of the building.

It is this same
sentiment that Marie has that does not appeal to Meursault. As he states near the end of the
book, we are all destinted to die eventually, so there is no point to ponder aspects about life
that does not concern us.

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