Journal 1: 3 Characters

1. Marie is Meursault's girlfriend, and later becomes his fiancée. She appears the day after Meursault's mother's funeral, and he takes her out on a date. Very quickly, within a couple days, she tells him she loves him and asks him to marry her. Meursault often describes her as being somewhat confusing, and he doesn't know what she wants from him. She asks if he loves her; he says it doesn't matter. She says he's peculiar, but she loves him for it anyway. This shows how Meursault's strange personality can be interpreted positively, despite how withdrawn and negative he seems to the reader. She serves as insight to another view of the main character, whom we only see through his own existentialist eyes.
2. Meursault's boss is a foil of Marie; he seems to be constantly unhappy with Meursault's peculiarities. The boss is often described as being annoyed with Meursault and Meursault doesn't care much for his boss. In chapter 5, his boss offers him an opportunity to move off to Paris, something that most young people would love. When Meursault shows no interest, his boss becomes angry and says that Meursault lacks ambition. This character shows how Meursault's personality can be interpreted negatively by the other characters surrounding him, contrary to Marie's perspective. Both these perspectives help the reader shape Meursault into a person rather than an existentialist being.
3. Old Salamano and his dog are introduced as being old and scabby and similar in looks. At first it seems that Salamano beats his dog and that they have a horrible abusive relationship, but as the story progresses and Salamano loses his dog, the reader finds that Salamano actually took very good care of his dog. This could be parallel development for Meursault and his mother, especially since his mother is mentioned whenever Salamano comes around. The general view of Meursault when he sent his mother to the home was unfavorable, but he really did it to be humanitarian. He did what was best for her, just as Salamano did for his dog, even if the general view of Salamano was unfavorable.