Part One

Chapter 1 Summary:

Mersault is notified by mail that his mother has died, though he is not sure of the exact date. He asks for two days off from his boss and takes the bus to the old people's home, Marengo, two hours away. He sleeps on the way. At the home, the caretaker and then director speak with him. The director mentions that his mother was happier at the home than with Mersault because she was with people her own age. He agrees.

After the director explains the funeral arrangements, Mersault moves inside the mortuary to see his mother. He requests not to be shown the body and sits by the coffin. The caretaker stays and tells him about his life, explaining how he is not a resident at the home and the differences with a Paris funeral. Mersault decides, hesitating at first because of his mother, to have a smoke. He nods off until Maman's friends come in to sit at the vigil. They all sit on the other side of the coffin with the caretaker and Mersault feels as if he is being judged. When a woman continues to cry softly the caretaker explains that his mother was the only friend the woman had. Mersault perceives that perhaps all of the friends feel very little toward his mother. He falls asleep as do most of the friends and the night passes.

In the morning, Mersault cleans up a bit before the funeral procession. Mersault refuses to look at his mother before the casket is sealed, signs forms, and the procession in underway. It consists of himself, the nurse, the director, the undertaker's men, the priest, and Monsieur Pérez, a member of the home who is allowed to attend because of his closeness to Maman. The procession walks along the long road to the village, nearly an hour away. Mersault feels he can understand his mother better when he is told that she and Pérez would take walks often to the village. Pérez begins to fall behind but catches up using shortcuts. Mersault complains of the heat. He notes that the entire funeral moved so fast and deliberately that he remembers nothing except a comment of the nurse and the image of Pérez crying.

Analysis

The first sentence of the novel, "Maman died today", is one of the most famous in literature. What is especially noticeable though is the sentence which follows. Mersault is not sure whether it was today or yesterday his mother died. This indifference to detail and time will categorize Mersault's personality throughout the novel. The details of the telegram which he does discuss only concern his uncertainty of the date. He mentions nothing else of the telegram's effect on him.

The jarring effect of his curt and emotionless description is reflected in the style of the prose. The sentences are sharp and concise, consisting of mainly simple action verbs. The reader is advised of nearly all of Mersault's movements as he makes his decisions -- from which bus he will take, to what he said to his boss, and where he likes to eat. The paradoxical situation presented is that the text is not in the present tense, but the past tense predominately, and very few lines of dialogue are given. The reader should thus pay close attention to the speech which is presented in dialogue form. The first statement in quotation marks we hear from any character comes from Mersault as he claims that his mother's death and his having to miss work are not his fault. This focus on the narrator while simultaneously distancing the narrator from events and responsibility is central to the tone created by Camus.

Several times during the first chapter, Mersault falls asleep. First, on the bus to the home he provides several reasons why it may have happened. At each juncture of his sleeping he points out elements in the environment which would have led to his sleeping. We are thus led to believe that the sleep was beyond his control, that it was brought on by elements of the situation, and that the sleep happened to the passive Mersault. In a sense, the reader becomes connected to Mersault as an everyman character because what happened to Mersault would likely have happened to anyone at that moment. The identification with Mersault is clouded with the paradox of his sleeping through the chapter and many of its events. He is everyman and yet he experiences everything with very little emotion, unlike most people would. He is sleepwalking through his life. Symbolically as he crosses the country for his own mother's funeral, led to the scene of her death, he blanks out, taking a more passive role in the journey. Cyclically, on the way home, the first mention of his joy is given. Happiness is found for Mersault in conjunction with the promise of sleep.

Seemingly Mersault can blot out the living moments of his existence and remember solely what he wishes, as he does with the slices of memory he retains from the funeral. Notice how the mother's woman friend and M. Pérez are the only ones who cry. Mersault remembers this instance yet transforms it into a caricature, removed from himself. In the text, images float by and are reduced to a quick mention or a list of events, separated by commas. He is melted by the hot sun more than by the funeral of his mother and thus gives more attention in detail to that as it is a bodily and not emotive response. Mersault feels little contact with the imposed reality of humanity on the naturalness of the daily and minute events he participates in, a theme which will follow us throughout the novel.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Upon waking up from his 12 hour sleep, Meursault realizes that it is Saturday and that he will, in effect, receive a total of four days off from work. No wonder his boss was annoyed, he thinks, although it is not his fault that Maman died or that the two days he asked for fell right before the weekend. Meursault finally pulls himself out of bed, washes, and decides to go for a swim. At the beach, he runs into Marie Cardona, a former typist at his office to whom he had been attracted. Still attracted, he sits with her on a float and rests his head on her stomach. They decide to go to the movies that night. Once dressed, she wonders at the black tie he is wearing. Meursault informs her of his mother's death the day before. She is surprised by how recent the death was but Meursault does not feel like explaining any further.

She no longer seems to care when they meet for the movies at night. They watch a comedy and he fondles Marie during the movie. After the movie, they go back to his place. She is gone by the time he wakes up in the morning. Meursault is bothered that it is Sunday so he finds the smell of salt left by Marie on her pillow and sleeps some more. Wanting privacy, he makes lunch at home and wanders around the apartment, bored. He notices how the apartment was too big with Maman gone and so he has only kept up what is necessary for his daily life. As it is a beautiful afternoon, he moves out to the balcony from his room and watches the people moving by. Families pass by first and then the local boys a little later. He figures the boys are going to the movies. The road empties, leaving shopkeepers and cats as is the case on most slow Sundays. Meursault smokes cigarettes and eats chocolate. He watches the weather darken and then clear. Soon the streetcar returns bringing fans from the soccer game who alert him that they won.

As the sun sets, people begin returning from their walks. The moviegoers enter the street all at once and appear to Meursault as if they have seen an adventure film. Another set of moviegoers who had attended the further theaters in town pass by more subdued shortly after. The girls and young men laugh and play flirting games as they walk past. Suddenly, Meursault notices the street lights come on and the stars appear in the sky. His eyes begin to tire but pick up the streetcar lights bouncing off of objects. Once the street is deserted, Meursault goes to buy some things for dinner. He cooks and eats standing and then closes the windows. He realizes that nothing much has changed: another Sunday is over and Maman buried.

Analysis:

Over the course of the second chapter the reader is introduced to the minute-to-minute details of Meursault's life on a regular Saturday and Sunday. We see the two patterns of life on non-work days that Meursault has through our first glimpse of what his life is like on an ordinary day as opposed to the days surrounding his mother's funeral. The tone however of the chapter does not differ greatly from the first chapter which did focus on the funeral. This sameness is very important when considering the message which Camus is attempting to present through the character of Meursault. The tone we note in both chapters is indifference. As we discussed in the first chapter analysis, Meursault is largely more concerned with his physical comfort, the physical environment, and character observations than with the emotional baggage normally accompanying death or the behavior expected by society. Seeing as Meursault is indifferent to the death of his own mother, perhaps we should not be surprised that he is largely indifferent in his daily life as well. Camus is constructing a framework through the character and life of Meursault in order to explore his ideas of the Absurd. Camus once said, "What is absurd is the confrontation between the sense of the irrational and the overwhelming desire for clarity which resounds in the depths of man." In plainer English, Camus did not believe in a world with absolute and/or divine forces such as God or an afterlife. In his world, when one died, that was all. Thus, the striving by the majority of humans to make their lives meaningful in the face of God is absurd. Every aspect of one's life is devoid of any greater meaning or truth and leads solely to nothingness. The struggle then, as he understood it, is to come terms with the Absurd. Hope and faith are but pointless measures constructed by man to provide purpose and avoid responsibility. When these constructs are removed and one understands he is faced with a definitive and eternal end, he has the ability to take control over the actions of his life and give them personal meaning. Creating meaning in a meaningless world is, indeed, absurd but a journey by which Camus is immensely intrigued .

In these philosophic terms, Meursault's choices and lifestyle are slightly more comprehensible. His mother's death is not an emotional experience for him because death is the expected end to the ordinary human cycle and, moreover, he and his mother were not close. He says at one point later in the text that he had sent her to the home because he didn't have the money to care for her and, "it had been a long time since she'd had anything to say to meŠ" Thus the progression of events toward death of a person he knew but was not particularly attached to does not create sadness. Moreover, an ordinary non-work day as we watch Meursault participate in during chapter two is going to present a man following a track of his own physical pleasures. One of his favorite pleasures is swimming and going to the beach, as we will see over the course of the novel, and so on the first day after returning from his mother's burial, he is right back into ordinary life and chooses this as his first activity. He is stimulated by the most simple, physical sensations: hot, cold, sexual attraction. We learn very cursory information about Marie, that she was a typist, but nothing about the details of how she looks and what her personality is like. Instead we learn the physical effects she has on Meursault. This very self-centered narrative tells us about brushing up against her breasts and hearing her heart beat. In a life without meaning, these moments are what stimulate Meursault. We see that Marie is not living quite the same lifestyle as she is noticeably surprised by the nonchalance Meursault has shown toward his very recent mother's death. However, also note that Meursault gets the day wrong on which his mother died. He replies "yesterday" where in fact the burial was the day before but the death was a day or two before that. A slight wave of guilt washes over Meursault before he can push it away. He knows that his actions do not mean anything and guilt is simply a human flaw which one must displace.

