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A central idea is the white man taking so much away from people who have done nothing. This idea of white settlers coming into other peoples homes, and grabbing them, giving their own names to things, but completely disregarding how native people live, how their cultures work. These foreigners come, they take everything away including this identity that was previously there. Camus took away the identity of the Arab, Daoud shows how Harun’s brother’s name was denied and he essentially became nothing. - Colonialism

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What I interpreted as Daoud’s message was a combination of an abstraction of what Camus was trying to convey in his existential message but also a message of colonial oppression and the toll that takes on oppressed peoples mind set. Harun the narrator of the story, is a demonstration of angered people under colonialist rule. Despite not even taking place in the revolution; his personal thoughts by not identifying as some label given to him by colonialist says a lot about how he feels and how he views the occupiers.

“As a matter of fact, that's the reason why I've learned to speak this language, and to write it too: so I can speak in the place of a dead man, so I can finish his sentences for him. The murderer got famous, and his story's too well written for me to get any ideas about imitating him. He wrote in his own language. Therefore I'm going to do what was done in this country after Independence: I'm going to take the stones from the old houses the colonists left behind, remove them one by one, and build my own house, my own language. The murderer's words and expressions are my unclaimed goods. Besides, the country's littered with words that don't belong to anyone anymore.” This quote is a reference in to what Harun had based most his life on and what he perceived as the “problem” with The Stranger and the “problem” of the colonial oppression left by the French. Kamel Daoud’s character build up of Harun had connected many ideas between his own personal struggle and his constant reference to colonial struggle. What this quote encapsulates almost perfectly was the linkage of all these ideas.

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Mama was an interesting character because she spends her whole life trying to find closure to the death of her son, but ends up ignoring the other son that is with her there. When Harun kills Joseph, Mama is grateful for the idea of that death as for her it is a way of bringing some closure to Musa, a way of getting back at the murders of her son, however, she disregards the effect and the new label that Harun, her other son, will have to live with for the rest f his life. In some ways Hard has been used by his mother to only help satisfy her needs and his have been disregarded by her. I think that Harun was deeply affected by the way in which his mother treated him.

This leads on to Meriem and her affect on Harun. Meriem does to an extent lead Harun away from his mother. This is the first woman that has somewhat broken the toxic bond that he has with his mother. Meriem takes Hared on a journey that helps him understand and come to his individual epiphany. He reads the book where the “Arab” is killed and realises that he cannot search for meaning about his brothers death anymore. Before this awarness of the book, Harun and his mother where in search of a meaning that they could not find. They were trapped between this hope to find something and then the reality of the affect of it.

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Tamu-
Throughout the Meursault investigation especially near the end there are constant occurrences of similarities and comparisons to the two characters and stories.

Harun goes through multiple situations where he compares himself to the peoples 'hero' Meursault and constantly brings up what his significance is in this. How he has a mission to stop this love for Meursault, fight this fight for his brother and do so much more but as he goes through with his mission he slowly gains more and more Meursault like traits, his beliefs in god diminishes constantly and so does his belief in what matters which is also ironic since all he does is talk about how he wishes to make his brothers name known, how he wishes to make it matter, how he himself wished he mattered.

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Eleanor - One thing The Meursault Investigation and The Stranger have in common would be the similar epiphany that occurs at the end of both novels. Both come to the revelation that “Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he.” It shows that sometimes characters can create a different meaning behind a similar quote. It also depends on the background of the character and what lead to this realization.

Meursault went through life with this life doesn’t matter mindset but Harun only after having murdered someone and losing someone he loved did he come to this understanding.

Making Ghosts Live
Harun lived as a sort of ghost in his mother’s life explaining "So I had a ghosts childhood". When in reality Musa was the ghost, but everything his mother did gave the feeling that even after Musa died he was still present. When he was little the only story he was allowed to hear was one referencing Musa “one deceptively wonderful tale. It was the story of Musa, my murdered brother, who took a different form every time, according to my mother’s mood.” Mama tries to find Musa through Harun and she tried everything she could to still keep Musa alive. "You want to find a cropse, and I'm trying to get rid of one" represents how the corpse is the ghost that mama is still trying to find.

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The motif of the Lemon Tree constantly appearing

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The motif of the Lemon Tree constantly appearing

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Learning the language of the oppressor. 

