Sharing is Not Only Caring

Humans are bombarded with interaction at almost all times of the day. Some consider this constant input to be overwhelming and stressful, while others thrive off of another person's energy. Whatever way humans view the interactive world around them, most people fail to truly appreciate the value of a shared moment. Since people are in constant contact with each other, by way of technology and work settings, there are many spontaneous moments that one experiences with another stranger. As shown in the TED talk with Charlie Todd, some people remain initially closed off to the idea of sharing an absurd experience with a stranger. The "no pants" subway prank featured a girl who was being filmed, unbeknownst to her. When this girl first encounters the unusual experience of seeing various men without pants in a public setting, she is confused, and perhaps a little bit scared. Initially, she made no effort to acknowledge that others in the subway car were sharing the same experience as she. But, the girl eventually noticed two other men reacting to the strange situation with laughter. After seeing this reaction, the girl laughed at the absurdity of the situation along with the men. The girl shifted to being uncomfortable viewing the spectacle alone, from finding a certain humor when she shared the experience with those around her. Perhaps if humans make more of an effort to acknowledge the strangers around them, and seek to share spontaneous experiences with them, people will be happier. They might be able to make laughter out of discomfort, just like the girl, by simply sharing an experience.

unchained and strange

Once an old lacross team captain from some public school in the nowhere-land of Croton on Hudson said that the best coaching tactic is to tie teams together with hatred. Charlie Todd’s improv projects seek to bind strangers together through truly absurd experiences. His work includes the annual no-pants subway ride and the “Movies in Real Life” series. Some say these are ridiculous, inappropriate, and foolish. The playful exaggerations and odd occurrences add a little spice to an everyday routine. Ordinary bystanders are brought together by laughter under the comical episodes. The modern world is too focused on to-do lists and having a proper reason for each and every action to realize that such set ideas are not necessary. As children we are taught that play is a good thing, and Todd asks why that has to change with age. In today’s era, that which is not accepted is deemed strange. Todd poses the essential question: why?

Just for No Reason

Spontaneous things that happen without reason may be better than things that do have reasons behind them. When something happens for no reason, people tend to search for, or even make up, stories, justifying what they don't comprehend in order to satisfy their uneasiness. However, people only search for reasons when they are uncomfortable. Improv Everywhere shows plenty of great situations where people's absurd actions make other people happy. During the first experiment, the women on the train seemed to be wondering why the man was in his underwear, but after a while she found it funny and didn't seem to be looking for a reason as to why the men on the train had forgotten their pants. This is a strong way to reach the idea of absurdism to an audience of all ranges, because comedy is very appealing to a wide age range of people. Charlie Todd is very persuasive when he shows, through example experiments, that absurdism can lead to beautiful things, just for no reason. 

A Common Goal

In this article, both Kingsnorth and Stephenson argued their points of view with stubbornness, until they reach a somewhat forced agreement. It seemed that neither made a great effort to think of the issue of the environment from the others’ view. While their viewpoints are incredibly different in some ways, they fail to see the fairly crucial connection between their values and thought processes. Stephenson’s main argument is based on his belief that humans should do all possible to limit other species’ suffering, but more importantly, keep the human species alive. Kingsworth believes that by giving up “hope” that it is possible to live the same lifestyle will leave humans time to prepare for a new way of life. If global warming is indeed past the point of no return, and the environment will never be the same again, the only way humans can survive is by modifying their lifestyles.

The Stranger Reading Quiz #2

Vocab:

____________________(adj) (of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little

____________________(v) to dispense or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment

____________________(v) clear (someone) of blame or suspicion

____________________(n) excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures

____________________(n) the killing of a parent or a close relative

____________________(v) talking unnecessarily at length

____________________(adj) extremely dirty or unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty

____________________(adj) triumphantly happy

____________________(n) communication or cooperation that facilitates a close relationship between people or organizations

____________________(n) a solemn procession, esp. for a funeral

WORD BANK:

taciturn

mete

vindicate

debauchery

parricide

palavering

squalid

exultant

liaison

cortege

30 Second Questions:

What was often brought up during the trial?

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What is one thing Meursault does to distract himself after he is sentenced?

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What were two things that Meursault often thought about?

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What does Meursault compare the jury to?

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What did Meursault do when he didn’t want to talk to someone?

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5 Minute Questions:

Why does Meursault accept his imprisonment?

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What is Meursault’s reaction to his execution, and what does it reveal about him?

