Albert Camus, in his novel, The Stranger, portrays the narrator, Meursault, as a stranger to the people around him and his surroundings. He lives in the moment, speaks as a ‘matter of fact-ly’, and does not make any big decision on his own accord. He waits until an outside force sets an action in motion that he can partake in. For example, when his neighbor Raymond asked Meursault to write a faux testimony to the police about Raymond beating his mistress, Meursault does not think this this is a horrible act, he does not get angry at Raymond, he simply agreed to. His lack of response to Raymond’s plan gave Raymond the impression that Meursault agrees with his outlook on beating the mistress, when in reality, he does not care. He lets others dictate his actions by adhering to whatever task comes across his way. He doesn’t care about the morality of his actions, and this is obvious because of his attitude towards his other neighbor, Salamano, who abuses his dog. But even when it came to providing care for his Maman before she died, Meursault states that he simply put her into a home because he could not afford it. He seemed to lack sadness in that decision, because his financial situation is what ultimately drove him to put her into a home. At the end of Part 1, we see Meursault kill a man. I noticed that leading up to the murder, Meursault describes the sky and the weather with such imagery and detail. “It occurred to me that all I had to do was turn around and that would be the end of it. But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back…..It was this burning, which I couldn’t stand anymore, that made me move forward. I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn’t get the sun off of me” (59). Even when the readers are aware of Meursalt’s feeling on the matter, that he thinks this whole altercation is ‘stupid’, he still advances forward. How is it that the heat of the sun could drive a man against his own morals (the little of it he has left) and any logical thinking to advance so far forward that he kills a man? And also shoots him 4 other times, emptying the pistol that Salamano gave him? I think it is eerie that he is aware of the fact that killing the Arab man would not provide him relief or escape from the sun, but because it was so overbearing, he just kept moving forward.

Meursault

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, we are exposed to the strange and seemingly blank character of Meursault. At times, he is a passive observer who could not care less about the world as it passes around him, and at others he shows a side of himself that seems to lean toward the negative things in life rather than being neutral as he appears to be.

The entire story is narrated by Meursault himself, and thus we get a very in depth look at how he thinks and operates. He observes the world around him from a lens of someone who lives their life independently from their environment. Things happen, grave things such as his mother dying, his neighbor asking Meursault to do things for him despite the fact he is a known scumbag, and last of all and most importantly the violent altercations with the Arab men, and when these things happen Meursault acts as if he had absolutely no control whatsoever over these events. He’s like an observer, someone who is reading the story with us, but there are a few parts throughout the story where this observer visage begins to fade away.

Meursault is not a violent man, but there are multiple times throughout the story when he seems to show some negative tendencies. He is constantly making remarks about how the world annoys him, how people, weather, and other things get on his nerves and affect his life. Of course, he doesn’t do anything to act on these annoyances, but a lot of space in his mind seems to be taken up by negativity. For the majority of the story, he is either completely neutral or annoyed. The only times when he is even slightly positive are those that he is with Marie. It’s possible that Camus is saying something about reproduction and how its some people’s (people like Meursault who simply live and aren’t emotionally affected by things outside their control) only apparent reason for living in their depressing and cynical reality. It’s not until the end of the story, when he shoots the Arab man that Meursault shows some form of action, some real interaction with the world around him that doesn’t have to do with reproduction or work, and it is one of violence. Not just any violence, but extreme violence. As if all that annoyance boiled up, Meursault shoots the man 4 times too many, for a reason unknown to the reader.

I believe that this suggests that there’s something we don’t yet know about Meursaut’s character, that he isn’t as much of a passive observer who lets the world go by around him as he seems to be. Perhaps Camus is trying to suggest something about the world, and about humans. Maybe we’re different from animals, at least in our modern world, we can’t live a life without interacting with the world or allowing the world to interact with us. Something interest is bound to happen, there is no such thing as an uninteresting person.

When I first started reading Albert Camus’s “The Stranger”, one thought that followed me through every chapter was: “Wow, this guy is really depressed.” While reading, it seems that every detail so far, from larger plot points to small writing details, has tied back to his depressed state. I don’t believe that he completely lacks morals or is soulless for the sake of it–rather, those are symptoms of his depression that are manifesting in more dramatic ways.

Throughout the story, Meursault seems disconnected from the world. He acknowledges and understands what’s happening in his life, but nothing seems to rattle him emotionally–not based on his internal narration, at least. He treats everything with the same level of calm acknowledgement and general apathy. For example, on page 41, he says, “That evening, Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to.” He responds to a situation that is typically very emotionally charged with that same level of apathy that he uses to respond to his neighbor’s dog running away, for instance. It demonstrates a base emotional level that he never seems to exceed, no matter the situation.

