Due: Tuesday, October 19 by midnight
Your blog post this week will be based on a creative response to The Stranger by Camus. You can pick from the following options or pitch a different idea to Mr. McCallum before writing. These prompts will evolve over time, so make suggestions, corrections, etc.
Your response should be at least 450 words long.
Do not do more than one of these prompts.
1. Write an important piece of an alternate ending for The Stranger considering one of these two paths:
- Meursault does not shoot the Arab.
- Meursault is found not guilty of murder.
- Note: If you think there is another pivotal moment in the book that could create an excellent alternative storyline, feel free to explore that in your writing. Some examples that were suggested were Meursault's interaction with the Magistrate, his decisions surrounding his friendship with Raymond, or his choices made about his career and love life.
- It could be an actual passage from the “novel” or a detailed plot outline of key events.
- Keep an absurdist slant to the resolution you create. Your writing should reflect an understanding of The Absurd or Absurdist philosophy.
2. Meursault is intriguing, puzzling, and infuriating to those around him, but many people tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and even make excuses for his behavior. Write a detailed character description of Meursault from the perspective of Marie, Raymond, or The Magistrate. It could be from any point on the timeline in the novel or set after the events of the novel have taken place.
- Your writing can include dialogue and actual events in the novel.
- Your writing should reveal something about both the characters who are narrating and Meursault.
- Your character is free to ask questions, speculate, make assumptions, and be wrong.
- Try to stay “in character” during this writing.
3. Imagine Meursault attended BCMS or was a teacher at BCMS in the year 2021. Describe something unique to this place or this time from the perspective of Meursault that stays true to the style and the internal monologue of The Stranger.
- How would an absurdist teenager or teacher react to the world around him? How would an absurdist react to technology, school, assignments, Wal-Mart, or other things?
- Your Meursault could be male or female.
- Your writing should be in line with the ideas and philosophy presented in The Stranger.
- How would his family, bosses, girlfriend/boyfriend, and friends react to him?
- Note: You should NOT make comparisons between Meursault and any real students or teachers at BCMS. You can, however, compare his reactions with yours.
4. Which modern heroes or villains could Meursault best be compared to? You could compare him to characters in plays, movies, comic books, video games, and other novels.
- The Stranger is an incredibly influential work of literature and many modern directors and authors have studied it. It wouldn’t be surprising if many characters, both heroes and villains are modeled after Meursault.
- Have any modern heroes or villains personified absurdist philosophy?
- Back up your assertions with evidence and details.
- Remember that your audience may be unfamiliar with the work you are referencing, so provide some sort of explanation or context for the work or characters in your writing.
- For example, if I were to compare Meursault with The Misfit from Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," I would want to make sure to explain exactly who The Misfit is and what about his character reminds me of Meursault.
- Hey, Look! Somebody did it.
5. Illustrate Meursault's reaction to (or relationship with) nature at crucial points in the novel.
- In your blog post, Include the passage or moment you are illustrating and explain the significance of your illustration. This is the part of your blog that demonstrates the critical thinking work behind your work of art.
- Your illustration could show positive feelings and relationships, negative feelings and relationships, or both.
- All the following criteria can be ignored if you have a better idea:
- Pick a medium you'll work well with. Your options include, but are not limited to; painting, photography, drawing, online art tools, etc.
- Your illustration does not have to be literal or realistic. You can be abstract. You should take risks.
- Your illustration can represent feelings and emotions.
- You could include a series of illustrations rather than a single work.
