In The Stranger, Monsieur Meursault deals with the loss of his mother in the beginning of the story. One would expect the passing of Meursault’s mother to be a tragic and distressing time in his life, yet he does not appear to be in a deep state of mourning. He travels to where his mother was living in a group home, attends her viewing and funeral, and goes home where he acts as if nothing has changed. There is no gaping hole in his life where his mother used to be, and he seems oddly accepting of the situation. In the Seinfeld episode, Jerry has his car stolen from in front of his apartment building. One would think that Jerry would be distraught over discovering that his car is gone and that he would work tirelessly to track down the person that stole it. That is not the case, however. Instead, he calls the phone in his car, speaks to the man behind the wheel who stole it, but does not repetitively beg and plead for his car to be brought back or threaten to call the police. Strangely enough, Jerry hangs up the phone and ends up using a rental car instead of finding his original car. One would believe that both Meursault and Jerry would be distressed over the chaotic events that they both encountered. But yet, just as Meursault is detached from the death of his mother, Jerry is detached from the event of his car being stolen.
Raymond Sintés, one of the people that Meursault befriends in The Stranger is not a righteous man. In Chapter Four, Meursault describes a scene involving his friend, Raymond: “There were some thuds and the woman screamed, but in such a terrifying way that the landing immediately filled with people. Marie and I went to see, too. The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her” (Camus 80). Raymond has a goal in mind to teach the women that “mistreat” him lessons, as he was doing in this quotation. He behaves maliciously towards women as if he has to prove his dominance. This only creates additional trouble for Raymond from the police, neighbors, and family members of his victims. George, a character in “The Alternate Side,” decides he wants to temporarily take a job moving and parking cars in his neighborhood. He accepts the position to attempt to prove to himself and his friends that he can perform a job successfully. Not soon after beginning his seemingly simple new job, however, George experiences a few difficulties. He crashes cars, leaves them running, causes accidents, prevents emergency personnel from reaching Jerry’s apartment, and even delays the filming of a Woody Allen movie. Raymond and George are both on missions to prove different points; Raymond wants to prove his male superiority over women, and George wants to prove that he can execute a job efficiently. Nonetheless, the rash decisions of the two men wanting to validate their respective objectives lead to more complications for each over time. The two would have experienced less difficulties had they not taken on the unconventional roles to begin with.
The relationship between Marie and Meursault in The Stranger is peculiar. It appears that Marie values the relationship to a greater extent than Meursault does. An example from Chapter Five emphasizes this: “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her” (Camus 91, 92). Marie expresses interest in marriage with Meursault and demonstrates her love for him, yet Meursault hardly reciprocates those feelings. The relationship appears to be casual from Meursault’s view and he is not as emotionally invested in the relationship as Marie. Elaine’s relationship with the older man in the Seinfeld episode is relaxed, at least from Elaine’s perspective. From Elaine’s descriptions of how her new boyfriend treats her, the boyfriend admires her a great deal, however, more than Elaine admires him. The feelings of distance Elaine experiences towards her boyfriend are not acted on immediately, but are addressed at a later time, as she temporarily puts them off to care for him after he suffered a stroke. As Meursault feels a weak connection to his girlfriend Marie, Elaine feels a weak connection to her older boyfriend. The significant others of both Meursault and Elaine are more passionate about their relationships than Meursault and Elaine. This creates looming trouble for Meursault and created trouble for Elaine that was settled by the end of the episode.
Raymond Sintés, one of the people that Meursault befriends in The Stranger is not a righteous man. In Chapter Four, Meursault describes a scene involving his friend, Raymond: “There were some thuds and the woman screamed, but in such a terrifying way that the landing immediately filled with people. Marie and I went to see, too. The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was still hitting her” (Camus 80). Raymond has a goal in mind to teach the women that “mistreat” him lessons, as he was doing in this quotation. He behaves maliciously towards women as if he has to prove his dominance. This only creates additional trouble for Raymond from the police, neighbors, and family members of his victims. George, a character in “The Alternate Side,” decides he wants to temporarily take a job moving and parking cars in his neighborhood. He accepts the position to attempt to prove to himself and his friends that he can perform a job successfully. Not soon after beginning his seemingly simple new job, however, George experiences a few difficulties. He crashes cars, leaves them running, causes accidents, prevents emergency personnel from reaching Jerry’s apartment, and even delays the filming of a Woody Allen movie. Raymond and George are both on missions to prove different points; Raymond wants to prove his male superiority over women, and George wants to prove that he can execute a job efficiently. Nonetheless, the rash decisions of the two men wanting to validate their respective objectives lead to more complications for each over time. The two would have experienced less difficulties had they not taken on the unconventional roles to begin with.
The relationship between Marie and Meursault in The Stranger is peculiar. It appears that Marie values the relationship to a greater extent than Meursault does. An example from Chapter Five emphasizes this: “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her” (Camus 91, 92). Marie expresses interest in marriage with Meursault and demonstrates her love for him, yet Meursault hardly reciprocates those feelings. The relationship appears to be casual from Meursault’s view and he is not as emotionally invested in the relationship as Marie. Elaine’s relationship with the older man in the Seinfeld episode is relaxed, at least from Elaine’s perspective. From Elaine’s descriptions of how her new boyfriend treats her, the boyfriend admires her a great deal, however, more than Elaine admires him. The feelings of distance Elaine experiences towards her boyfriend are not acted on immediately, but are addressed at a later time, as she temporarily puts them off to care for him after he suffered a stroke. As Meursault feels a weak connection to his girlfriend Marie, Elaine feels a weak connection to her older boyfriend. The significant others of both Meursault and Elaine are more passionate about their relationships than Meursault and Elaine. This creates looming trouble for Meursault and created trouble for Elaine that was settled by the end of the episode.
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