The Stranger Theme of Passivity

The Stranger Theme of Passivity

The Stranger seems to convey the message that passivity is an acceptable way of experiencing life and treating others. For the most part, the narrator/protagonist is an observer – a spectator – of life and its events. He feels detached and alienated from his dead mother. He doesn’t love the woman who wishes to marry him. And, though he participates in life, he observes twice as much. Camus explores in The Stranger the thin line between indifference and acceptance; the novel features this character’s transformation from the former to the latter – a positive transition, in Camus’s world.

Questions About Passivity

1. Meursault constantly reiterates that, after a while, one can get used to anything. OK, sure – but what’s the point of such a harped-upon notion? How does this play into Meursault’s concluding revelation?
2. What is the difference between indifference and acceptance in The Stranger?
3. Meursault explains many things (such as his never having much to say, or his brutal honesty in response to Marie’s questions about love and marriage) by appealing to his detached passivity. Does this justify any of his objectionable actions? Is passivity an affliction or a desired state of mind, in Meursault’s view?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

From passive contentment to a new absurdist understanding of the world, Meursault’s journey has been one of enlightenment and acceptance.

Meursault’s supposed enlightenment at the end of The Stranger is actually a false revelation; he does not commit to this new outlook, rather examines the possibility of doing so. He is still too passive to act.

The Stranger Theme of Friendship

The Stranger explores the differences between friendship and companionship. The novel’s apathetic hero seems to draw no distinction between them, or rather, approaches what other characters think of as "friendship" with a detached and indifferent air. He falls into friendships if being friends is easier than being strangers, but would rather remain strangers if that takes less effort than having a conversation. Friendship ends up being something that happens to the main character, rather than something he creates. Of course, one could always argue that this means it isn’t friendship – or even companionship – at all.

Questions About Friendship

1. Doesn’t it seem like Salamano is better friends with his dog than Meursault is with Raymond? What does this say about the nature of friendship?
2. Does The Stranger draw any distinction between friendship and companionship?
3. Why does Maman start a new romance with Perez so close to her death? Do you agree with Meursault’s explanation?
4. Salamano replacing his dead wife with a dog might be considered a little ludicrous. What does this mean from an absurdist’s point of view?
5. Meursault acts not for good reason, but because there’s no reason not to act. How is that reflected in his friendship with Raymond?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Just as Perez and Maman tried to escape death via a blossoming romance, Meursault escapes boredom through his friendship with Raymond.

Meursault uses other people to satisfy his needs. This is actually no different than what other, "normal" characters do in The Stranger – it’s just that Meursault is more willing to admit it. At the end of the day, he’s just like any other person, without the mask of social niceties.

The Stranger Theme of Society and Class

Detachment from society is one thing, but nonconformity to – or refusal to play by – its rules is another. The detached is deemed cold and pathetic, but the blatant nonconformist is deemed amoral. Are conformity and morality one and the same? Are society’s rules necessarily in the right? For The Stranger's hero, his freeing revelation is based on the notion that, in a senseless and meaningless world, society, its rules, and its morality are just that.

Questions About Society and Class

1. Take a look at our lovely ensemble cast in The Stranger. Are these characters (besides Meursault) conformists, or nonconformists?
2. The French Algerians condemned Meursault for having no social conscience. How might it be easier to condemn a nonconformist? Is the nonconformist more guilty than a conformist that commits the same crime? Do the French Algerians think so?
3. Why was Meursault intrigued by the odd little "robot" woman who shares a table with him at Celeste’s diner? Is she a nonconformist as well? Does Meursault identify with her to some extent?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Meursault is unfairly tried because he is judged by one, arbitrary set of societal values – most prominently the tenet that emotional displays are the necessary and correct response to traumatic events. The irrationality of the absurdist’s world stems from this very fact: that any one given rubric can be applied as a standard to all people.

Meursault only exiles himself from society because he doesn’t understand its constructs. He is not, and in fact, cannot be free to choose; he is hindered by his ignorance.

The Stranger Theme of Women and Femininity

The hero of The Stranger displays a detachment not only from society, but also from women. He does not cry at his mother’s funeral. He does not sympathize with Raymond’s ex-girlfriend when she is brutally beaten. He does not love his own girlfriend, though he admittedly enjoys her company. Treatment of women is the main theme here, but other romantic and/or sexual relationships in the novel provide additional insights by way of contrast.