The social interaction of Marie and Meursault is cut very short by Camus. We know they watch a movie and it is a comedy (not only offensive following his mother's death but referencing the reader's viewing of this comedy) but the plot (also self-referential) is not important. In fact, Meursault claims it "was just too stupid". We read instead about how the two touched each other and then left to have sex. In the morning, he is more distressed by the fact that it is Sunday than that Marie has left already. He enjoys the morning by staying in bed, napping, smelling the salt from Marie's hair, and smoking. Sunday disturbs him because there is no set pattern to follow, as monotonous as the pattern may be during the work-week. His life consists of physical impulses and daily pattern. Sunday interrupts this style and he is bored. Without any motivation, Meursault decides instead to observe others doing. The text becomes nearly a list of others' activities, snapshots in time much like he described his mother's friend Perez at the funeral. The emptiness of Sunday does strike Meursault however as the shopkeepers sweep dust into their deserted shops and he remarks that his apartment is too big for one man whereas it was the right size while Maman lived there. The reader is tempted to take this statement as sentimental but if one just reads the prose, Camus has not told you that Meursault is sad. He is bored. He notices the expressions of the sky much more forcefully than he recognizes expressions of his own emotions. At times, it seems as if Camus' voice is superseding that of Meursault because the words and imagery have a poetical flair. It is also possible that we underestimate a poetical foundation buried inside of Meursault but the reader cannot yet know how beautifully he will speak when approaching death. When the movements of the sky and people grow, Meursault realizes that another meaningless Sunday has passed him by. His mother's dying did little to change that or anything.

Chapter 3 Summary:

Meursault returns to work and works hard. The boss is kind. He is relieved to find that Maman was "about sixty" when she died. Meursault does not remember exactly. In the morning, Meursault goes through the invoices on his desk and then washes his hands, a pleasurable activity, before lunch. He leaves for lunch with Emmanuel, who suggests they jump onto a fire truck moving quickly past them. Spontaneously, Meursault agrees and they run and jump on. Dripping with sweat, they go to Céleste's for lunch. Céleste asks Meursault about Maman. He eats fast, drinks too much wine, and returns home to take a nap. Later he goes back to the office and works all afternoon.

On his way home from work, Meursault runs into his neighbor Salamano and his dog. The two have been inseparable for eight years and not only look alike, but hate each other. They are both covered by scabs. Meursault recounts their daily routine of walking and Salamano's beating of the dog. Meursault is non-judgmental about the pair whereas Céleste thinks the dog's treatment in pitiful. Salamano is always yelling at the dog, "Filthy, stinking bastard!" and this time is no different. Immediately after seeing Salamano, another neighbor, Raymond Sintès, comes in. He is reputed to be a pimp but says he is a "warehouse guard". Raymond likes to talk to Meursault because he listens. He invites him up for dinner and Meursault accepts so he does not have to cook. The room is messy and filled with pictures of naked women. Raymond explains about the fight he had with a man that day and wants Meursault's advice which, he claims, will make them pals. His story during dinner is about a girlfriend whom he swears is cheating on him, with little evidence. It turns out that the man he fought with was her brother. He admits to giving her an allowance and beating up on her. None of it is his fault, he says. He wants Meursault's help in plotting revenge against the girlfriend, first thinking he could have her arrested as a prostitute or having underworld friends "mark" her. Instead he wants to send her a letter to make her sorry for what she has done so she will come back to him and he can spit on her. Meursault agrees to write the letter right then, hoping it will please Raymond. The girl's name is Moorish. Raymond is happy with the work and says how they have become pals. Before Meursault leaves, Raymond tells him he has heard about Maman's death and to not let things get to him because it was bound to happen. Meursault agrees and leaves, hearing Salamano's dog whimper as he returns to his apartment.

Analysis:

Chapters one and two show the reader an extraordinary day and the weekend days, respectively, in the life of Monsieur Meursault. Chapter three thus brings us a typical work day. The boss at Meursault's work is a person of normal human sensibilities, meaning that he follows the fundamental rules of human behavior, so feels that he must ask Meursault about his mother. Meursault's nonchalance on the subject, answering with an approximation of her age, relieves the boss from any sympathy role he must play. It is important to consider that Meursault answers "about sixty" so as to not make a mistake. He is more concerned with guessing close to Maman's age than in following standard protocol. It does not occur to him how disturbing it may seem for a son to not know his mother's age. This small comment is symbolic of his entire outlook toward life. He is more concerned about being truthful to himself than constructing a persona for the public so does not feel the need to disguise his indifference toward the emotional aspects of life. Camus is careful to set this precedent both to display Meursault's attitude and to provide material to later condemn him.

Consequently, the next paragraph quickly moves on to the details of his work day. One may ask, if Meursault is so indifferent why does he work so hard at his job? Yet notice that it is simply the pattern that he must go though during work days. He does not enjoy the job, he just does it and wants to keep doing it. He is living life in the pattern set forth for him, not looking to break the rules but simultaneously breaking the social codes without meaning to because of the lack of meaning breaking the code would have for him. Meursault finds pleasure in the dry roller towel, not in his job. His boss, representing the contrast between Meursault and others, points out the smallness of this desire. Meursault is freed from the need to please anyone else or act any certain way. When Emmanuel suggests jumping onto the fire truck, Meursault does it. He can be spontaneous as well as set in a pattern because truly it all makes no difference. Notice too how often Meursault simply dozes off and naps. He is freed enough from behavioral obligation that he sleeps when he wants to without giving it another thought, just as he does beside Maman's coffin and the morning after Marie leaves. Physical sensations feel good to him and he revels in the sun and sleep and sex and swimming and smoking.

Meursault's neighbor Salamano presents an odd example of a man who does run his daily life based on emotions and routine. His dog and he look alike and both are grotesque. He is abusive toward his dog, verbally and physically, and they seem to hate each other. Yet, Meursault does not judge him. Many of the characters comment on how pitiful the situation is yet Meursault never agrees nor disagrees. He looks at their relationship as based in logic and so asks Salamano what the dog has done to deserve the cursing. The illogical reason is that the dog is there. Their love and hate relationship provides a strong and ironic contrast to the relationship Meursault will have with Marie. We will learn that he does not love her because it does not matter. The dog is all that matters to Salamano and is a metaphor for the element in most human lives which causes us to feel emotions strongly and repeatedly though they are often far from rational approaches or simple physical responses. Yet Camus is far from saying that Meursault is wrong in his attempt toward life. He has simply not learned yet how to make the best of an existence which he, in fact, understands the best of all the characters in Camus' mind. He knows that life is meaningless. However, he has not yet learned how to deal with the Absurd and create meaning. This paradoxical collision of characters alludes to the condemnation Meursault will later face and the freedom he finds in his condemnation.

Raymond is another repulsive type of character who does little to redeem himself throughout the novel. And yet he sees Meursault as a friend because he is willing to listen. Meursault does not judge him after hearing about his bloody fight with a man which he continued to beat after he was on the ground. The man had kicked back but it is still a questionable action. Meursault however agrees to listen to this and his next story because Raymond will make him dinner and then he does not need to cook. The physical priority is lifted above any moral one. Still one must wonder why Meursault, a man who seemingly finds the truth very important, would agree to write a letter which is unnecessarily mean and manipulative without even hesitating. Raymond wants him to so he does. He also accepts Raymond's narrative concerning his cheating girlfriend which is rather inconclusive and subjective. He claims she is cheating from evidence such as finding a lottery ticket in her purse she could not explain paying for. These events and life stories do not matter to Meursault; they do not affect him. Yet what does affect him is too many glasses of wine or cigarettes. He is easily overcome by the excess of physical stimuli and has less control over himself when his mind is numb and burning as a result. This theme of physical stimuli excess is a harbinger of bad moments, at least in the eye of society, for Meursault. Remember the walk to the funeral where his thoughts are focused on the scorching sun. He will later be condemned for such a focus.

Chapter 4 Summary:

Meursault's narration skips ahead a week but fills us quickly in on the details of the past week. He worked hard and saw two movies with Emmanuel. The day before was Saturday and Marie came over. They caught a bus to the beach and swam and played games in the water where Marie taught him how to skim the foam and spout it up in the air. When the salt becomes too bitter, they move into the shore and press up against each other. Speechless, they hurry back to Meursault's bedroom. Marie stays the next morning to have lunch. They hear Salamano yelling at his dog and Meursault tells her about the two. Her laughter turns him on and she asks if he loves her. He replies that it does not matter and that he does not think he loves her. She looks sad but later laughs and he kisses her again.

A fight breaks out in Raymond's room between him and his girlfriend. The woman screams in such a way that the whole building goes out to see the fight. Marie says it is terrible whereas Meursault does not comment. She wants him to get the police but he does not like them. When they do come, Raymond finally opens the door and the woman says how he hit her. Raymond keeps smoking after the cop tells him to remove the cigarette so the cop slaps him. Raymond becomes meek. Raymond is ordered to stay in his room and wait to be summoned while the girl leaves. Meursault and Marie return to make lunch but Marie cannot eat much. Meursault eats most of his food.

Later in the day Meursault is visited by Raymond who tells him how his plan had gone along as expected until she slapped him and then he had beaten her. Meursault says that he should be happy the girl got her punishment. Raymond agrees and doubts the cops can change that. He is glad that Meursault did not care that he had not hit the cop back. Meursault agrees to be his witness and the two go out. They play pool and drink but Meursault refuses to go a whorehouse. On the way back home they see Salamano very flustered. He explains how he lost his dog at the parade grounds. Raymond tries to reassure him that if the dog is lost he will come back. Salamano is worried the police will get him. Meursault explains how he can pay to get the dog out of the pound which Salamano finds absurd (paying for a dog he does not even like) but questions Meursault about it later. Meursault explains how the pound keeps the dog for a short time before deciding what to do with it. Salamano leaves but Meursault can hear him pacing and then crying.