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Learning the language of the oppressor. 

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The Meursault Investigation ends with a lot of echos from the Stranger. Daoud's use of these echos comes off as Harun trying to become Meursault. Meursault has transition from 'your hero' to 'his hero' in a way. This leads him to take inspiration from the Stranger, keeping similar ideas and having similar paths in life. Both people are defined by the book The Stranger, it changed them equally.    Through his introduction to the book, he found what he had been searching for and was simultaneously let down, he had nowhere else to go as he finally saw what Meursault saw, but was only greeted with their similarities, "I was looking for traces of my brother in the book, and what I found there instead was my own reflection, I discovered I was practically the murderer's double." (Daoud, 131) Harun doesn't shy away from the idea that he is Meursault's double but seems to welcome their similarities. He takes inspiration form Meursault as he had the courage to do what Harun couldn't; accept that life kept going and there was nothing you could do to stop it, thus you must live authentically. He is jealous of the life Meursault got to live, having missed out on life due to Musa's death, "I finally came to the last lines in the book: "...had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the sat of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." God, how I would have wanted that!" (Daoud, 131)

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Ellie- Daoud’s The Meursault Investigation is more of a rebuke and spoof of what The Stranger was about. He attacks the way it was written, the characters and the philosophy behind it all. This comes together to create some interesting ideas that become very stark when the books are placed side by side.

One thing that I found interesting was the importance of names. Names give a person value and make them more 3D. As the narrator’s brother is only known as ‘the arab’ in The Stranger, he gives him a name and nickname. And that name is constantly resurfacing in an attempt to undo the wrongs of his unceremonious death and quick appearance in the book. Not only is ‘the arab’ given a name but Meursault is given a label to define him, and his name is only mentioned sparingly. He becomes your hero, creating a divide between all Arabs and the literate world. As well, passer-byers and non-important characters are named. Streets and cities and groups are named. He understands how a name can shape someone and give them a place in the world.

Yet he doesn’t give himself a name till later. This connects with the idea that the narrator isn’t the main character in his own book. He is a shadow writing for Musa’s honor but never getting recognition. He mentions that he replaced Musa, and his mother looks for Musa in him. As a child he was brought up hearing stories about Musa and his daring adventures and heroic deeds. To the narrator, Musa is the all powerful figure and his role model. So when Musa is killed so easily, so quickly and without any change to the natural order of things, not even a body or fight, his idea of the world shatters. If someone who he finds as a hero to be brought to his knees so easily, then who is he? This idea makes him seem desperate as in order to make sense of his place in the world, he must ‘avenge’ Musa. By making Musa relevant and still known, not the forgotten arab, shot by that ‘hero’ of a french man.

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Eleanor - The thing I found most interesting was how Kamel Daoud wrote opposite of how Albert Camus wrote The Stranger. He names all the characters no matter the importance of their role in the book, he uses colours more than Camus did and sees the world outside of black, white, and the primary colours. Daoud explains every place and every moment attaching feelings to them. The very first line of the book is “Mama’s still alive today.” (Daoud 1), which I thought was not only interesting but a clever way to write the book. Although there are many differences between the characters in The Stranger and the Meursault Investigation, there is a faint similarity between the brother and Meursault. This is the relationship with both of their mothers and how they both never saw them as much.

The main ideas Daoud is bringing to the table is writing the opposite way Camus wrote and providing an explanation to everything he never explained. Writing things that that he  never wrote.

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Tamu - I am seeing similar ideas in terms of writing techniques between the books. Daoud and Camus, both have a way with literary terms and really make them useful, while writing the two. But I did see a quite stronger use by Daoud through what I read. Mostly about colour, how he personifies the city and even illustrates to us with words how the city is built and how it resembles a a person in some ways to later call it “an old whole, nostalgic and chatty. I see a lot of mystery in how Daoud writes, and he makes names for groups like his is the brother of the arab, but he calls Meursault “Your hero” and even makes a name for his brother. It is an interesting topic this book is as it is the opposite side of what seems to be happening but also there is a slight mystery that comes with his passages, like a cliff hanging sequence, he constantly makes you hold your breath and does it so strategically to keep the book interesting, especially because how he formatted his writing, you know. His book is so narrative based and because of this there's more interest between the reader and the story. Instead of them feeling like they are reading it it’s being told to them so it hooks easier.