Jess's $0.20 Blog

            Antoinette had a complex relationship with the adults in her life. The people that you would expect to be there for her weren’t. Yet, the adult that didn’t need to care about her at all was the one that truly cared for her.             Antoinette grew up being constantly neglected by the woman who was supposed to care for her the most. Her mother, Annette, the woman her name was derived from, has ignored her and pushed her a way for as long as Antoinette can remember. Not only did she not care for Antoinette but she also chose Antoinette’s brother over her and spent all of her time caring for him. Annette would tell Antoinette to leave her be so that she could focus on Pierre. This would be detrimental to any young developing person. It was especially harsh for her because she didn’t have any other family to fall back on, she didn’t have close relationship with her father or, obviously,...

The article that my group gave our panel presentation on got me thinking about what I read into The Stranger. The article said that when people read books they tend to see it through their own eyes with their own experiences rather than what the author had intended. I definitely agree with that idea. To me the best part of reading is personally identifying with the story. While I read The Stranger I found myself reading it differently from others around me. A lot of people saw Meursault’s emotionless indifference acceptable because he has no control over it. I, however, couldn’t find it in myself to like him or justify his decisions. When first introduced to him I thought he seemed like a problematic person. His reaction to his mother’s death was disturbing to me, the way he didn’t seem to care much about her loss at all. And then when we first see the abusive relationship between Meursault’s neighbor and his dog I knew I couldn’t stand him. The fact that he had no issue with Pe...