Analysis

The week flies by because now that we have seen a typical workday there is no need to show us others in the routine. They will each be rather similar. The pleasure highlights are pointed out as Meursault goes to the movies twice and then sees Marie on Saturday. This day is given in much greater detail because the pattern is not quite set and it is a long stretch of time where Meursault enjoys what he is doing. As usual though, he and Marie head first to go swimming. Similar to the act of sex, Meursault's love for swimming hinges much on the feel and taste of the event. As he had longed for the salty smell of Marie's hair on the pillow after she had left the Sunday before, he likes playing her water game until his mouth stings with "salty bitterness." It is something he longs for but too much of it can become bitter. He is arrested in his behavior by a physical sensation. The act of swimming and absorbing the salt bring about sex as the two rush back to Meursault's apartment, unable to contain themselves. The cool air on their naked bodies makes him feel good and this is all Meursault needs to feel happy.

The harmony of their union is broken by the disharmonious and ugly fight between Raymond and his mistress the next morning. The fight comes right after Meursault tells Marie that he does not think he loves her, but it does not mean anything. Meursault is not involved in emotional excess or extremes of any sort but that does not mean he does not like Marie. He enjoys her very much. The emotional extreme of hate pours into the hall with the fight and provides the largest contrast and paradox, as Meursault does not judge or care much about either. He feels no need to get the police as Marie asks because he does not like police. This response seems very selfish but in fact his refusal to act is, by nature, the act of not acting and thus he chooses to allow the events to continue because his interference would not change anything. The cop's arrival does however throw a different light onto Raymond as he is forced to drop his tough guy exterior and ironically, falls to the other extreme of great acquiescence and fear. He later is relieved to find that Meursault was not disappointed that he did not hit the cop back. He had let his exterior persona drop and was scared at showing his inner fear. The pretense constructed by Raymond acts as a synecdoche for the superficial constructs of society in general, establishing an exterior faith in order to avoid facing the absurd existence of living life.

Not surprisingly, once the fight is separated and Meursault and Marie return to lunch she has lost her appetite whereas Meursault eats all of his lunch. He simply does not allow other people's issue to affect him in such a way as a physical aspect of life could. He does not react as expected. When Raymond visits after Marie has left and Meursault napped, Meursault does not judge his character based on the abusive fight. Meursault agrees to act as his witness and go out with him. The structure of Meursault's thoughts points to his nonchalance concerning the actions of Raymond. Immediately following Raymond's assertion that he was glad the woman got what she deserved, Meursault ironically thinks of how friendly he is and how nice the moment is. A moment with a person society would likely consider to have poor moral values does not impact Meursault except to relate to him Raymond's attempt at friendship.

The portrait painted of Salamano at the end of the chapter is much different than the previous portrait. Though still acting the part of a hating dog owner, his compassion and love for the dog cannot but help to come through. It is a touch of obvious humor that Camus throws in that Salamano was watching "The King of the Escape Artists" when his dog disappears. And yet does not that parallel imply that the dog is also a king? Near death, Meursault will come to the conclusion that Maman's or his life are worth no more than Salamano's dog. The loss of Salamano's dog deeply affects and saddens the little man, however. The noise of his crying leads to Meursault's unexpected thought of Maman. The two have to be connected even though Meursault does not see the link. He says, "For some reason I thought of Maman." Yet the grief Salamano is expressing directly precedes the memories of Maman and Meursault goes to bed without eating, the first time during the novel one can note that he passes on a physical pleasure or is incapable of enjoying a physical stimulus. The reader must wonder if normal human sensations and societal behavior codes do lie deep inside Meursault or if we are simply reading too much into his behavior because of our own deeply ingrained expectations.

Chapter 5 Summary:

Raymond calls Meursault at his office which annoys Meursault because his boss does not like them to receive personal calls. Raymond tells him that they are invited to a beach house of a friend of his and that he can bring Marie. He also says that a pack of Arabs, one of which is his former girlfriend's brother, had been following him. After hanging up, Meursault's boss calls him but fortunately does not talk about the phone call. Instead he introduces to him the idea of working for the company in Paris. He thinks Meursault seems like the type who would enjoy the travel and change. Meursault says how he does not really care and is happy enough in Algeria. The boss says he has no ambition. Meursault admits to the reader that he once had ambition but lost it when he had to give up his studies.

Marie visits Meursault after work and asks if he would like to marry her. He agrees if that is what she would like but still says it does not matter and he does not love her. He admits that he would marry another woman in the same situation. Marie finally decides that her liking him for this peculiarity may make him hate her later but she will still marry him. She is excited about the prospect of going to Paris, but Meursault tells her how it is dirty. They go for a walk and Meursault mentions the beautiful women they see. Marie agrees. She leaves and Meursault has dinner at Céleste's. A strange little jerky woman joins him at his table. She eats feverishly and meticulously marks a radio program schedule. He follows her for a few minutes when she leaves but then forgets about her.

Salamano is waiting outside when he returns. His dog was not at the pound and he does not want another dog since he was used to his own. Salamano tells him about getting his dog and how nice his coat was before he got sick and old. Upon leaving, he tells Meursault that he is sorry about Maman and how much she liked the dog. He understands why he sent Maman to the home whereas many other neighbors thought it was cold. Meursault had not known that and justifies his behavior by noting that he did not have enough money. Besides, she had nothing more to say to him. Salamano says good night and wonders what he will do now that his life has been changed.

Analysis:

Chapter Five begins by introducing the reader to a collision of Meursault's two worlds, the world of the work week and of the weekend. Raymond calls Meursault at work and Meursault is annoyed right away. At work, he is in the mode of his pattern in which he wants nothing upset. He is afraid his boss will be mad at the personal call and he does not want to risk that. Ironically, he does want the balance of his life upset although he believes that individual choices and events do not matter. Just as it did not matter whether Maman had dies yesterday or the day before, the encounters of life occur but do not matter. In order to keep his work week encounters occurring in the routine he is used to, he does not want to upset his boss. Strangely though, Meursault ends up doing just that when he shows very little excitement at the idea of being transferred to Paris. He states, "it was all the same to me" and means that. He was not unhappy with his life in Algeria so why change it? The boss does not like his idea that one life is the same as another because that disturbs his sense of agency. The standard human sense that the choices one makes impact the outcome of events and make a difference on the quality of their lives and the goal they are heading toward is a non-issue for Meursault. We get a strange peak into Meursault's former life as a student when he did have ambition like the boss wishes he showed. It seems almost as if whatever made him give up his studies forced him to realize that nothing he did really mattered. Yet he is not bitter; the notion is that he has matured and now understands the way he must live life. This highlights that Meursault is capable of change, he is not stuck in a pattern he cannot move from. He simply chooses not to move from it at this point. This tone establishes a precedent, allowing the transformation he will make as he nears the hour of his death.

The reader is further struck by the totality of the theme of Meursault's indifference and apathy during this part in his life when he agrees to marry Marie. Many times, Meursault will make a decision based on the fact that he sees no reason not to act in a certain way though he does not see a reason to either. He will get married if Marie wants to and he is annoyed that she questions his reasons when it is her idea. Meursault is completely honest in his responses to her questions and it is disturbing to a reader, and obviously to Marie, that he participates so little in the rules of manners. It is not polite to tell someone that he would marry any woman in the same situation but this is not a consideration for Meursault. He is happy with Marie and likes her but there is no emotional attachment. We are not surprised by his comment to Marie that Paris was dirty and dark and the people pale. He is attached to the sun and warmth and his Mediterranean lifestyle of swimming and napping. Paris would have nothing to offer him, a man not interested in a cultured lifestyle or architecture, but in the physical stimuli Algeria has offered him. He does not participate in the game of society's expectations and so rejects Paris if he wants to, tells Marie he does not love her, and agrees with his boss that he has no ambition. Marie sees him confused when she scolds him for not wanting to know where she is going to. As Camus wrote, "The hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game." His refusal to conform to the value system of society in these small ways, though they do not upset Marie or his other friends too drastically, will parallel his time in prison and will give ammunition to his attackers, condemning Meursault as a danger to society.

The little robot-like woman who sits with Meursault provides an interesting contrast to his own character. By this point in the book the reader has likely started to wonder if Meursault is himself a robot, going through the motions of life and routine and asking little else but to continue in this pattern. Yet for Meursault his routine and indifference is a choice and a stop on his progression toward finding meaning in a meaningless universe. His character, though changing little over the course of the novel until the end, is a work in progress and will have the suggestions of more than one dimension. The robot woman intrigues Meursault through her feverish, robotic movement. It is as if she is propelled ahead by some strange motivation which Meursault cannot grasp. She is so meticulous about her radio program schedule that she appears ridiculous. When she rises from her seat she moves through the crowd with such assurance and speed that she never needs to swerve. Here is a predestined preprogrammed woman. Her life is not a choice but a program. Meursault forgets her soon because she is not real or true to herself. Not immersed in superficial pretext as are other characters, and most of society, she still fails to exercise choice in her actions and again distinguishes Meursault as a singular being in an absurd world.

