Lindsey Dolan

Period 3 lit

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Is it fair for Jack’s ‘affair’ to kind of have been qualified/broken even by Fiona’s kiss with Adam? It seems like the book tries to compare seeking out an extramarital affair to Fiona’s being coerced into responding to a boy so attached and troubled as Adam #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Is it possible that Fiona might have regretted her verdict in the moment when she realized the mess she’s in with Adam, especially circa the kiss ? I think it would be a shameful/instinctive/almost understandable thing to think for a split second #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Makes it less of a “let the boy die or transfuse him against his will” and more “have a hand in his death or give him a taste of life and let him decide in the future” 2/2 #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

One of the most important things Adam says is when he realizes it isn’t a sin for him to have the transfusion if it was court mandated because he wouldn’t be able to refuse it and God would know that, it adds a new way of thinking about the case and 1/2 #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Saying that taking up the violin is a sign of hope I think suggests Adam isn’t so aware of death as imminent and although he says he’d embrace death, he seems to have some expectation of God intervening to save him before the worst #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Schubert’s “Der Erlkönig”that Fiona and Mr. Berner performed is music for a poem by Goethe about a young boy who is killed by “supernatural forces.” More coincidentally, the boy’s father is oblivious and does not understand what’s killing his son,reflective of the case #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Maybe Ian McEwan chose to tell the story through a judge to give more weight to his opinions on the ethical and religious issues he discusses #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

As technically an authority in family law, Fiona probably subconsciously thinks herself/her own family exempt from the problems she sees in court, probably why her marriage is coming crashing down now, she never would’ve thought to consider warning signs #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Comparing Fiona’s work to Hoffman’s in Piglowska vs Piglowski characterizes her as almost neurotically perfectionist about her work, making it ironic that her personal life is more messy. Her work is the only place she feels she has a sense of control it seems #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Only awaiting his execution when provoked by the Chaplain does Meursalt actually begin to feel emotion and label it, explicitly saying he’s angry and upset. Before then, he’d always observed Marie “seeming sad” or uninterpreted facial expressions of others #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Like Sartre’s stressed more that embracing that existence is chaotic and totally free comes with an ethical/moral responsibility, not the right to ignore your accountability (2/2) #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

I don’t know enough abt Camus to say but I think he rejected the label “existentialist” because through the Stranger he seems to argue that embracing it=rejection of responsibility to the world,but the leading form of existentialism at the time (1/2) #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

@KaitlynStanton9 I think it represents hes looking at everything above/outside of the “absurdity of human nature”contained to~20ft above ground that the book highlights is so much greater, maybe suggesting that the nothingness of death isn’t so bad because at least escaping from that #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

The line“‘in the name of the French people’ I was to be decapitated in some public place” could be referring to the ridiculousness of the French Revolution, like a witch hunt with guillotines, convicting anyone based on suspicion they’re of the wrong image,like Meursalt #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

@KaitlynStanton9 I think it shows how he doesn’t discern between significant and insignificant things, everything from a towel dampening to shooting the Arab is just something that happens to fill his day #Laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

@KaitlynStanton9 Or if he doesn’t, maybe it’s just to highlight that there’re so many different extremes going on around him and Meursalt will continue to remain perfectly in the middle unaffected by everything into part II #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

an interesting thing about the narration is that it seems almost totally objective. his lack of emotional response to anything allows us to read his unbiased accounts and determine which emotion "should be present/should have been felt" #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Meursalt's repeated "it wasn't my fault" in context seem less of a projection of guilt for something else as it does him saying "it's not my fault so it doesn't really impact me at all" also showing his strange apathy for everything #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

Especially how he shows more of an emotional response to the time of day he likes the hand towel at work best than when he recalls the dog being beaten or when listening to his neighbor describe abusing a woman #laylit18

[Lindsey Dolan @Dolan_Lindsey]

in a book I read a while ago there's some background on the intent of The Stranger. The narrators apathy towards everything really does function to highlight "the absurdity of human existence" #laylit18