Do you have any thoughts on Pursuance Meursault? His rejection of faith was pretty important in the book so him having this EGO sticks out a whole lot
So, I'm just gonna preface this by saying I Have Not Read the Stranger. That being said, I'll give it my best shot anyway.
Under the cut now! Shoo!
As always, let's start with the Abnormality. Heavenly Executor's Scribe, while sparse in information, is Extremely Clear about its themes. It's very explicitly described as only noting down and following the judgements of someone else, while not assessing what it writes down on its own.
It refuses to cast down its own judgement, and refuses to doubt the judgement of others. We can see that in how it accepts the Sinners' opinion of its tablet regardless of whether they read it or destroy it.
The parallel with our Mr. Refuses To Cast Moral Judgement here is very, very clear. Just like the Scribe, Meursault simply follows orders of those in authority without question, and accepts whatever opinion others have of him.
Another thing to note is the religious angle of the Abnormality. Heavenly Executor's Scribe, and the Pursuance E.G.O by proxy, have very clear design references to angels and heaven, and seem to be referencing the Biblical idea that angels have no free will, simply being vehicles through which God acts.
The connection between religion and oppression through judgement is absolutely not lost on me here, especially with the Abnormality's name calling the higher power it follows the Heavenly Executor. It is merely the secretary of the True Judge, Jury, and Executioner that is this interpretation of God. Which, while I'm calling attention to the concept of Judgement and Execution... that should sound Extremely Familiar to those of you who have read the Stranger, now shouldn't it?
Now onto the Sin Analysis, because that's the part I feel most comfortable with.
Pursuance's Sin damage is Sloth, which is a Sin associated with apathy and inaction, as we can see from the base E.G.Os of Gregor and Yi Sang. Likewise, Sloth as Pursuance's main Sin means exactly what one might think it means for Meursault - apathy towards the judgement and orders made by those of authority. He doesn't assess them on his own, he simply follows them to the letter.
For the Sin requirements, we have Sloth, Pride, and Gloom. Sloth I already covered in how it reflects Meursault's apathy and lack of own opinion towards the judgement and orders he is told to follow, so let's focus on the other two.
In my interpretation of the Sins, Pride represents actions taken for their benefits with their consequences being ignored. This, I think, is reflected in what Pursuance represents. Meursault is following orders because that's what he believes benefits him, regardless of whatever harm he may be inflicting by doing so. After all, following what the judging party says is better than standing out and being judged himself.
The last Sin requirement here is Gloom, and that's the one I'm most intrigued by. I interpret Gloom as actions taken under the pressure of negative emotions. As such, I think Meursault requiring Gloom to use Pursuance actually repaints the context of his actions in a somewhat sympathetic light. It implies that severe emotional stress is part of what pushes him to do this. And really, can you blame him? Knowing that the authority whose orders you're following could at any point turn its judgement against you can't be conductive to good mental health.
As for the dialogue lines, there's some interesting implications to them, I think.
His Awakening line has him promise to "pray for someone", which is generally considered to be a way of giving someone blessing, to be hoping that something good happens to them. However, that's not what Meursault is talking about here. His line here implies that by praying for someone, by turning his God's attention towards someone, he is actually doing the opposite. That by praying for someone, he is ensuring that that someone will break.
By praying for someone when his God is Judge, Jury, and Executioner, he is effectively ensuring Holy Judgement upon this person. And well, Meursault very much feels like the type of person to understand how horrible it feels to be judged for everything, doesn't he.
On the other hand, his Corroded line ties back to something else I already mentioned in this analysis. You know the whole thing of Meursault blindly following orders because he knows the authority could very easily judge him instead? Yeah, this line basically confirms it. It confirms that, while everyone around him is on thin ice, the ice he's on is even thinner. If he ever messes up, it doesn't matter who else messed up, he's the one getting punished. He's the one who won't be forgiven. He's the one who Shan't Be Pardoned.
...Fun fact, analyzing Meursault's E.G.Os is how I truly started to appreciate him as a character.
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Out of curiosity sake but who are the most and least fire hazardous inside the kitchen when it comes to cooking?
“I was elected to answer this as an unbiased source.”
“Ishmael and Ryoshu would be immediately banned from the kitchen due to the immediate fire hazard. Rodion would also be banned due to the fact that she would be extremely cold and unsafe for the kitchen.”
“Outis and Gregor would be too flammable for the kitchen.”
“Sinclair, Faust, Don Quixote, and Heathcliff would be too unsanitary for it, and if it was meat Sinclair could possibly snap into a more feral nature due to the blood.”
“So theoretically, that would leave Hong Lu, Myself, and Yi Sang. I believe Hong Lu would be the safest person to enter the kitchen, although the ribbons may possess a fire hazard.”
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