Salamano without his dog is a truly pitiful creature. The reader watches a man who seemed truly despicable when first introduced but is now saddened by the loss of a companion whom he loved. We understand the depths of his character which suggest that depth is possible in the other characters . We are also hit by the irony of a narrative where a man is crushed by the loss of his dog but a son does not flinch when told of the death of his mother. Is this son a monster? And yet he is compassionate toward Salamano's loss and willing to listen to his stories of the dog. The theme of reliving ones life through memories in order to live it again is central to the novel and will appear again as Meursault approaches death. It is minimized here for the reader in order to plant the seed which will grow into the beautiful prose Camus and Meursault share at the end of the book. He and Salamano become connected through the handshake at the end of the chapter, reflecting the intersection of their stories. Though not similar in personality, the two will each learn how meaning can be represented in life. Salamano, however, still lives within the prescribed boundaries of society and expresses his sadness over the loss of Maman. Meursault characteristically feels no need to respond. What does it matter?

Chapter 6 Summary:

Meursault finds it difficult to wake up on this Sunday but Marie shakes him awake. He is in a sour mood. They wait for Raymond outside and the sun hits Meursault like a slap. Marie is excited but Meursault is hungry. Raymond arrives and they decide to take the bus. The day before Meursault had testified that Raymond's girl had been cheating on him and Raymond got off with a warning. They notice a group of Arabs across the street and hurry to the bus. Raymond's friend's name is Masson and his wife has a Parisian accent. The couple causes Meursault to realize for the first time that he is getting married. Masson, Marie, and Meursault go swimming first off but Masson stay near the shore. Marie and Meursault feel close and happy swimming together. Meursault goes in first and then watches Marie come out later, admiring her wet body. Meursault falls asleep until right before lunch when he and Marie fondle in the water.

Meursault devours his lunch and then takes a walk with the other men. The heat and glare of the sun are almost unbearable to Meursault. They walk along until they see two Arabs on the beach, one being Raymond's man. They approach and Raymond and Masson fight with them. Raymond is cut with a knife and he and Masson go to bandage it before returning to the house. Meursault has to explain to the women but does not like to so says very little. Raymond heads back down the beach later and Meursault follows him although he wants to be alone. They find the two Arabs again, lying on the beach. Raymond wants to shoot but Meursault talks him into giving him the gun which he will shoot for Raymond if the knife is drawn again. The Arabs back away at the last minute and Meursault and Raymond walk back.

Not wanting to enter the bungalow, Meursault goes back to the beach. The heat and glare of the sun strike him like blades against his forehead, as on the day of the burial, he remembers. He sees Raymond's Arab again though he did not intend to search him out. The two watch each other, hardly moving. Meursault notes that the last two hours have stood still. Knowing that he could just turn and leave, he cannot help but move forward. The pain of the sun and heat and salt leaves him dazed and unable to breath or think clearly. The trigger gives and he realizes he has shattered the day and happiness. He has shot the Arab. He fires four more times.

Analysis:

It is very significant how hard of a time Marie has waking Meursault up the morning that opens chapter six, the chapter of the novel's climax. He is a man easily driven by physical stimuli ,who sleeps and wakes when he chooses. Thus when he has such difficulty dragging himself from sleep, it cannot be a good sign. In fact, the day becomes his last as a free man and his first as a murderer. Meursault certainly had better sense in wanting to stay asleep. Furthermore, Marie notices how glum Meursault looks, almost like a mourner. Meursault has never looked like a mourner, not even when his mother dies. To have the look of one on a simple Sunday morning, the days were he usually does nothing all day long, foreshadows a death which will affect Meursault much mroe deeply than any other death has before. This death, on some levels, will matter. In fact, it will bring the end of Meursault's freedom and ability to enjoy the physical pleasures he loves most as well as the beginning of Meursault's realization of what living life means and his subsequent vindication. Marie laughs with delight, but Meursault feels drained and many of his pleasures already lose their flavor. His life is about to be completely altered. Once he reaches the street, the sun does not have the normal calming effect on Meursault but instead slaps him on the face. We have learned that if the sun is portrayed in a negative way by Camus, it is a harbinger for disastrous encounters or events. This morning light does not even seem to be harsh or too hot since Marie claims how beautiful it is but in Meursault's state, he can already feel the daggers of the sun which will stab him later. The tone of the chapter's opening is very expectant, pointing toward danger or disaster.

Marie's joy is heavily contrasted not only by Meursault's gloom, but also by the physical symbols of impending doom represented by the group of Arabs across the street. The metonymic usage by Camus of the conflict between Raymond and the Arabs to represent the French/Algerian conflict alerts the reader to the deeper meaning of the Arab tough guys on the corner. Meursault, being part of the pied-noir working class, is stuck in the battle between two sides and ends up striking out against the Arabs for almost no reason. The situation has placed him there, just as Camus has placed the Arabs conveniently across the street. Meursault will later say that he knows the day could have gone either way, it would have been just as easy for him to shoot as not shoot. Note how when the trio walks to the bus, Meursault looks back and finds that the Arabs are standing indifferently in the same position staring at the same spot of ground as when they left. They are just the tools Camus uses to indict Meursault and represent the intensifying conflict of the French-Algerian in the context of the Absurd.

Arriving at the beach, the atmosphere is still highly negative though on the surface, one would think it would be more positive. Yet note the images which Camus includes, such as Marie's destruction of the flowers or the houses stripped naked in Meursault's view. The air is heavy with the sense of approaching doom. Meursault feels slightly better when he is able to go swimming at Masson's house. He notes that the sun is doing him good. He is in his favorite element and able to shut out the negative energy of the day. His later actions are not predetermined. However grumpy he was feeling before, he is not led to killing someone. The paths in front of him are equally open. Meursault lives in the moment, not in memories of the past or thoughts of the future. He does not think of the implications of agreeing to marry Marie until he sees her talking to Masson's wife. Still just an objective realization, Meursault is most happy when he and Marie swim out into deeper waters and can move together in smooth solid strokes. Time is broken down into a smaller scale and Meursault appreciates the pleasure of taking each stroke with her. This action puts his body at such ease that he naps after reaching the beach and must again be woken up by Marie. She is the consummation of his physical desires. She is united with him in his love for the ocean and sun and she encourages the closeness of their bodies. He wants her because he wants that type of happiness. He eats all of his lunch because his sensations of been peaked and he wills to be physically satisfied.

The sun's negative, blinding attributes reappear as the three men walk together along the beach. Meursault nearly stops listening to them talk because the sun's weight makes him so sleepy. Camus uses terms such as "unbearable","hard to breath", and "red" to describe the damage the sun is doing to Meursault. He feels beaten down. At this point, paralleling the sun struck moment outside of the apartment building in the morning, the men notice the Arabs. Meursault agrees to stand aside in case a third Arab comes because he has no reason not to agree. As always, this indifference marks Meursault's decisions. It was easiest to agree. He watches the men fight much like he watched Raymond fight with his girlfriend. It is an event which happens separate from him and does not concern him or his judgment. Raymond is injured foreshadowing the danger inherent in meeting the Arabs like this but it is only a surface wound. The wound is enough to require attention and to make Meursault awkwardly have to recount the event to the women. This place of transferring emotional information does not please him as much as the ocean which he turns to look at instead.

Always making his own decisions and acting on a singular basis, Meursault follows Raymond back to the beach even though he angrily demands to be left alone. Meursault mentions that by this point, the sun is overpowering. The details of the moment which Meursault gives us become even more specific and minute to minute. The reader feels almost like they are in an old Western movie as Raymond reaches toward his pocket for a gun and they watch to see if the Arab reaches for anything in his pocket. We see Meursault try to control the emotions of Raymond from doing something he would regret. He does not want to say anything to set Raymond off. But is this because he is against him shooting? The reader will likely think so but Camus does little to tell us this is so. Meursault averts danger by taking the gun from Raymond at this point and is not overly hesitant when he uses it himself later. Meursault is simply reacting to the situation objectively.

Meursault notices that time has come to a stop. It will not begin again until after Meursault has shot the Arab five times. Nothing happens at this moment with Raymond but the sun and heat still ring in Meursault's ears after they leave the Arab. Meursault decides to head back down the beach after Raymond returns to the house because he realizes that "to stay or to go, it amounted to the same thing." Here is Camus' interjection of Meursault's journey back to meet the Abusrd head on. He did not have to go back and he does not intend to shoot the Arab but the sun is strong and nothing matters. He could go back or he could not but by going back he will force the ultimate conclusion of his creation of meaning in a meaningless world and that is the important goal of Camus' novel.

The sun attacks Meursault's sensibility as he walks back toward his chosen route. His body tenses as the sun is symbolized as a knife, foreshadowing the knife which will set him off. He is dazed and feels drunken because his senses have been overwhelmed. It is his existential struggle against the world and others in it which moves him nearer to the encounter which will bring him meaning. God is not present. Meursault has the power to kill or not to, and he is influenced by no outside influence other than the beating sun and drunkenness of his senses. Time slows even further when he nears the Arab and grips onto Raymond's gun. He is reacting instinctively, he implies, by saying that it was natural that he gripped the gun. The moment of the climax is hyperbolic in nature as Meursault feels that all time has frozen while he and the Arab stare at each other. The light that bounces off the knife of the Arab is like a shot at Meursault, stabbing his eyes and forehead. His eyes are blurred by sweat and salt. Each detail and element evident in Camus' narrative lead to Meursault's physical state when he shoots, but none are responsible. Meursault alone is. He is as removed from reality and social context at this moment as every moment. He squeezes the trigger without intent. Each small act is singular. He realizes that he has shattered his happy harmonious life -- so why fire four more times? What kind of monster can this be? He will later stress to the reader that he is really like everyone else. What does this say about man and our struggle in the world? Is there another solution to living than blame or indifference? The shots are the peak of Meursault's physical life. In order to transcend this blurred dazed drunkenness he consumes, he must knock "on the door of unhappiness."

