Question Essay

Anthony Scalia

Question Essay

Is it inevitable that the protagonists of existential literature are placed carefully in order to show the reader that life is not as extreme as one might think? Are these authors trying to persuade others into believing that life is filled with anxiety, so it does not matter what happens? Is the character Mersault, in “The Stranger,” always a man who does not bother caring about anything, or is it his mother’s death that brings him to this point? Is Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” always a lesser being, or does he quickly realize that his existence does not matter? Does it matter if something brings the characters to this point, or is it simply their nature?

Why does Gregor laugh when he becomes a bug, and not begin to weep? Is it because this is the final way of having it said to him that he does not matter? And why does Mersault’s drinking and smoking in front of his mother’s casket affect the priest so much? It is not his mother, and can he not see that the woman is dead anyway? Why do we continue to believe such childish ways of bringing up people in society? If this is truly existentialistic literature, it should be noticed that no one cares about what happens in everyday life with such trivial matters; should it?  If these people are supposedly “flies on the walls” and observe the attitudes of people, whether it be from a window, or from watching peoples’ reactions, does this not show that they are of possible higher thinking capabilities. For if they were not, the thought of being an observer would not cross their mind, would it? What would the world be without such observers?