Everything from here on is for Coming of Age

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Raymond and Meursault

I think one of the most interesting relationships in The Stranger is that between Raymond and Meursault. Right from when they meet, their dynamic is interesting, with Raymond basically just asking Meursault to help him write a letter to his mistress so that she is tricked into coming back to Raymond and he can take his revenge on her. Raymond serves as a really good foil for Meursault. At the beginning of The Stranger , one might think Meursault is cold and heartless for smoking and drinking coffee at the vigil for his mother. It’s even worse that Meursault then goes to the beach, meets a woman, takes her on a date, then has sex with her within days of finding out about his mother’s death. When the character of Raymond is introduced, this complicates things. While Meursault’s actions are definitely insensitive, they aren’t inherently wrong. It’s just that it’s kind of weird for someone to be so nonchalant about their mother’s death. The same can’t be said about Raymond. I...
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The Catcher in the Rye's Catcher

I thought the parallels between what Mr. Antolini was trying to tell Holden and Holden's whole catcher in the rye thing were pretty interesting. The whole scene is well placed so that the reader still has the image of Holden catching children about to fall relatively fresh in their minds so they could see the connections between the children falling and what Mr. Antolini describes as a terrible, terrible fall. When Holden speaks of wanting to catch the children from falling, he's metaphorically speaking of preventing them from growing up and reaching adulthood. When Mr. Antolini is talking about Holden's "fall", he means his refusal to ever grow up. Mr. Antolini is essentially trying to act as the catcher for the catcher in the rye. The fact that this pushback is from a source that Holden trusts makes the scene more impactful. If it was from just anyone then Holden would probably be more willing to simply blow them off and keep on as before. But Holden spends muc...
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Gregor's Relationship with his Family

Over time, as Gregor's family begins to realize that he will never be able to work, they begin to see Gregor in the self-deprecating way that he sees himself. They come to view Gregor as a burden on them. Their view of Gregor shifts to viewing him as less human as Gregor seems to become more human. At the beginning of the story, Gregor is solely focused on work and it seems like his whole life revolves around his job. He wakes up and leaves the house early and does not get back home until late. Even when he turns into an insect, he can only focus on how this change will impact his ability to perform his job. It seems like his only defining personality trait is that he works as a traveling salesman. In the beginning, Gregor sees himself as totally worthless because he can no longer work and provide for his family. When he first transforms, his family treats him as a human. While they aren't exactly the most welcoming of him, they do do things like provide him food and move the f...
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