Part Two

Chapter 1 Summary:

Part Two skips to after Meursault has been arrested. He is quickly questioned to ascertain his identity. He is appointed an attorney though his case is so simple he does not think he needs one. He is taken into an interrogation room which reminds him of interrogations in books he has read. It goes quite pleasantly and he almost shakes the magistrates's hand upon leaving. His lawyer meets him in his cell and questions him as well so that he can help. He is disturbed by the answers Meursault gives in response to questions about his feelings at Maman's funeral. Meursault refuses to say that he had repressed natural feelings of sadness because it is not true. Although those details have little to do with the present case, the lawyer it explains it will come up in court. He leaves angrily and Meursault wishes he could tell him that he is just like everyone else but is too lazy to stop him.

He is then taken to the magistrate again who seems cordial, at first asking him to go over the details of the murder again. He is bothered by the fact that Meursault hesitated between the first shot and the following four. Meursault does not know what reason to give and does not think it really matters. The magistrate explodes. He grabs a crucifix and shoves it in Meursault's face, asking him if he believes in God. He is infuriated to learn that Meursault does not. Finally, hoping that he will stop, Meursault agrees with him at which point the magistrate encourages him to say that he will trust in God to which Meursault disagrees. The magistrate comments that Meursault's is the most hardened soul of any criminal he has met. Meursault has a difficult time realizing that he is a criminal now. Meetings with the magistrate run smoother after the first meeting. Meursault is always accompanied by his lawyer and most of the time is left out of the conversation. He enjoys the parts he participates in and comments that the whole process seemed very natural and he feels like "one of the family". He finds it strange to remember a time happier than the cordial moments with the magistrate.

Analysis

The simple, almost listing manner in which Meursault lists the events which follow the shooting has a matter of fact tone. He is not injecting emotion or remorse into any of his comments. Again, he is completely objective and distanced. As he says in the previous chapter, he could have easily stayed at the house or ended up shooting someone. Yet the last chapter is separated from this chapter by the idea of book one and two. What division exists that separates the two modes of Meursault's life? In Book One we note that Meursault is honest to himself, indifferent, and nonjudgmental. In Book Two these characteristics are not dependent on him or his nature. He is the object and it is society's turn to decide how they will act in response to him. Here, it is Meursault who will be judged and his actions and choices questioned. He can no longer go on living the unexamined life. Ironically, the examination of his case will become that of his life and indict him on what he thinks more than what he did.

The questioning begins right off in chapter one of part two as the reader is skipped to the arrest. We see none of what happens to the others in the beach house or how they find out or react. We know only of Meursault because he is telling us and, fitting to his character, he thinks in a self-centered manner. After being taken away from the others, his thoughts are moved away as well. They do not affect him or make any difference, so he thinks little of them. Meursault admires how well the court takes care of details and stresses parts like this concerning his interrogation rather than much of anything unpleasant. He understands his case is simple but likes that the court will give him a lawyer. Meursault finds the entire situation surreal because he does not consider himself a criminal. Remember that he must keep reminding himself that he has killed someone and belongs in prison. The interrogation scene he enters does come right out of old crime story novels but he is not too affected by its severity. His desire to shake the guard's hand on leaving strikes the reader as peculiar but to Meursault these are simple human interactions and when someone is kind he appreciates it. He is still living moment to moment and does not concern himself with the past or future.

The lawyer is disturbed most by Meursault's inability to lie about how he felt at his mother's funeral. He is a representative of the French institution since he is provided by the state and Meursault's character is completely foreign to him. The trial is business to him and he wants Meursault to learn how to best succeed in court and is worried that is indifferent outlook will harm his chance of winning the case. Meursault tries being very direct with him and even tells him straight, "Šmy nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings." Here Camus is telling us what we have been guessing along. Meursault recognizes this difference from society but it is meaningless to try to change that. The lawyer does not get as upset at this comment though than the one where Meursault claims that he can not say that he repressed his natural feelings at Maman's burial because that would not be true. Meursault, above all, is true to himself. At this, the lawyer looks at him disgusted. Already he is being judged to be an inferior human being because he is refusing to go along with the game implied by the lawyer. Meursault plays by his own rules. As in Existentialism, he is an individual struggling against others in a finite world. It is a struggle for one's own identity and meaning. He wishes the lawyer could understand but is too lazy to try to make him. Apathy wins out over the state of another person or his own well-being.

Not surprisingly, the lawyer is unable to come to his next meeting with the magistrate. The point at which the magistrate fails to understand is when Meursault explains that he hesitated after the first shot before firing the last four. Saying he had loved Maman the same as everyone (as he truly does love everyone the same) has less of an impact than his inability to answer why he would have waited like that. The physical stimuli of the moment on the beach return to his senses, he can feel the moment, but he cannot express his motivation because there was none. He could have shot or not shot, and he shot. The crucifix being brought out represents the hinge of Camus' philosophy that there is no God. He is not a nihilist but he believes that nothing divine or absolute exists and that many people use a faith in a higher being as a crutch to avoid living and taking responsibility for this life. Life is absurd, not controlled or monitored or rewarded, and Camus thinks that to live a full life, one must face the absurdity of death leading to nothingness instead of focusing all of one's energies on an abstract and unlikely concept. Why prepare and wait when we could live?

The magistrate gets very frustrated because he does not understand this worldview. Meursault does not even feel sorry for what he did. It was an inconvenience to him to be taken from his pleasurable life and dropped into the monotonous dirty cell. The times with the magistrate come to represent the only breaks from the dark damp world of the cell and he finds pleasure in the simple cordiality of their rare interactions. Each action and encounter that Meursault delights in is indeed an understatement of the manner in which most people live their lives, overlooking these moments by searching for their meaning or accumulation. Meursault's happiness and ability to grasp it is an understatement of Camus' larger message.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Meursault realizes that his time in prison is going to be the type of time he has never liked talking about. He is first put in prison with a bunch of people, mostly Arabs. They become quiet when they learn he is there for killing an Arab. A few days later, he is moved to his own cell with a wooden plank to sleep on and a barred window facing the far off sea. Marie comes soon to visit him and looks beautiful. It is hard to speak with her because of the amount of noise from others in the room. It is mostly Arabs, some screaming and others mumbling softly below all the rest. His eyes adjust to the brighter light of the visiting room and he has a forced conversation with. She tries to keep him hoping, which he believes must mean that he should hope he will be able to touch her again. She talks about everyday things which he answers when necessary. He is overwhelmed by the sound and light and wishes to leave but wants to take advantage of Marie being there too. Meursault pays close attention to the other inmates and their visitors. Finally he is told to leave and she tells him he will be acquitted and they will go swimming and get married. He responds uncertainly. After this, he receives a letter from her explaining that she can no longer visit because she is not his wife.

Meursault explains that life in prison could have been much worse for him. The first months were bad because he still thought like a free man. But then he began to think like a prisoner and looked forward to his walks or lawyer visits instead of swimming and cigarettes. He desired a woman most at first but puts it in perspective when he speaks to the head guard who mentions how missing women and cigarettes and so on was the point of prison. It takes away one's freedom. Meursault realizes he is right and soon gets over his first longings. He mentions that Maman had compared man's ability to get used to anything to living in an hollowed tree where one would get used to looking forward to a bird's flight. Meursault is happy enough in prison.

The main problem for him is killing time. He learns to concentrate on remembering every item and detail of his room at home and makes the catalog longer each time so that it becomes a habit. He is soon able to learn how to sleep in prison as well and progresses to sleeping two thirds of the day. He then has less time to kill. Part of that time he kills by rereading the Czech newspaper crime article he finds. The article contains a tragic story and convinces Meursault that it is never a good idea to play games. With this pattern of life, Meursault soon loses track of time as he had heard would occur in prison. Long and short begin to describe each day and when he is told that he has been in prison for five months he believes but does not understand. He looks at his reflection but no matter how he tries to smile the reflection still looks stern. He realizes too that he has been talking to himself and agrees with the nurse from Maman's funeral that there is no way out.

Analysis:

Chapter two is important to the reader because it fills in the details of the prison which are left out of chapter one. We had learned about the interrogations of the magistrate and the meeting with the lawyer but what occurred on a day to day, basic functions level for Meursault during the eleven month period he is held is avoided. The chapter begins with Meursault admitting that there have always been things he does not like to talk about. We are not surprised since he has always mentioned that he only speaks when he has something to say. The reader realizes that the time he is uncomfortable talking about in prison is when he has trouble convincing himself that he is in prison. He still feels he should be free and thus the prison is a punishment, he is being kept away from where he belongs. This he does not like talking about.

He notes, after he receives Marie's letter that she can no longer visit him, he can accept the fact that the prison is his home but it is still not until later that he gets over his reluctance to talk about it. The combination of prison being his home and his thoughts being those of a prisoner will cause the adjustment. Meursault refers to many of Maman's anecdotes throughout his time in prison and it seems as if he gets the ability to adjust from the lessons his mother has taught him. They are probably closer now than they were during her life. He will wish for his one piece of sky to hold onto and make his own. For a man who lives in the present, he simply has to convince himself that the prison is his present and he can move on.

