Tuesday, January 5th

Objectives:

• Understand major tenets of Existentialism
• Explore Meursault's character in the first two chapters of The Stranger

Starter #2
Watch I AM by Stephen Sellers and then pick one of the following quotes that you think most relates to Sellers' short film and explain what the quote means and how it connects to Sellers' video:

“All the labor of all the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction. So now, my friends, if that is true, and it is true, what is the point?” ― Bertrand Russell

"Faith is not about finding meaning in the world, there may be no such thing -- faith is the belief in our capacity to create meaningful lives.” ― Terry Tempest Williams, Leap

“For far too long we have been seduced into walking a path that did not lead us to ourselves. For far too long we have said yes when we wanted to say no. And for far too long we have said no when we desperately wanted to say yes. . . . " -Unknown

Class Biz

• Ashley to show y'all how to access Happiness and Meaning documents on her DP

• Choose your Lit Circle book: Lit Circle Book Descriptions 

AGENDA
1. Continue Existentialism Powerpoint presentation 

2. Discuss chapters 1-2 of The Stranger

• Food for thought: What is the significance of the title? Who is "the stranger" and in what ways are they estranged? How does Mersault's indifference relate to the Absurd?
• Do you like Meursault? What is your opinion of him?
• Pages 9-10: Are we defined by others' perceptions of us? Is our existence determined by others recognizing, observing and labeling us? Relationship to Social Media? Relationship to the concept of alienation?"
• Read page 11 and page 18: Is Mersault's response to his mother's death simply indifference or it is something else?  Why might M not want to face the reality of his mother's death?
• Page 19: As I was waking up, it came to me why my boss had seemed annoyed when I asked him for two days off: Today is Saturday......But in the first place, it isn't my fault."  What element of existentialism does M's attitude contradict?
• Read pages 22-24: Does Meursault take an active role in his own life? Why not?  
• Camus says that WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but then we had WWII so nothing really changed.  This is the cold indifference of the universe that he and other existentialists were picking up on. Why sacrifice all those lives in WWI if nothing really changed? 

3. Time to read and annotate The Stranger, chapters 3, 4 and 5.