20th century blogs with Leor

 Philosophy With Meursault in The Stranger by Albert Camus       The Stranger  is one of the more strange books that I have read. The plot revolving around the main character Meursault, is unable to feel emotions which leads him to have a very questionable attitude towards many of the plot points in the story. However in Meursault's eyes it all seems acceptable as he has the mentality that nothing matters. This ideology as Camus depicts it, is extremely dangerous and wrong, which can be seen throughout the story with Meursault's actions. This philosophy is called Nihilism which means that life is pointless and that there is inherently nothing good nor bad. Camus, as mentioned earlier takes Nihilism and flips it on its head by suggesting that if there is nothing good or bad Meursault should have the freedom to do whatever he pleases.      The most obvious instance of the presence of Nihilism in The Stranger is when Meursault murders a man i...

Jakes Struggle With Acceptance of His Masculinity, In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway       Jake is an extremely interesting protagonist in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises , because of his unique struggle with masculinity. When the reader is first introduced to Jake, he seems to hold traditional values that uphold his idea of what masculinity should look like. He tries to hold himself to this standard by being a man of faith, and having passion for bullfighting. No matter how hard he tries there is still something that shackles Jake from living like someone that fits his idea of masculine. The answer is the injury that he suffered during his time serving in the war. This injury imprisons Jake from achieving his full potential of masculinity and directly impacts the way that he lives. Jake's injury is also the source of prejudice against different men throughout the story as it pains him to watch other men in his eyes, live life wrong.   ...