Questions About Women and Femininity

1. Meursault seems extremely attuned to the physical nature of his relationship with Marie, but not so much the emotional. Does Meursault’s emotional landscape with respect to Marie change at all over the course of the book?
2. What is the effect of women in The Stranger constituting only minor roles? Are these roles even necessary?
3. Check out the nature of Perez’s relationship with Maman as compared to Meursault’s relationship with Marie. Are they similar? Different? (Age doesn’t count as a difference. Nice try, though.)
4. Why in the world does Marie stay with Meursault? Why does she ask him to marry her? Is she blind!? Desperate!? Blind and desperate!?
5. Why does Marie fade out from the story as the book progresses? Why doesn’t Meursault think about her in prison?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Meursault’s actions in and attitude towards his relationship with Marie is representative of his actions and attitudes in general: he is motivated only by the physical and concerned only with himself.

There are no positive examples of sexual relationships in The Stranger. Therefore, Camus argues that, to the absurdist, sex is at best irrelevant, and at worst destructive or hurtful.

The Stranger Theme of Religion

According to the absurdist, religion is constructed by man in an attempt to create meaning to a senseless existence. Acceptance of religion, of the possibility of an afterlife, would mean that man effectively escapes death. This is a destructive belief, as only the realization and acceptance of impending death allows man to live to his fullest. The Stranger would condemn this, and at one point, the novel’s hero directly accuses a chaplain of "living like a dead man." Refuting the "no atheists on fox holes" claim, this character challenges the social construct of religion even before his own death, refusing to "waste any last minutes on God."

Questions About Religion

1. The chaplain’s actions are understandable – as a holy man, it is his job to convert; but why is the magistrate so intent on proselytizing Meursault?
2. What does the magistrate mean when he calls Meursault an "antichrist"? Does this have more to do with the fact that Meursault is unfeeling, or the fact that he is an atheist?
3. For what purposes do the French Algerians (besides Meursault) use religion? Why does Meursault reject it?
4. Why does Meursault flip out and choke the chaplain while in jail? How does this run-in with the chaplain spur his later epiphany regarding life and death?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

In the world depicted by Meursault, religion is the single most harmful social construct.

Meursault doesn’t see religion as inherently harmful, but does reject its use by men like the chaplain and the magistrate.

The Stranger Theme of Man and the Natural World

These days, society hardly challenges the new age-y wisdom, "Seek to be one with nature." Society in The Stranger finds one manifestation of that wisdom objectionable, and even punishable by death. An element of nature, the narrator’s actions are often dictated by the slightest changes in weather. Citing the scorching sun as the reason for murder, however, his unbelievable story is met with a trip to the guillotine. The Stranger investigates the extent to which man is affected by nature or may be said to be one with nature.

Questions About Man and the Natural World

1. Does Meursault behave as if he is an element of nature? What drives this connection?
2. At times the sun makes Meursault sleepy; at other times, it renders him angry or annoyed. Is there any rationale to this?
3. Meursault is rather connected to nature, yet incredibly detached from humans. Is this yet another illogical tenet of an irrational world, or does it somehow make sense that man, a mere creature himself, is in tune with the earth?
4. Do you find Meursault’s appeal to "the weather" a valid defense for the murder? Even if we accept it with respect to the first shot, how did "the weather" influence the four shots thereafter?
5. Trace the ups and downs of Meursault’s mood by pinpointing changes in the weather or the temperature or the sky. There is clearly a correlation, but does correlation necessarily mean causation?
6. How do Camus’s descriptions of the weather or nature foreshadow events in the book?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Because Meursault narrates The Stranger, we can’t trust the description of events – in particular the day at the beach when the Arab is killed.

The Stranger Theme of Sadness

At funerals, we expect sadness. At a murderer’s trial, we desire to witness remorse. Have you ever asked why our expectation and desire converge? Should the son be sad at his mother’s funeral? Should the murderer be remorseful? And what if the rebels do not wish to abide by these rules society has imposed on its constituents? Should they die for their lack of sadness or remorse? This main character sure does. And Camus explores why that is in The Stranger.

Questions About Sadness

1. We expect sadness at a funeral and remorse at a murder trial. Why do you suppose this is, and why does Meursault fail at both?
2. At the end of the book, Meursault has claimed that "Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over [his mother]." What understanding has Meursault reached?
3. Meursault states that shooting the Arab was "like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness." In Meursault’s mind, what is the cause of this unhappiness? Is it that he will now be condemned? That he has just killed a man? That he feels guilty himself? If he knows it’s going to lead to unhappiness, why does he do it?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The remorseless Meursault is no less guilty than the criminal who, in order to save himself, becomes remorseful for his crime after the fact.

Meursault feels no sadness over death because he believes to grieve over someone’s departure from a world that has no meaning would be nonsensical.

The Stranger Theme of Isolation

The Stranger focuses on one man’s isolation from society, from friends, from his lover, from human emotion, and eventually from normal logic. This isolation is self-prescribed; the main character isn’t exiled by any means – he separates himself. Of course, at first he doesn’t view this as a choice at all; isolation is simply the path of least resistance, the series of activities that requires the least activity and effort. By the end of the novel, the narrator realizes that he has the ability to choose; that if he wants, he can wish for a large crowd of people, he can desire to be less alone. Or he can stay as he is. But he is conscious of his own ability to decide.