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Essay Question:

How does Meursault’s captivity resemble his outlook on human existence?

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The End

People are like tanks, killing what’s around them and never stopping. People may try to interfere and get in the way of these tanks to stop the destruction but are only able to delay them. Behind that one tank that a person may try to stop is a whole army of tanks waiting to tear down what keeps them alive. The environment lies upon its deathbed.  Paul Kingsnorth, an English writer and environmentalist, wrote an article explaining that there is no solution to save the planet from what's happening. Climate change, pollution and mass killings of animals are only increasing. No matter how hard one tries to stop these disasters, there are unavoidably going to happen one day or the next. This doesn't mean that Kingsnorth is going to sit back and watch things happen. He takes action to preserve the environment, keeping in mind that there is no way to save it, because there is nothing else to do. In his article, Kingsnorth exhibits an attitude similar to Meursault’s. Meursault continues to live life and be happy, knowing that he is going to die one day or another. He says that after you're dead no one remembers you and it's like you were never there. Kingsnorth and Meursault have the same attitude because they understand that the world is not bound to their rules and wants and one day everything will vanish. 

cartography

Sustainability is not the fight for the Earth’s survival, but the battle aimed towards preserving the lifestyle we find comfortable. This is Paul Kingsnorth’s opinion. He wants to find a way to save the world we will live in, while not necessarily keeping the modern one. As Kingsnorth states, “my view is that humans are no more or less important than anything else that lives.” Often labelled “ecocentric,” Kingsnorth’s ideals often make others uncomfortable. This is for good reason: people are not used to the realization that humanity is not the top priority. In the world we have created, homo sapiens means wisest, most humane, least monstrous. Most people think that the species most in need of protection is mankind, which is an opinion exhibited by Wen Stephenson when he says about saving the world, “It’s a humanitarian imperative. It transcends environmentalism and environmental politics.” There are innumerable extinct and endangered species that deserve conservation more than we do. Humanity is the embodiment of brutality and savagery, veiled by the meager excuse that history has brought civilization to the wilderness. It is human nature to believe oneself superior to every landscape and every inhabitant. This is an idea that will prove fatal, not only to ourselves but to every other living, breathing organism calling this planet home. The globe may have been mapped by humanity but we did not create it.

Accepting the Inherent

In a world that is more connected than ever, people interact with each other on many emotional and superficial levels. People expect validation for these interactions, a reward for presenting their opinions or doing a good deed. However, these people refuse to accept the blatant reality that life is not a slave to their desires; it doesn’t exist to please them. Only a few, select people truly understand that the world owes them nothing. One of these is Stephen Crane, the author of “A Man Said to the Universe.” In this brief poem, Crane effectively asserts his opinion that, “the universe/… has not created in [itself]/ a sense of obligation” (Crane, line 4-5). In this line, Crane shows his view that people should expect nothing from life. The poem, which only consists of five lines, holds power in its simplicity. This opinion is one shared by Meursault, the narrator of The Stranger. Meursault reflects that “none of it really mattered” (Camus, page 78). This is an idea that resonates throughout the entire story, during which Meursault discovers the insignificance of his own existence. Meursault, like Stephen Crane, understands the fact that the universe doesn’t conspire against humans and nor does it conspire with them. In short, the world doesn’t care about people, for it doesn’t need to. Unlike many, both Meursault and Crane acknowledge that the world is not accountable for them. Perhaps by accepting the absurd like Crane and Meursault, humans could stop perseverating the unknown and accept life as it comes along?

The Stranger Reading Quiz #1

Vocab:
 _____________ (adj) lacking the means of subsistence; totally impoverished
 _____________ (adj) extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated
 _____________(n) a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water, a headland: a rocky promontory
_____________(n) a fishing boat used for trawling
 _____________(n) a person assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession; an assistant of follower
 _____________(adj) unable to think clearly; blurry/indistinct
_____________(n) a framework used to support a flat surface/table
_____________(adj) healthy (particularly regarding an elderly person)
 ____________ (n): great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective
 ____________(n): a type of entertainment popular chiefly in the US in the early 20th century, featuring a mixture of speciality acts such as burlesque comedy and song and dance 

Word Bank:
Destitute
Muzzy
Zeal
Trawler
Gaunt
Promontory
Hale
Vaudeville
Trestle
Acolytes

