Albert Camus’ the Stranger

        In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the way women were treated in Algeria in the 1940s is shown through events in the story. Raymond is a middle- aged man who is a pimp. He lives by himself, and doesn’t have many friends. When he befriends Meursault, he takes advantage of Meursault’s detachment and begins scheming against his own mistress. Perhaps the most inhumane thing Raymond does is treating his mistress as if she is his property. When she cheats on him, he says she needs to be punished.  Raymond acts as if it is his right to make her suffer. Raymond’s dialogues with Meursault are evidence of his belief that he has ownership of her.  Raymond best represents the villainy of a women beater in The Stranger by the way he treats his mistress.

        Raymond is infamous within the town he resides in. Camus states in the book “The general idea hereabouts is that he’s a pimp” (19). Raymond claims this isn’t true, but his actions differ from his words. If there were no reason for people to say this, there wouldn’t be any gossip about it. Raymond’s being a pimp indicates that he treats women wickedly. If he sees women as objects to make a profit off of, there is no reason he wouldn’t treat them inhumanely. Raymond also said “There’s a girl behind it- as usual. We slept together pretty regular. I was keeping her, as a matter of fact, and she cost me a tidy sum” (20), referring to some trouble he had gotten into with his mistress’ brother. Raymond basically blames her for the predicament with her brother, and also says he’s “keeping her”, as if she’s a piece of property. Camus confirms his reputation through dialog. So, it appears his reputation is valid regarding the way he treats women.         

        Not only is the way Raymond speaks of his mistress a sign of mistreatment, but also the way he speaks to her. “I [Raymond] said that there was only one thing that interested her and that was getting into bed with men whenever she’d the chance” (21). It is completely inappropriate to speak to anyone like that- let alone a significant other. She may be a prostitute, but that does not make her his possession. Raymond supposed he could treat her however he wanted, and with no thought in his mind that he was mistaken in doing so. Raymond had a chauvinistic attitude; he believed he was well above his mistress and could approach her however he pleased, even if it was aggressive. He thought of himself as a prize. He also says to his mistress “All the girls in the street, they’re jealous in your luck in having me to keep you” (21). Raymond makes it clear to her that he is a gift, and she should treasure him. Raymond doesn’t stop at verbal abuse.

        Raymond also physically harmed his mistress multiple times. In one instance it is described as “He’d [Raymond] beaten her till the blood came” (21). Evidently, Raymond does not have any feelings for his mistress. He likes having power over her far more than he enjoys her company. This concept is shown when Meursault claims that “He was quite determined to teach her a lesson” (22). This comes to the point where he almost gets in legal trouble for something he did in revenge. His “lesson” is taught by beating and verbally assaulting her, until the police show up to his door. He does this out of pure spite. Throughout the novel, Camus has no apparent dialogue of Raymond speaking well of his mistress. He simply calls her names, insults her, and plots revenge. Raymond focuses on everything bad about his mistress, and uses anything possible to harm her in some way.

        During another episode of abuse, Raymond comes up with extremely humiliating ways to exact his revenge on his mistress. “His first idea, he said, had been to take her to a hotel, and then call in the special police. He’d persuade them to put her on the register as a “common prostitute”, and that would make her wild” (22). He conjures these ideas up simply to get a rise out of his mistress. He wants to harm her in any way possible, whether through verbal abuse, physical abuse, or humiliation. In this case, he had the idea that publically shaming her would outrage her. Raymond also proposed to lure her in with a letter “Then, when she came back, he’d go to bed with her and, just when she was “properly primed up”, he’d spit in her face and throw her out of the room” (22). Here, he plans on using rejection to upset her. Nobody wants to experience emotional rejection, especially in the act of intimacy. This is a very low strike from Raymond, but he stops at nothing to hurt his mistress.