The meeting he has with Mary before receiving that last letter is chaotic and stifling. The room is filled with Arabs who are characterized as space consuming and loud. They are everywhere- on either side of Meursault, whispering below him, yelling above him. He is nearly drown out by their noise and presence. The damaging effect of the sun is highlighted again when he walks into the room and is blinded by it. It is so much brighter than his cell and he feels uncomfortable then nauseous. The human and physical presences in the room overwhelm him as he has been pulled out of this world and then suddenly interjected back into it. Mary's beauty more than anything else strikes him and he misses the physical feel of her body against his. They talk of trivial things, Meursault often responding simply and just observing her. With the distance of the glaringly crowded room, he cannot connect with her as he once had in the sea and longs for that unity. The trivial items she discusses do not interest him and he would leave except than he would miss her physical presence which still has pull on him. Their inability to communicate without the physical connection is presented as the strains of other conversations interest Meursault more than what Marie is saying. Meursault is forced to shout to Marie in order to be heard but often fails in this because of the surrounding noise. His connection with Marie has been mostly severed though she lingers smiling after him and he yearns for her face and presence long after.

The letter is the first break from his previous. Yet his free man thoughts are still linking him to that world and do not make the break a complete one. We remember the joy Meursault had found in the ocean, in the feel swimming gave him. The urges still are present within him making their denial even harder. This example stands with sex and cigarettes as well. Meursault is in free world withdrawal but he constantly insists that he did not have it as bad as some, that normally he did not take things so far, and that his mother's anecdote about the hollow tree did not even apply because his life in prison was fuller than that analogy. The reasons why he is able to get over the longings for the sea when he can view the waves from his window, and sex, and cigarettes is time and memory. Meursault applies a standard life structure which he had never before depended on. At this point in his existence, living moment to moment is not capable of satisfying him. He realizes that no matter how tantalizing the faces of woman he constructs in his mind are, they still work to pass the time and kill his boredom. He slowly learns to live without any physical stimulation besides that which he is able to create within his mind.

With these acceptances, he uses his memory to kill time and the lack of freedom is lessened. He admits that he is not so unhappy. His mental daily analysis of his room is a classic example of his ability to find value in life and possessions and memory where he had once never bothered to look. He had lived solely for one encounter after another, never examining or looking back to appreciate. By slowly reviewing each and every detail of his room, gaining knowledge each time, he gains back much of the quality of his life that he had allowed to escape him. The realization that a man who lived one day in the outside world would have enough memory to live on in prison is a monumental discovery for Meursault, a mental milestone. He finds value and creates meaning in a life where he had seen no reason for meaning. The clipping of the newspaper article on the Czechoslovakian tragedy is another example of his ability to see the value of examination and the preciousness of life. Time itself loses its meaning to him because the moment to moment function of his life no longer has a place. He lives in his ability to kill prison time through memory, the crime story, sleep and other ways. With time dead, he turns to himself. For the first time in the book, we see Meursault looking at himself. His introspection reveals that he can not make his face smile. By seeing the serious expression on his face and finally hearing his own voice ring out, he connects his body to his mind in the first true union of his life.

Chapter three Summary:

Meursault notes that the time from last summer to the present one went quickly. The weather becoming hot means something will happen to him. His trial is set for the end of June and meant only to last a few days. He arrives at the courthouse to start his trial and is surprised by the bustle of activity and further surprised to learn that they are all there to see him. The press has built his story up. Sun filters into the room and is stifling. Meursault notices the jury sitting in judgment of him like passengers of a streetcar. Once the court is in session, the press too stares at him coldly. The proceeding events are confusing to Meursault since he does not understand the process. When the judges read off the names of witnesses, he realizes that many people he knows are in the room ranging from the director of Maman's home to Marie and Raymond. The robotic woman who sat with him at Céleste's is also in attendance and stares at him throughout.

The heat increases and the examination begins. The judge reads over Meursault's testimony and Meursault agrees to each section. He then asks why Meursault put Maman in a home and he explains that he did not have enough money to care for her, that they had not needed each other anymore, and that they both got used to their new lives. The prosecutor asks if he intended to return to the Arab and kill him. Meursault replies no, it just happened. The session is adjourned until the afternoon when it is hotter but otherwise the same. The witnesses are called, the home's director being first. He testifies that Meursault was very calm at the funeral: not crying, not wanting to see Maman, and leaving right after. Meursault feels like crying for the first time in years when he perceives the hatred so many people feel for him. The caretaker is the next witness and testifies how little Meursault seemed upset at Maman's coffin. Meursault confirms that he did offer the caretaker a cigarette and the caretaker admits that he did offer Meursault the coffee. Thomas Pérez is next and testifies that he could not see what happened because he had been too overwhelmed by grief. The lawyers go back and forth and prove that he neither saw Meursault cry or not cry.

The defense is called next and Céleste testifies first for Meursault. He states that the crime was just a case of bad luck. He wishes he could do more for Meursault, who thinks that it is the first time he has ever wanted to kiss a man. Marie's testimony is focused most on the day she met Meursault with the prosecutor pointing out that it was the day after Maman's funeral and Meursault had swam, started a disreputable affair and gone to see a comedy in the cinema. Marie becomes upset at her words being used against her and is taken out crying. Masson declares that Meursault was an honest and decent man. Salamano pleads with everyone to understand that Meursault had simply run out things to say to Maman but no one seems to understand. Raymond tries to convince the jury that Meursault had simply been on the beach by chance but the prosecutor notes that it is too coincidental that he wrote the letter to Raymond's girlfriend, did not stop his beating her, was a witness at his summons, and so on all by chance. Meursault is called his accomplice and Raymond is termed a "procurer" of women by the prosecutor. Meursault agrees with the prosecutor that they were friends. Meursault's lawyer attempts to move the focus from Maman but the prosecutor turns it back by saying that Meursault had carried a crime in his heart even then. Things do not look good and the trial is adjourned. Upon leaving the courthouse, Meursault is struck by the smell of the summer night and the happy memories it brings back. The paths he once followed, it seemed, could have led as easily back there as to the prison he returned to.

Analysis:

With his time killing methods in hand, the year passes quickly for Meursault. The case is set though giving Meursault some kind of endpoint to contain time more realistically. The trial opens with the sun glaring outside and the reader would likely have learned by this point that it is foreshadowing a negative occurrence. Immediately following the mention of the sun, the lawyer says the trial will go quickly since it is not the most important case. His words are also tainted with doubt and this feeling sets up the environment for the trial. When Meursault arrives it seems like a circus and, for all intents and purposes, it is. The press has built up the story to such proportions that spectators are interested because of that. Furthermore, as we will learn, Meursault's case is one of interest because he has denied the social codes and human faculties which society feels bounded by. They push in to see the man who will not play the game. He does not even realize first that the crowd are for him because to him, his behavior seems perfectly normal. Meursault pictures the image of a streetcar because he subconsciously realizes that he is under judgment from these people who do not even know him but to whom his fate has been given. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the courtroom, symbolizing the narrow-minded, judgmental atmosphere, makes Meursault dizzy for good reason.

Similar to how Camus' title is translated into The Outsider in England, we notice how much outside of society Meursault is in this trial opening. He recognizes no one's face nor feels one's approval of him. He is, as he says, "a kind of intruder", like he is being left out of the game. He is the stranger to society and the courtroom. He as the criminal is less on trial than he as the person and the alienation he feels stresses this point. The existential man must struggle alone to reach meaning. The Absurd can only be conquered if one is forced to look at their meaningless struggle in life to form meaning. He must be alienated in order to reach the depths we will require of him later. Meursault notices that the reporters all wear the same indifferent faces. One would not have thought indifference would seem remarkable enough to him to comment on before but in this case it points to his alienation. The young reporter who looks closely at him bothers him even more because he is under examination.

The judge declares that "he was there to conduct in an impartial manner the proceedings of a case which he would consider objectively." This statement rings eerily of Meursault's method of dealing with the world, letting none of it have value or touch him too closely. This parallel places Meursault at the center -- a paradox as he is also an outsider. The examination begins right after Meursault's notice that the day has become even hotter, another ominous sign. Instead of feeling threatened, Meursault observes that the proceedings start very naturally except that he cannot stop thinking about the feeling of being watched, especially by the young reporter and robot. Each moment and encounter proceeds as always with Meursault's life, until time slows when the subject of Maman is broached. Hardly ever affected, this line of questioning highly irritates him. Still, he answer honestly as always without leaving out details that may upset or disturb the jury such as that he and Maman did not expect anything from each other anymore so it was not hard on him when she moved to the home.

The next day, Meursault is quick to note, is even hotter and more stifling than the first. The reader gets the feeling that she is heading toward an inevitable, ominous, and suffocating verdict for poor Meursault. And yet should we feel sorry for him? It is true that he has shown no remorse. He never did care when his mother died and he did kill a man. Why care that the line of questioning is somewhat irrelevant? The witnesses called against Meursault are solely from his mother's home and based on the one day they met Meursault, at his mother's funeral. Does not it seem ironic that the prosecution of the case does not have one witness who in any way pertains to the actual crime? Note no one in the courtroom notices or objects to this fact. In truth, thus, it is quite evident that Meursault is not on trial for his crime. Sources note that during this period in history a French man would have gotten off rather easily for killing an Arab man. But in this case, the lawyer, with public support, goes in for the kill. The crime is Meursault's lack of morals and refusal to participate in a moral code, reflecting the quotation Camus gives about his hero. The man with knowledge of the Absurd does not give into the game or the program but acknowledges that his actions on Earth do not amount to much or matter for anything or anybody. This singularity is not fleshed out for Meursault yet because he has not come to terms with facing the Absurd, but the basic Camus ideals of no belief in hope or the divine are put on trial so that the author can give them meaning through the resolution that is to come. It is absurd to put on trial the lack of meaning in order to give it meaning through book form which has no meaning unless one gives it their own meaning as Camus is doing.