This can even be seen in the fundamental parts of the writing style itself. The book is filled with short, stunted sentences, often conveying minimal factual information about the world around him. Despite the fact that we’re in his perspective, it almost feels like a third-person narration with no internal insight into any of the characters simply because it seems like Meursault has none. Additionally, we never hear any direct quotes from him himself. His dialogue is always a summary of what he actually said, but never the words themselves. This creates yet another layer of detachment from his surroundings. Depression is often characterized by that same detachment and lack of strong feelings towards a person’s own life. These characteristics fit Meursault, who, while not constantly bemoaning any agony or misery in his life, still seems to struggle to find any strong emotional ties to the people or events in his life, whether happy or sad. Ultimately, as the story gets more complex plot-wise, we’ll see if he maintains this apathy or ends up gaining something else.

Albert Camus’ The Stranger introduces a seemingly bland, soulless individual by the name Monsieur Meursault. Meursault who also happens to be the main protagonist, and narrator, of the novel, possesses a seeming disregard for what we perceive as normal human behavior. For example, the book starts with, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe. I don’t know.”(3),  one of the most famous openings in all of literature. What would be devastatingly life-changing for your average human being barely fazes our protagonist, and he promptly continues with his life by hopping on the two o’clock bus and proceeding as if nothing unusual had ever occurred.

Similarly, Meursault is unfazed by the antics of his neighbors, Salamano and Raymond, much to the disbelief of those around him. Raymond comments on Salamano’s treatment of his dog, “If that isn’t pitiful!”, and Meursault blankly replies by saying that he did not think that it was disgusting, and that it did not really bother him. These kinds of interactions are repeated often throughout Part One: Meursault exhibits a strange behavior, passerby and background characters comment on it, Meursault explains that he doesn’t really care, and life goes on. Ironically, it is this monotonously exact indifference that sets apart our narrator from every other human in the story.

Merusault’s actions can hardly be explained, but only interpreted and hypothesized upon. A clear explanation has not yet been given for his behavior, so it’s up to the reader to use their imagination to predict what could have possibly turned him into such a stoic monster. I, for one, think that perhaps Meursault has a neurocognitive disorder of some sort: Depression, Bipolar Disorder, or some sort of personality disorder. Regardless of his backstory, I’m excited to see how the story plays out, as well as learn the truth behind the mysterious Monsieur Meursault.

Throughout the first part of The Stranger, Meursault has proven himself to be simultaneously very in tune with the world and people around him, but at the same time seemingly indifferent to it all. He gives detailed descriptions of people and places but never his own emotions, and certainly not any empathy or care towards them.

In the very first chapter, his mother dies. We, the readers, expect him to be distraught and perhaps wracked with guilt at putting his mother in a home to live out the rest of her days. However, Meursault proves himself to be quite the opposite, stating that she was too much of a burden to stay with him, and that he couldn’t afford to keep her at his house. The rest of the day he spends his time making observations about his surroundings and the people he interacts with. More than once he notes his annoyance, whether it be the chair he sits in, the heat, or the old people chewing their lips. He also feels nothing towards the old man who tried so hard to make it to his mothers burial, only notes his physical appearance.  All in all, it doesn’t seem to be the “normal” reaction one would have after their mother passes away.

Later, we meet Raymond. When Meursault first meets him he says that people don’t like Raymond, but that it doesn’t matter to him what they think because Raymond has never done anything to him. While this could come across as Meursault being openminded about other human beings and not wanting to listen to what others say about Raymond, I think Meursault simply doesn’t care. It seems to me like more of a cowards way out. It is easier to say that Raymond isn’t a bad person because he hasn’t done anything to you particularly than it is to admit that he is a bad person because he does bad things to other people. This is where we see particular lack of empathy from Meursault.

At the end of part one, he shoots a man 5 times. The first bullet proves fatal, so why shoot the next four? Personally, I think he shot the man not out of hate, or spite, or a need to prove anything to anyone, but simply because he wanted to. He needed to feel something in his life, do something brash and out of the ordinary, maybe to prove to himself that he actually can feel anything but indifference at all. And all the while, he doesn’t care that he ended a life, he only describes it as “opening a door to unhappiness”.

Meursault is certainly a complex character, and while I don’t think he is necessarily a bad person, he seems to lack empathy and a moral compass that would categorize him as a “good person”. To me, this puts him in a sort of moral grey area.

Albert Camus’s book The Stranger, follows the life of a young adult that struggles to find purpose in his day to day life. He has this idea that there is no meaning to a lot of things in life and he just accepts a lot of things for the way they already are. Although Meaursault does not care for the way life is, how far can life turn upside down before he really decides to have a sense of meaning in his existence?

While it is nice to start with an answer to this question, it really is hard to depict one. As we start reading the story, Meaursault has little to no emotion over the death to his mom, which for most would have a substantial effect. Meaursault remarked, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know…That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday” (Camus, 3). This automatically emphasizes the strangeness of his character within the first couple sentences of the book. It is normal to have emotion towards the death of a loved one but as we get to know Meaursault more throughout the story, we learn that he just lives moment to moment with a sense of little to no meaning in his life. Which seems utterly impossible.

