Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five was one of my favorite books that I have read in all of high school. I really like the way that Vonnegut approached this book. I am finding the existentialists very interesting, I like the way they look at most things. This one is a little bit different to answer, because I don't think that the subject of this book had to do with man being either good or evil. Instead, I think that Vonnegut is telling us that everything happens in a moment, and that moment will always be there. I really liked the Tralfamadorians. The way that Vonnegut described their way of life was so cool because the way that they thought and saw things was so different from the way humans see things. I do not think that the Tralfamadorians see good or evil. It is interesting that this is a generally light hearted story, because it is supposed to be about Dresden, which was such a horrible bombing. I believe that what Vonnegut was trying to get across was that he was anti-war, but war is inevitable. War is a moment in time, and that moment will always be the same. Vonnegut realizes that certain things are inevitable, but when does inevitability turn into the lack of free will?

The Stranger by Albert Camus

The short story The Stranger took a turn that I did not see coming when the man character, Meursault, killed a man on a sunny day at the beach. Up until the end of part one, Meursault was an odd character, but I never recognized him as a killer. He seemed to live a fairly normal life, but the one thing he was lacking was emotion. This was shown at his mothers funeral, when he did not grieve at all. Without emotion, Meursault existed in society, but he was not a part of society. He had interaction with a girl, Marie, and his neighbors, including a man named Raymond. It bothered me that he lived by the motto that nothing matters. He spends time with Raymond and Marie, but he is indifferent the entire time. The only attraction he has to Marie is sexual; he enjoys her company but he does not feel love for her. She asks him if he would like to marry, and he does not care at all. Even though I don't like the way that Meursault acts, I do not think he is necessarily an evil person.

As the story goes on, Meursault becomes closer with Raymond and Marie, and they make a trip to a friend of Raymond's at the beach. As they walk along the beach, they run in to an Arab man that is the brother of a girl that Raymond had an altercation with. He pulls a knife on Raymond, Meursault, and Raymond's friend Masson, and Raymond reveals a gun. However, they both back down, and the three leave the Arabs alone. They return to Masson's beach house, but for some reason Meursault goes back out, and he takes the gun with him. He again finds the Arab man on the beach, and the man pulls out a knife. At this point Meursault makes it clear that if he wanted to, he could turn back and walk away, but instead he goes forward and he shoots the Arab man. Out of nowhere, Meursault has committed murder.

I still do not think that Meursault is an evil person at this point. I think that he is sick, and that since he does not have the ability to express emotion, the act of murder to him was like any other. Meursault's indifference continues as he sits in jail, he doesn't quite seem to understand the consequences of his crime. Or maybe he does understand, but it does not really matter to him, because he does not care about life. As time goes on, I think that we see a change in Meursault. He begins to long for Marie, and not just for the sexual attraction, but he starts to realize he had genuine interest in someone other than himself. Marie is the first person that Meursault has become attached to in his life. Meursault's progression in jail is what makes him a good person. The interesting thing is that Meursault had to be physically removed from society in order to realize his desire to become a part of society emotionally.

Although he committed an evil act, I believe that Meursault was a truly good person. The fact that he was incapable of being emotional and that he did not care about life was changed durning his time in prison, and his transformation showed that deep down inside he was a good person, and he did not mean to harm anyone.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis providesan interesting take on goodness and evil. I think that evil exists in Metamorphosis, but not because the characters mean to be evil, but because they do not know any better. I think that Gregor's family is evil, because when he transforms into a bug, they basically just leave him behind. It seems like they would have continued to take care of Gregor. At first his sister made some attempt to take care of him, but eventually they just forgot about him. The Samsa family seems more distraught that Gregor cannot take care of them anymore then the fact that he has transformed into a bug. To me, that is evil. But I do not think that they are intentionally evil.

I see goodness in Gregor, even after he is transformed into a bug. I think it was good of him to realize that he was holding his family back when he was a bug. Gregor needed to pass to let his family move on. While it is horrible that the one that carried the weight of the family ends up holding them back, I still think it was necessary for Gregor to become a bug in order for his family to have a better life.