In a panel presentation yesterday, we were introduced to the idea that Meursault suffered from Alexithymia, an personality construct where the afflicted has a strong dissociation of feeling. Under stressful situations, the afflicted will have a physical reaction to the perceptions that cause emotion. Yet at the same time, people with Alexithymia crave emotional contact, on a higher level than unafflicted people.
With the various conditions presented in the previous paragraph and the fact that alexithymia usually results from childhood trauma (father dies/leaves, mother emotionally unavailable), I think that Meursault has Alexithymia and that his condition spills over into his relationships. This is especially evident with his romance(?) with Marie and friendship with Raymond.
The book briefly mentions the awkwardness of Meursault and Maman living together, as Maman would just follow his motions with her eyes, and how their relationship wasn't the best. This is possible evidence that Maman was an emotionally unavailable mother for Meursault, becoming a factor in his desire to have a relationship with Marie. Not saying that Meursault sees Marie as a mother, but simply that he subconsciously wanted more emotional contact, as a basic human being. But because of his emotionlessness, it difficult to say if he truly loves Marie or if he is simply using her to satisfy his emotional needs.
As for Raymond, I would consider this as Meursault having found a more fatherly figure. Not that Raymond is older or that they consider each other family, but that Meursault wanted his father's acknowledgment and approval when he was young, but was never able to receive it. So when Raymond asks him to help write a letter, Meursault agrees because he wants Raymond's - someone's - acknowledgement. Because he does not feel or care that Raymond is a little sketchy, he is able to help Raymond and become his friend.
This is really interesting to think about, as Marie and Raymond as almost emotional surrogates for Meursault's parents. I also think that Celeste is a possible candidate for Meursault's father figure, at least during the trial. He mentions that he wanted to kiss a man for the first time after Celeste showed that he wanted to help however he could, which could imply that he felt a strong affection for Celeste in a fatherly way, not necessarily romantic, that he hadn't felt with his own father.
ReplyDeleteI think that the connection with Raymond is interesting, as we might think that Mersault would just choose not to get involved, like he did with the dog.
ReplyDeleteWow that's super interesting. I do think you can read this as Meursoult looking for a father figure and other acknowledgment. It gets so much more complicated when you consider his philosophy on morals or the stuff we discussed about lack of absolute morals. Maybe meursoult would say that he is different but that isn't bad. Why does he "suffer" from Alexithymia, maybe he "has" Alexithymia
ReplyDeleteThis is something I never thought about when constructing our presentation. I think the situation you pose is a great possibility, with Raymond serving as a fatherly figure. But I feel this would ruin his neutrality, since if he saw Raymond as a fatherly figure, he would be siding with Raymond, rather than being a neutral character as we had discussed.
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