The ridiculous tone taken in this trial comes to a head during the testimonies of the home caretaker and of Pérez because of the inane details of their testimony harped on by the lawyers. The prosecutor asks the caretaker to testify that Meursault ate, drank, and slept at his mother's coffin but did not want to look at her. He does and Meursault's lawyer points out that the caretaker smoked with him. He defends himself and Meursault admits out loud that he did offer the cigarette to him. The caretaker is surprised when Meursault says the statement which is true but does not help his own case. Instead he supports the caretaker. This honesty in a courtroom where the game is being played is a shock and guilts the caretaker into admitting that he offered the coffee to Meursault. The caretakers response gives us a glimpse of the normalcy which the courtroom is forgetting as they harangue Meursault. Pérez, after stating that he could not see how Meursault reacted, is asked whether he saw Meursault cry. This question by the prosecution is in itself ridiculous since it would contradict Pérez's first statement and therefore make his whole testimony void. Yet the prosecutor uses his answer that he did not see Meursault cry as evidence of his being unfeeling. Meursault's lawyer contradicts this but the whole machinery of the courtroom and the sentiment behind the case is ridiculous beyond control, setting out to prove that Meursault is a man who does not deserve to be a member of society.

The defense does little to help Meursault's case because his witnesses, like he himself, can give little reason to justify Meursault's actions besides comments which are immediately thrown out such as Céleste's idea of bad luck and Raymond saying it was all just chance. But did chance or bad luck cause him to shoot the man five times? This idea is also ridiculous, so that neither side of the case can truly be taken seriously by the reader. He is not on trial for his real crime but for his moral character and his defense can offer no redeeming testimony. Each of his companions is also a bad moral character in the eyes of the room. The major point of the case is that Meursault is not being tried fairly, as Salamano shrieks, "you must understand." But no one can or will. The room is impressed by the prosecutor's allegation that Meursault is on trial for burying his mother with a crime in his heart. Normally this would be far from viable in a court of law, but here it makes sense to the crowd. As a man with no faith or hope who lived indifferently and without judgment, society could not accept his existentialist survival. On his way back to the prison, as he is reminded of the summer air and days when he was happy, Meursault realizes again that the paths of life could lead as easily to a life of innocence or crime. Fate does not exist. Where the path leads is not important. Instead, he must learn to value what the journey means to him.

Chapter 4 Summary:

Meursault starts out by saying that it is always interesting when people talk about him. He is annoyed however that his lawyer will not allow him to interject anything. He is the accused and that should count for something. Yet he does not have that much to say and people would probably lose interest in him as he does with the prosecutor's speech. From what he hears, the prosecutor tries to prove that Meursault's crime was premeditated. His evidence is the facts of the crime and his criminal soul as shown through his actions toward his mother. He gives a spin on Meursault's relationship with Raymond which could be plausible since, judging from the facts, he could be Raymond's accomplice. Meursault realizes that he is being condemned for being intelligent -- a positive quality for a normal man is an indictment for a guilty one. The prosecutor then cries that worst of all, Meursault never felt remorse for his crime. His attack was so relentless that Meursault wishes he could explain that he has never felt remorse for anything and often his mind just moves on to the next moment. The prosecutor says that Meursault's soul is empty of man's proper moral principles. He moves the speech to Meursault's attitude toward Maman and speaks for much longer than he had about the crime. He concludes by comparing Meursault's case to the parricide trial to follow, resolving that Meursault's lack of humanity is much worse than, and a precursor to, the parricide. Meursault has no place in human society since he upholds none of its rules, he states before calling for the death penalty and calling Meursault a monster.

When asked if he has anything to add, Meursault asserts that he never intended to kill the Arab. He is flustered when asked why he did kill and finally says the sun. The room laughs. His lawyer asks for his summation to be delayed until the afternoon. At that time, Meursault notices how endless his lawyer's speech is and how he oddly uses the pronoun "I" for Meursault. Meursault feels as if it reduces and excludes him in a courtroom from which he was already greatly distanced. His lawyer seems ridiculous and less talented than the prosecutor. The lawyer hits upon each point made by the prosecution except the funeral, which Meursault feels is a mistake. Yet what he remembers most from the trial is being dazed and hearing the outside noises of an ice cream vendor instead of his lawyer. He is reminded of his previous life where he had found simple, lasting joys. The court process he is a part of seems utterly pointless. He wishes he could go back to the cell and sleep. The lawyer calls for the jury to not condemn a man who lost control for just a moment and is already suffering eternal remorse.

At the end of the speech, Meursault remembers he had forgotten about Marie and catches her eye. He is unable to return her smile. Meursault is led out of the room to wait for the jury to decide and his lawyer seems very affable, explaining that they would not be able to overturn an unfavorable verdict but they could always appeal. Meursault accepts that and finally is called back into the court to hear his sentencing. He is not allowed to hear the verdict which precedes. He has a strange feeling when walking in and hears the announcement that he will be decapitated publicly in the name of the French people. The judge asks him if he has anything to say and Meursault thinks and then replies that he does not. They take him away.

Analysis

Characteristically, Meursault is interested to hear the summations made by the two lawyers because he wants to hear people talk about him. Devoid of fear or urgency or apprehension, Meursault solely thinks it will be interesting as if he were someone in the audience. He has somehow been even further distanced from the courtroom than he felt before because the agency of voice has been stripped from him. He can not speak in his defense because his lawyer keeps telling him he will hurt the case. His notion that the accused should have a right to speak is put in perspective when we realize that he has little to do with the proceedings. The entire first half of the novel will be rewound and retold by other narrators, the lawyers, and twisted into the story they want to tell the jury: one of a monstrous, unfeeling man and the other of a man suffering from deep remorse. Neither account is true.

The subjectivity of judgment becomes increasingly obvious in this chapter as even Meursault notes that the series of events and motivations that the prosecutor sets up are plausible. The insensitivity portrayed to the jury concerning his actions the day of and following the burial of Maman is true though irrelevant to the crime. Meursault's actions are easily twisted into a devious plan, creating a man with intentions of future action and past revenge, qualities that we know Meursault has never shown. Ironically, Meursault is condemned for being immoral and insensitive but he is indicted by evidence strictly to the contrary of the persona which is under fire. Meursault works on a moment to moment basis and knowing his foundation in the Absurd we can understand how it was not his nature to interfere with Raymond beating up his girlfriend or to cry at the funeral. Meursault picks up on another inconsistency in the prosecution as well. He is indicted because he is intelligent. The moments of the first chapter are twisted, distorted, and thrown back in Meursault's face. He is not allowed to have acted without intent if he is intelligent. Yet he is allowed to be empty of soul. The creation of qualities in Meursault's character by the prosecution parallels the meaning and value that Meursault will later find he has the power to create in his own life. Paradoxically, he must be defaced in this manner before he can find that power.

Not surprisingly the prosecutor talks for much longer about Maman than about the crime, highlighting the true purpose of this trial. He even states that the trial has superseded in importance and vial nature the parricide trial to follow. The moral killing of his mother, according to the prosecutor, is more odious than the physical killing of a father or an Arab. Thus we see the metaphor for Camus' theme of the moral is given precedence over the physical. The argument is used against Meursault because he was incapable of living a moral life due to the standards of society. Camus wants him to find his morality through another venue. Meursault however has a difficult time paying attention to either lawyer and notices instead that it is hot during the tirade of the prosecutor. Meursault gets his chance to respond and the judge is glad to hear that he has a defense. Yet when pressed to answer why he killed if he did not intend to, Meursault cannot. This moment parallels the interrogation of the magistrate and how Meursault just did not know how to respond to why he hesitated before firing the last four shots. There was no reasoning. Camus has created a murderer without any justification and forces our society to deal with him. Meursault is not a monster but neither is he innocent. He had no motive or justification for his act whatsoever. All he can remember is the effect of the physical elements of the day, namely the beating sun and red sand. The court only laughs, this type of human can not be real.

Meursault's humanity is reduced further during the summation by his own lawyer. He understands the replacement of his own name with the pronoun "I" by the lawyer to be a further exclusion of his own voice from the trial. He is not on trial, but his morals are. His lawyer's lesser talent as compared to the prosecutor is evident to Meursault who feels as if he is observing the entire process instead of participating in it. Camus has set up the ironic case where the man condemned for his indifference and avoidance of societal code is pushed aside by the court and forced to be the outsider when he wishes he could speak on his own behalf. Meursault's distance takes him to the ice cream vendor outside instead of the speech of his lawyer. He is attacked by memories, beginning to feel the power of memory and the value of moments in life which bring happiness. Those moments of Marie and swimming are his to keep and cherish but he has lost the ability to enjoy and form new moments. This loss strikes him for the first time and it is in the face of this loss that he is able to realize an intrinsic value which he had heretofore ignored in the lost moments. Faced with his memories and the emptiness of the adjourned court, of the sun setting both physically and metaphorically, Meursault cannot feel anything in his heart for his surroundings.

When Meursault is led into the court to hear that he is to be decapitated by the guillotine, the moments move very fast. He does not make eye contact with anyone and most eyes have turned away. He is a condemned man. Note that the bizarreness of the verdict is echoed in the bizarre language Meursault tells us the verdict is read in. The claim that he is being killed for the French people in the public square is both surreal and contradicted by the feelings he picks up on the faces of those now turned to him. The gentleness and consideration toward a men they just condemned seems out of place and paradoxical. The process has been ludicrous and takes a ludicrous end where a man is condemned for something other than the crime he committed and then is to be killed in the name of many people whom he will never meet. Meursault has nothing to say because it would not matter. The paths in the sun could have led either way.

