Journal 1

"In Paris they keep vigil over the body for three, sometimes four days"(8)
A vigil is in relations to french Catholicism. A vigil is a mourning process for a loved one where family and friends come together and have concessions and just mourn together surrounding the deceased person. Camus brings this topic up a lot in the first chapter, starting with the main character heading over to the vigil. Camus makes the vigil out to be a time waster through the point of view of Meursault. He keeps thinking that "it's not his fault" when talking about the vigil and his dead mother. This shows his carelessness and how it's just any other day to him, that he would rather be sleeping.

"I'd never noticed what huge stomachs old women can have. Almost all the men were skinny and carried canes"(10).
"The woman kept on crying. It surprised me, because I didn't know who she was. I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore[...] Now it wall all these people not making a sound that was getting on my nerves"(10-11).
He seems annoyed by everything in a way, and can't be satisfied at times. When he is at the vigil his mothers friends were crying and that annoyed him greatly, you'd think that when they stopped he'd be at a better mood, nope, he goes right on finding another aspect to be annoyed by, the silence. Why did Camus create a protagonist of such sorts? Maybe it could it be that in the future his carelessness and annoyance will lead him into bad things in the future. Plus putting focus on his carelessness that even when strong emotional parts come he still reacts the same that he would to any other thin any other day. He treats everything the same in a way, getting annoyed by the woman's noises and by them not having noises, by his mothers death and a regular day. Camus created a very interesting and simple yet complicated character.

"I had the sky in my eyes and it was blue and gold"(20).
"The sky was clear but dull about the fig trees lining the street"(22).
"The sky changed again. Above the rooftops the sky had taken on a reddish glow, and with evening coming on the streets came to life"(23).
The Sky
The main character likes the sky a lot, and he talks about it a lot, how it looks, how it changes, and how it sets a mood. The sky is described as it is, but when it brilliant with colors and has a certain look to it the main character always brings it into focus and uses a lot of detail to explain how it looks. In a way i see it as sort of a peaceful things to him, or all of his emotions, the sky is the only emotion a really see in him when he describes it. It's color, warmth, in a way it connects a lot to his mood.