 30 Second Questions:
 What did Marie ask Meursault to do when she heard Raymond beating his wife? ____________________________________________________________________
Why did Raymond become worried on their way to the beach? ____________________________________________________________________
What happened to Salamano’s dog? ____________________________________________________________________
Who is Masson?
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What is one peculiar habit that Meursault has? ____________________________________________________________________

 5 Minute Questions: 
What effect does the description of Meursault’s first kill have on the reader? ____________________________________________________________________
Is it accurate to label Meursault as a person devoid of emotion? ____________________________________________________________________

 Essay Question:
In Meursault’s mind, in what ways could love and death be similar? ____________________________________________________________________

The Sweet Escape

Death is certainly a difficult subject. But it’s not necessarily a hard thing for the person who actually died. Rather, that person’s loved ones are the sorry people who grieve. But for what? Why do people get all worked up over something that actually frees a person from the confines of this world? Death is, after all, liberating. Meursault, in Albert Camus’s The Stranger, out of all the people who knew his mother, is the only one who doesn’t grieve with her death. He is quite nonchalant in the way he expresses seeing his dead mother’s funeral. Meursault is not without emotion, however. The reader sees him refer to Mme. Meursault as Maman, an affectionate term for one he loved deeply. But Meursault does not mourn for he understands that his mother was suffering, a free mind caged in an old body. He describes her retirement home as oppressive, and finds the old folk’s talk to be dull. Meursault can easily see how his mother’s death was one of the best, most freeing things that could’ve happened to her. Similarly, in “A Night-Piece on Death” by Thomas Parnell, Parnell explores death’s effect on the deceased and on the loved ones of that individual. He arrives to the conclusion that grieving for the deceased is pointless. Parnell understands that, “Death’s but a path that must be trod/ If men would ever pass to God,” (Parnell lines 70-71). He describes life as a prison that is only escaped through death. Both Parnell and Meursault view death as a scapegoat from a world of suffering, something that should certainly not be mourned.

Who Cares?

Poet Robert Hedin does an excellent job of exploring the theme of carelessness in his work "This Morning I Could Do a Thousand Things" just like the way Albert Camus interweaves the same theme into The Stranger. Hedin's poem discusses the many opportunities the narrator could grasp in the morning, but instead shows that jumping at those opportunities aren’t worth it and decides "...to just lie/Here in this old hammock"(Hedin, lines 16-17). His resulting action hints towards negligence of the situation. Just as "This Morning I Could Do a Thousand Things" presents the idea of living the moments as they come, The Stranger also starts to explore the same matter in the first chapter. The narrator, Meursault shows very little, if not any, attachment towards his mother, whose body lies still in the coffin.  Meursault expresses no feelings towards his mother's death which is explicitly shown when he said "...I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked" (Camus, pg. 31). Though the poem and the story do not revolve around a similar occasion or even have anything literal in common, both works of literature talk about the carelessness of the narrators.    

what is it in us that lives in the past?

Both "No Words Can Describe It" by Mark Strand and The Stranger by Albert Camus share a remarkable ideology. "No Words Can Describe It" is a prose poem that focuses on a nostalgic flashback. The poem laments the relentless pressure of the future, and the realization that once a moment has passed, it cannot be brought back. Meanwhile, The Stranger's first chapter follows Meursault and his travels regarding the death of his parent. He had become estranged from his mother, and while she left for the resident home, he survived on his limited wages. In a way, The Stranger ponders the unattainable solution to the one answer unable to be proven mathematically. The first chapter by Camus follows Meursault, who wanders trancelike through his mother's home in Algiers, through a silent vigil, and through her funeral. Strand writes, "What is it in us that lives in the past and longs for the future or lives in the future and longs for the past?" Here the poem pushes at the boundary of meaning and value in one's life, and asks what it all means.

The Dish on Lament

The Stranger and "Lament" share a common subject: the death of a parent. The authors of both works paint a bleak outlook on the future, as well as of one's passing on. The words are blatant, without a hint of sugarcoating. They explore both existentialism and absurdism to a certain degree. The subject of existentialism is broached through "Lament" when the narrator insists that life must go on, lived for the individual, and the dead must be forgotten. In The Stranger, the narrator, Meursault, speaks as if in a trance, casting a thin veil across the chapters. He passes through the events regarding his mother's death as if he hardly realizes the reason for his actions. This relates back to absurdism in that he comes to the realization that his mother's death does not concern him. Similarity, in "Lament," the narrator describes how the children will be better off witn their father's repurposed clothes, almost as if the death of a father figure will not impact them later. In both works, the idea that the dead are no longer relevant permeates.