This year, on the 60th anniversary of Camus's death, "The Stranger " has been published for nearly 80 years. The chapters in the book still don't have the slightest flavor of the old times. It transcends the limitations of geography and time and space, and points directly to the chaotic and contradictory life of human beings. situation. One section of the novel describes the narrator's neighbor, the old Salamano, with his dog, the man and the dog, who look alike, equally old and equally ugly, who despise each other, but are attached to each other. Every time I take the dog for a walk, the dog will run ahead for a while. After being beaten and then walking back to the old man, the man and the dog will form a funny cycle, going back and forth, like a never-ending farce. Until later, the dog ran away and never returned to its owner. Old Salamano recalled how beautiful the dog used to be and said sadly: "It's real disease is old age, and old age is incurable. After speaking, the protagonist Mo Hesuo yawned, and the old man got up and prepared to leave. After some conversation, the old man said something as he left: "I hope there will be no dog barking tonight, as soon as I hear a dog barking, I thought it was it."
The plot came to an abrupt end, the plot was brief but profound. Old Salamano's dog, in addition to symbolizing his alter ego, also symbolized death. The dog's disappearance triggered his anxiety about death. All have to die, even so, one must love life. Then, after listening to the storyline full of metaphors, our protagonist Mo Hesuo yawned. "Yawning" is not just "yawning". If we interpret from the many clues that Camus first laid out, "the Inhumanity," is the second major theme of the absurd. Inhumanity also appears in the opening sentence of "The Stranger": Today, Pricing my mother died. Maybe yesterday, I'm not sure. Only received a telegram from the nursing home: "Mother passed away. Buried tomorrow. My condolences." It was unclear. It could have been yesterday. The reader does not know the relationship between Mo Hesuo and his mother, and has no way of knowing why Mo Hesuo was indifferent to his mother's death. Camus did not and does not need to spend any effort to explain it. Everything is hazy and illusory, as if pinching the reader's nose. Hold our breath, unpredictable.
However, after reading this, one can't help but ask oneself, how much grief do people cherish for the death of others (even the death of their relatives) in the real society? Why is Mo Hesuo's indifference inhuman? Sadness as an indicator of human morality, Mo Hesuo seems to have betrayed human nature (and eventually became one of the reasons for his execution); however, Mo Hesuo's narrative is full of humanity everywhere: The street lights came on suddenly, dimming the few stars that had just appeared in the night sky. My eyes started to get tired looking at the crowds and lights on the sidewalk. Street lights shone on the wet stone pavement, and at regular intervals the tram cast shadows on shiny hair, a smile, or a silver bracelet. This is one of Mo Hesuo's thoughts and mon