The Stranger

Cyntia Brunot
Ryan Gallagher
English 12 C.P
November 22 2010                                                                 

In the passage where Salamano loses his dog and talks to Meursault about the fear of being alone with out his dog, Albert Camus suggest that a man’s pain can trigger another’s memory that they can relate and the true feelings begin to come out instead of hiding beneath the surface. Albert Camus uses comparisons to give the reader a sense of how these two characters relate due to the lost of their loved ones, but can react in two opposite’s ways. Meursault, who is the Protagonist, symbolizes a man without emotions due to any feeling, he get, he remains the same. Salamano, a foil, symbolizes a man with emotions whatever feelings come to him.

                  The beginning of the passage where Salamano starts cursing the dog and refuses to “pay money for that bastard-ha! He can damn well die!” shows the emotions Salamano had first against his dog, the burden of taking care of someone or something lifted off his shoulders. Just as the same for Meursault, who had no remorse when he decided to put his in a nursing home and barely see her? The author, Albert Camus, also makes another comparison between the dog and Meursault’s mother. Salamano’s dog that he cared for years, but can end up in a pound or dead. On the other hand Meursault’s mother, who he decided to put in a home, and later passes away. When Salamano refuses to pay a fee for dog if he ended up in the pound, Meursault ended up putting his mother in a home.

                  Later on in the passage Salamano sooner realizes that he’s nothing without his dog. Salamano asked Meursault if “they’ll give him back to me. Other wise, what’s going to happen to me?” in the quote, Salamano sooner realizes he’s lonely without his dog, which changes his daily life, On the other hand Meursault lives the same day by day even when his mother’s death briefly intervenes with his daily schedule. Salamano hopes “they’re not going to take him away…” which shows his true reaction beginning to uncover. Other wise Meursault’s mother wasn’t taken away; she was put in a home by Meursault himself. Meursault didn’t care if he barely seen mother. This is a similar situation in both Meursault’s and Salamano lives, but they’re handling it in two opposite ways.

                        Near the ending of the Passage, Meursault hears a “peculiar little noise coming through the partition, I realized he was crying.” The emotions of a person’s feelings towards the lost of a loved one are revealed through Salamano’s final reaction towards the lost of his dog. Salamano’s crying gave Meursault the though of his mother. A reaction that Salamano has for the lost of his dog is common for those who had lost a loved one, but Meursault reaction was different, he didn’t show any remorse towards his mother at first, but due to Salamano lost and reaction, it has triggered Meurault’s memory of his mothers. This reaction has reminded the feeling he should’ve felt towards the death of his mother.