The story continues and we meet Raymond who asks Meaursault to write a “revenge” letter for his mistress, which would contain highly graphic material. Meaursault and the reader both understand how awful a person Raymond is which makes the idea of Meaursault agreeing to write the letter even more absurd. There’s an extent to where it is doing a favor and doing a bad thing. This is a definition of doing a bad thing but Meaursault doesn’t care. He does not care about who this is writing to or how bad the language is. This provides no meaning to his life just like the death of his mother.

Lastly, a big takeaway in part one of The Stranger was the murdering of the Arab man with the revolver. Meaursault utters, “Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace” (Camus, 59). A revolver is able to hold a maximum of six bullets at all times. He claims he shot five of those six bullets at the man, even after he died. While he continued to shoot, he didn’t shoot every bullet he could which creates the idea that he wasn’t shooting to release anger or emotion but entirely to just shoot the gun because he didn’t care.

From the death of his mother to the murder of a man, Meaursault remains the same emotionless being. I predict that he will find meaning in his life shortly after the murder circles back to him but like I said earlier, it really is too hard to say how far can life turn upside down before he changes because he is still the same person he was on the first page of the book.

In part one of The Stranger, Meursault’s apathy towards humanity is clear. He doesn’t notice or care about what other people think of him. He’s willing to marry someone he doesn’t love. He kills a man! Throughout all this, Meursault is distant. He’s a stranger in his own life.

I predict that one of two (and a half) things will happen.
1. Meursault will come face to face with the consequences of his actions. He will reconsider his perspective on life, and either learn to empathize with others or stay the same.

2. Meursault isn’t impacted by the consequences of his actions. He goes through life exactly as he does now.

Side note:
The Stranger is a very liminal story, and it reminds me of this ambient song in DELTARUNE.

In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the first 6 chapters show us the day-to-day life the main character, Meursault, lives. It’s a fairly boring life, he doesn’t seem emotionally attached to anything since the passing of his mother. However, his neighbors, Salamano and Raymond, have developed connections with Meursault and understand what he’s going through in their own ways.

We first see a glimpse of their connection when Raymond asked Meursault to write a letter to his mistress for him, Meursault agreed and then the two shook hands firmly when Raymond said, “men always understand each other” (33). This alludes to the fact that Meursault doesn’t show his pain or his emotions but Raymond knows the truth.

A different instance is with Salamano, where on page 45 Salamano had returned from the pound after searching for his dog. When he returned from the pound he talked to Meursault, he explained that Meursault’s mom was very fond of his dog. At the end of the conversation the two said goodnight, and Salamano “wanted to sleep. His life had changed now and he wasn’t too sure what he was going to do.” Compared to Meursault, when he lost a loved one, he seemed like nothing happened, carried on with his life and doing what he usually did.

This leads me to wonder whether Meursault will eventually open up to the people around him and finally start acting with some emotion and maybe it will lead to a deeper bond or maybe he will just keep hiding how he truly feels and it won’t go deeper than surface level friendship.

Throughout my reading of The Stranger,  initially, it shocked me how Meursault seemed to not be grieving his mother’s death. When at his mother’s funeral, all he could focus on was the sun and heat, and not that his mother was dead. I was confused as to why it seemed like he thought that death was such a superficial thing, which left me questioning Meursault’s morals.

The more I read, I realized that Meursault isn’t a “bad” person; he just views things differently.

I think that Meursault believes that life “just keeps going,” which is mentioned when he talked to Raymond. “Then he explained that he’d heard about Maman’s death but that it was one of those things that was bound to happen sooner or later. I thought so too (33).” If this is true, it may explain why Meursault is in such a rush to get Maman’s funeral over with (“I don’t know why we waited so long before getting under way (15).”), which is definitely unusual for someone whose mother just died.

Another little thought that I have is that  when Meursault’s internal monologue  goes into deep detail on “the little things,” (like when he is explaining what he sees on the street, “The sky was clear but dull above the fig trees lining the street. On the sidewalk across the way the tobacconist brought out a chair (22),…etc.) that he is just living in the moment. I think all of this explains why he seems to not be grieving his mother’s death-he is living in the moment of the present day.

What are your theories?

In The Stranger, the narrator, Meursault, seems devoid of emotion for at least the first few chapters. When he’s faced with problems or those of other characters, he either claims that the issue doesn’t matter to him or he agrees with the character without offering any actual input. This can be seen at the start of the book, when he informs us that his mother died without expressing sadness or any other emotion. It can also be seen later on in the book when Meursault states, “I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered” (pg. 41). His views on existence seem to be very nihilistic, like nothing matters at all, and he only does what he finds pleasurable and what other people ask him to do.

His beliefs are related to the book’s author, Albert Camus, who is known to be one of the most prominent philosophers associated with absurdism, a philosophy that shares similarities with nihilistic beliefs. This similarity might suggest that the book represents the development of Camus’s own philosophical beliefs, or that it simply describes a nihilist’s perspective, or something else altogether.