Chapter 5 Summary:

The chapter opens with Meursault's declaration that he has refused the chaplain three times. He has nothing to say and will see the chaplain soon enough at the execution. What he does care about is escaping the inevitability of the machinery of his execution. Meursault wishes that he had paid closer attention to executions in books and such so that he could hold on to the thought of one escape, one possibility. He realizes though, there is little chance for that. Still he finds it very difficult to accept the absoluteness of the machinery he is faced with. The absurdity of the verdict being handed out at a certain time for the good of a certain people decided by random people just like himself hits him full force. It all seemed so haphazard and arbitrary. Nevertheless, the verdict would be very real for him. He remembers a story his mother had told him about his father, whom he had never met. He was originally disgusted by the idea his father chose to go to an execution once knowing the idea made him sick. Meursault wishes he would be in the position to be able to live and go to every execution. But he is getting carried away.

Other times Meursault would make up new penal laws where the convicted would have a slight chance of escape every time. He imagines a mix of chemicals which would kill a man who drank it nine times out of ten. The trouble with the guillotine was that it did not afford even the slightest of possibilities. Even worse, the condemned has to hope that it works smoothly the first time which sets up the paradoxical situation of the condemned being "forced into a kind of moral collaboration." He is disturbed to realize that he has imagined the guillotine much more romanticized like in the French Revolution where in fact it is simpler and on ground level so one must approach it like another man. Two other things he thinks of constantly are his appeal and dawn. He would try to picture his heart no longer beating but could not. He figured the executioners always come at dawn so he would lie awake at night waiting, so as not to be surprised. He found that the red streaks of dawn always made him happy because he had another twenty-four hours of life. As for his appeal, he knew to think realistically about it and he worked to convince himself that it would be refused. At this point, he could give himself the permission to entertain the idea of being pardoned. If he could approach this idea rationally, ignoring the joy in his heart, he was afforded one calm hour.

In one of these hours, the chaplain visited. For the first time in awhile Meursault had been thinking of Marie. He realized she may have stopped writing because she was sick or dead and he did not need to think about her dead. No one would think of him after he was dead. The chaplain enters and seems gentle to Meursault. He asks why Meursault has refused him and Meursault answers that he does not believe in God, explaining that it was unimportant. The chaplain's thoughts did not really interest him. He says that he is reacting out of fear and not despair and explains that he does not want any help because he does not have time for things that do not interest him. The chaplain addresses Meursault as "my friend" and declares that all are condemned to die but Meursault does not take consolation in that and states that he would face a later death the same as his approaching one. The chaplain then stares at him which reminds Meursault of a game he has played with friends. He asks if Meursault really believes that after death there is nothing and Meursault replies yes. The chaplain is very upset and explains that divine justice is everything. Meursault notices that the chaplain has only the room to sit or stand.

Finally, the chaplain points to the sweating stones of the cell and says even the most wretched have seen a divine face in them. Meursault knows the stones well and the only face he had looked for was Marie's and he had never found it. The chaplain wonders if he really loves the earth so much. Meursault is just about to ask him to leave but the chaplain refuses to believe that Meursault has never wished for another life. Meursault agrees, he wishes for a life where he could remember this one. The chaplain promises to pray and Meursault snaps, grabbing his collar and yelling. The chaplain's certainty is worth nothing real. He lives his life like a dead man. Meursault may only have death to wait for but at least he could hold on to it. He had made his own choices in life, knowing nothing matters. Meursault has waited his whole life for this moment of vindication. No one else's life effects his own, what would it matter? The guards tear him away from the chaplain and the chaplain leaves.

Calmer, Meursault throws himself on the bed and sleeps until the starlight wakes him. The peace of the summer night soothes him. Right before dawn, the sirens blast. He thinks of Maman for the first time in a while and is able to understand her taking a fiancé so close to the end. She had felt ready to live again when faced with death and no one had the right to cry over her. Meursault feels ready to live it again as well and opens himself to the innate indifference of the world, feeling as close to it as a brother. He realizes he had been happy and was happy again. The final consummation, he hopes, would be a crowd of hating spectators at his execution. Then, he would feel less alone.

Analysis:

The reader is transported into the cell with Meursault at a point where he has already been approached and has denied the chaplain three times. His inner thoughts have moved for the first time that we see from the external sensations he enjoys or the physical elements of the world he observes to a type of fear, apprehension, and searching for escape. He is less marginalized from the goings on of the court system and institutions around him. He realizes that he is trapped in a machinery which would be very difficult to stop. There is a sense of wish and regret for the past in Meursault which was never noticeable in the past. He wishes that he had taken stories of executions more seriously before so that he would know of one where the condemned had escaped the inevitable machinery of the state. The hope for a future event has been born in Meursault's mind.

He mentions that if he knew of even one escape, "my heart would have taken over from there." His heart has never been an issue. In the courtroom, when the summations had finished, his heart was cold. With Marie, his heart was cold. Faced with death, he wishes to have one little piece of life to hold onto and give to his heart. With nothing to feed his heart, he wishes he had always fed it. He yearns for a chance which could play to his imagination and allow him the freedom of knowing there was a possibility of escape. He mentions hope and imagination as he never would have allowed himself to before. They never would have mattered. Facing the end of all time, nothingness, he realizes that to live, they matter. The vagueness of the absolutes set down by the court strike him with such irony that the reader cannot help but agree with him as to the arbitrary nature of events surrounding his indictment. The decision could have gone either way. How could they decide on the seriousness of a man's life by considering such vague notions as the people of France? Were the French people a decision-making body of one voice and intent? No, yet somehow that term gave the courts in Algeria the right to judge one man's morals against a code they themselves had codified.

Meursault turns more now than ever to the power and necessity of memory. He recalls thoughts of Maman which make her more of a living force than she ever became in Part One. The story of his father going to executions gives Meursault a past and reality which he had never been afforded by Camus up to this point. He wishes he could fill the shoes his father had walked in. This desire to preserve the past as well as hope for the future points to a distinct and monumental difference in the new Meursault. As he showed signs of during the last chapter, he welcomes a past and future. Meursault begins to appreciate moments in life where one can do that and look forward to doing that and look forward to remembering having done that. His imagination is finally put to use and he comes up with new penal codes which allow for chance. Earlier he would have said that chance did not make a difference and that a path could go either way. Yet when faced with a path having a finite end in sight, he realizes that one wants power over the stops along the path. It is absurd to want a power that will amount to nothing in the end but when faced with end, he realizes that to live a life until that point is to want that power. Similarly to how he has mistaken ideas of the guillotine gathered from images of the French Revolution, his ideas on much of what can be valued in living a life were mistaken.

Meursault's preoccupation with the thoughts of his appeal and dawn apply to many issues which have been discussed about character. The appeal points to his need for hope, as futile as he realizes it must be, and forces him to question his own notions of death. Though he rationally knows that it makes little difference when and how one dies since all people must die, he cannot help but feel the surge of delight when he thinks of his dying being delayed. The future has entered his visceral vocabulary. He must dismiss this in order to control his passions (which he had never before recognized) and to allow himself the even more futile dream of being pardoned. It is these dreams and thought which could succeed in calming Meursault because he had opened up a valve of emotional response, expectation, and hope. Allowing the pardon soothed the need for escape. Furthermore, Meursault forces himself to stay awake for dawn every morning because he is dealing with the fear and apprehension, with the waiting, of his own death which he knows will come at dawn. The streaks of light each morning as another night passes are gifts to Meursault and represent another day of life.

The life he is allowed one day at a time is much too limited for the scope of vision Meursault has become open to by facing the coming of his own death. In his eyes, the chaplain is interfering with the first time in his life when he has tried to live. He is not deciding to play the game of society's codes and he is not transforming his moral character. He still, as he vehemently alerts the chaplain, does not believe in God or look for His help. In contrast, the chaplain appears to be playing a game with Meursault as he stares him down. Meursault holds solidly that death will bring only nothingness. This does not depress Meursault nearly as much as it does the chaplain. Meursault wants to use his time left to live and relive the moments of his life. When Meursault points out that he has never seen a face or sweat in the stones of his cell, the priest recognizes his sincere attachment to the earth as opposed to any external or divine force. Meursault was living now solely for himself. He did not mourn the supposed death of Marie and expected no one to mourn for him. In fact, he realizes what he wants most is another chance to remember the life he has had and relive it again. There is no need to mourn. He simply hopes that he can enjoy remembering this time he has spent on earth for a little longer.

Meursault feels vindicated from the moral crime he is indirectly charged with because he realizes that no one should have mourned for Maman. She had taken the chance to really live life at the end once freed from her life obligations. The chaplain, on the other hand, does not focus on the here and now but on the divine and the afterlife which he has no control over. Meursault acknowledges Camus' belief that this attempt at life is synonymous to death. One must live and make meaning in life without the pretext or motivation of God or the absolute. Only man is responsible and his life is worth no more than any others. He must make it meaningful so as to enjoy what he can out of it. The prose is beautiful at the end of the novel because Meursault has been transformed into the type of hero Camus has been looking for. Meursault comes to terms with the absurdity of life and the nothingness of death and prepares to meet both equally and courageously. Camus states slyly in one interview that Meursault is the only true type of Christ figure which we should have. One must admit that Christ too is executed for maintaining his belief in the truth.

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