country plus the stanger kawabata s term daily
Excerpt from Term Paper:
The earth place white underneath the night skies. “(Kawabata, 1) This beginning phrase in the novel is very revealing: the hero comes from the intimacy of night (the tunnel) into the wide open blankness with the Snow Country. The establishing thus converts the perception of innocence but that of anxiety and isolation.
Camus’ Stranger also hints at solitude and alienation even from the name. Mersault is a well-known literary persona, the modern strange in contemporary society. The main big difference between him and Shimamura is the fact which the latter has a Romantic curved towards dream and a narcissism that will bring him locked in his personal world. The regular trait that they share can be their long term sense of anxiety. Mersault, as opposed to Shimamura, generally is afraid of the people that encircle him. Incapable of empathy, Mersault feels like a complete stranger not only because he simply cannot connect with the others but as they find them constantly puzzling. He’s always apprehensive around other people, and this individual over-explains and justifies him self in front of the others. For instance, if he talks to his superior at the office about currently taking two days away for his mother’s funeral service, Mersault uselessly justifies him self, pointing out that death of his mom is not his wrong doing: “Still, I had an idea this individual looked irritated, and I said, without thinking: “Sorry, sir, but it’s not my mistake, you know. “(Camus, 1) This will likely be again echoed ultimately of the novel, when he will actually be incriminated for deserting and missing his mom. Just like Shimamura, Mersault is within a permanent feeling of alert, only feeling at ease when he is by himself. The environment here is important too, as the novel is filled with the torrid landscape of Algeria. The almost desert-like setting accentuates the feeling of desolation. A telling model is Mersault’s drowsiness all through his mother’s funeral and in many cases through the other events. This individual feels unable to focus due to heat: “As a matter of fact, I had developed great difficulty in following his remarks, since, for one thing, any office was so stiflingly popular and big flies were humming round and settling on my cheeks. “(Camus, 85) the ultimate heat is usually thus a distraction that supposedly just widens the gap among him and the others. As a result, if the absolute emptiness from the Snow Country invaded the spirit of Shimamura, Mersault is terrorized from the beginning to the end of the book by the merciless, glaring sunshine: “The day on what my trial started was one of outstanding sunshine. “(Camus, 103) the ultimate heat and the bright light inflict again a dream-like mood on the scenery. Because of the popular season, every thing seems to have a feeling of mirage or unreality about this, like that given by the wasteland. This is the most suitable context pertaining to the strange hero from the novel, who also always seems to have difficulty in focusing and being aware of what is happening to him. Again, as in the Snow Region, the starting paragraph is famous: “Mother passed away today. or perhaps, maybe, the other day; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: THE MOTHER DIED. FUNERAL THE NEXT DAY. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter uncertain; it could have been yesterday. “(Camus, 1) the detached and odd way in which Mersault announces his mother’s death without even paying attention to virtually any details signifies the say state of alienation where the reader discovers him. The death of the mother is usually chosen right here as a trope precisely since it is supposed to push anyone at any time. Mersault even so remains unresponsive in front of the tragedy as after that in front of his own criminal offense and death. His continuous puzzlement can be enhanced by desert-like placing with its torrid heat and blinding lumination.
Thus, in both works of fiction, the establishing plays a major role in shaping the main characters as well as the story: the glaring snow and the blasting heat are the fit contexts for the two heroes, both of whom have an impaired feeling of reality.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The New person. New York, Classic, 1954.
Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country and Thousand Encoche.
