MONDAY, January 11th

Reading Schedule for The Stranger 

• ​By Monday, 1/11:  Read Chs. 6 and in Part II, chs. 1, 2 and 3
• By Tuesday, 1/12: Part II chs. 4 and 5 Finish the book! 

Objectives:

• Understand all tenets of Existentialism
• Apply the Absurd and Existentialism to The Stranger 

Today's Key Term
Transience: the state or fact of lasting only for a short time; transitory nature.

Starter #4

• Watch this youtube video called, "Existential Bummer" about the transience of life

• How does this video relate to Meursault?

• Would rather take the path of least resistance like Meursault, and/or avoid emotional attachments, or would you rather dive right into life despite knowing that everything is temporary, and all things must end?
  

CLASS BIZ

• Honors Meeting TODAY at lunch
• Interesting existentialist Ted Talk: Why does the universe exist?
• This week's assignments
• Honors Ind. Study-- conferences need to occur by Friday!
• Honors Book Club: Lunch meeting this Wed. Required attendance if you're interested!
• Documentary Ladies of the Mines
• ​Tues. Jan 12 at 6:00 PM in the Fort Lewis College Student Union - Vallecito Room= A free screening of Colorado Experience "Ladies of the Mines." Based on the real-life stories of three women who lived in Colorado mining camps at the end of the 19th century, this 30-minute documentary tells of their challenges with “high altitude, groceries delivered by mule train, pack rats and spoiled Thanksgiving turkeys.” The idea for this episode was submitted by local residents and viewers Rudy and Andie Davison and was chosen through a Rocky Mountain PBS “viewer’s choice” contest. Mr. and Mrs. Davison will be in attendance and the show producers Julie Speer and Mariel Rodriguez-McGill will join a panel discussion with Silverton residents,  Beverly Rich, Gloria Sandell, and Zandra Ellis. Each brings a contemporary women's perspectives from multigenerational family experiences and their own work in the mines.  
  

Agenda
1. Finish the existentialism powerpoint (slides #28-End)
2. Discuss The Stranger
3. Time to read and/or review existentialism

Today's Stranger discussions

1. Read aloud pages 55-57: "Shoot or not shoot?" "Stay or go".   What do those statements have to do with existentialism (free will/angst; indifference of universe; immorality).  Do you agree that those things "really amount to the same thing" as Mersault suggests?
2. 57-9: Why does Mersault always seek escape? What does he seem to be avoiding? Why would Mersault shoot 4 more times? 
3. Once Mersault goes to jail, in what ways does he seem alienated from himself? Do you see any shifts in the ways in which he defines himself or comes to know himself?
4. Page 66: Mersault wants to say to his lawyer, "I'm just like everybody else".  In what ways is he like everybody else and what does Camus mean by that?
5. 67-70: Why does the Magistrate want to know WHY M did it? How does this scene relate to the Absurd?
6. 75-6: Marie's visit:  Anything stand out here to y'all?  Why would Camus show us all these different scenes of visitors coming and going? 
7. 79-81: What is the significance of the story about the Czech man?
8. To what extent is prison like death?

Part 2, Chapter 3

1. In what ways does Camus illustrate the concept of alienation during the trial? (p. 85)
2. In what ways does Mersault change over the course of his prison time AND in particular during the trial?  (see for instance pages 90 and 97)
3. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What might the trial represent?  How so?