Questions About Isolation

1. The physical layout of the visiting room in prison symbolizes the chasm between upstanding citizens of society and immoral criminals in prison. Do you find Meursault more or less detached when he is in prison as compared to when he was free?
2. Is isolation damaging to Meursault, or freeing? (Which kind of isolation, by the way? Societal? Emotional? Which impacts him the most?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Content as a spectator in life, Meursault can be considered solipsistic – his own irrational response to an irrational world.

The event most characteristic of Meursault’s detachment to this world is his refusal to see his mother one last time.

The Stranger Theme of Mortality

The Stranger opens with an announcement of death; Salamano’s old dog is in a state of decay; the protagonist murders, and is then sentenced to execution. The centrality of death, as a concept, is perhaps Camus’s way of forcing us to confront the continuum of varying attitudes on this universal, yet distinctly absurdist, theme. In The Stranger, death is inevitable and does not lead to an afterlife. The novel concludes with the revelation that death is what makes all men – indeed all living creatures – equal. Everyone has to die, therefore no one man is privileged over any other man (or living being).

Questions About Mortality

1. How does Meursault’s view regarding death changed over the course of the book? In what ways has it stayed the same?
2. In what sense is murder and execution one and the same in The Stranger?
3. At the very end of the book, Meursault’s epiphany is spurred by reminiscing about his mother’s actions near her own death. What are some possible conclusions he has drawn? Why does he ultimately accept and welcome his own demise?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

From the beginning to end, Meursault’s view towards death has morphed and matured from indifference, to fear, and finally, to acceptance.

Rather than investigating issues material to the actual crime committed, the prosecutor has put Meursault on trial for being indifferent to his mother’s death. To the prosecutor, the trial was meant to convict a cold-hearted rebel, not to address the heinousness of either "crime."

The Stranger Theme of Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd

The Stranger reflects Camus’s philosophical stance as an absurdist. Is there a logical meaning to life? Is there some higher order or law governing it? Some rational explanation to the chaos and nonsense? Indeed, can we make sense of life at all? The answer from The Stranger to these questions is a categorical "No." There is no truth, no certainty, nor any unwavering, non-relative laws in life – and there is no sense in pursuing such impossibilities.

Questions About Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd

1. It is difficult for Meursault to explain his motivation(s) for killing the Arab. Do the reasons he cite comment on the absurd? Are the reasons he cite irrational? Are they justifiable? And if they are irrational, irrational compared to what? Is "logical" not a relative word?
2. Based on absurdity as defined in The Stranger, can an absurdist live a good, meaningful life without believing in the possibility of it rationally? Are all absurdists doomed to toil through life senselessly, or can they live on affirmatively?
3. From an absurdist’s viewpoint, is Meursault more "free" in prison or outside it?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Meursault views his murder of the Arab as something that just "happened" at the sun-drenched beach, irrational and without premeditation. Insofar as the concept of responsibility is involved, such an explanation is utterly indefensible. Insofar as absurdist tenets are involved, Meursault’s explanation is at least possible.

Critics have stated that Absurdism is essentially meaningless because acceptance of it entails a life without meaning. This is incorrect; within the tenets of Absurdism, life can be meaningful despite its not having a rational order.

The Stranger

In A Nutshell

The Stranger was published in 1942 by Albert Camus, in French, as L'Étranger. The story revolves around a man named Meursault who, in a heated moment, shoots and kills another man on a beach. The events leading up to the shooting, and Meursault’s subsequent legal trial and incarceration, are a platform for Camus to explore issues of meaning and meaninglessness in life. Along with the author’s other work (such as The Fall or The Myth of Sisyphus), The Stranger is a medium in which Camus explores his own pet philosophy: "the absurd." More about this later, but in short, "Absurdism" says the world is devoid of rational meaning. The Nobel Prize Committee quite rationally thought Camus should win some money, so they gave him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, not for The Stranger per se, but for his generally "important literary production."

 

Why Should I Care?

OK, so at first it seems like this "stranger," Meursault, is just a guy who is emotionally incapable, socially unaware, and understands relationships only in the context of the physical. But before you slap the "loser" sign on his forehead, take note that, actually, the stranger is an introspective and, to some degree tortured, philosophical rebel. And the philosophy that he and Camus promote – the philosophy of Absurdism – doesn't only apply to this book. A lot of people in the real world are big on Absurdism, so you might as well use this book as an opportunity to learn what it's all about.

Absurdism essentially says that the world is so nonsensical, so absurd, that you can’t expect to find meaning in it anywhere. There’s no logic, no rationale, no governing order. "Pshaw!" you say. Well, let's take the devil's advocate position. People on the absurdist bandwagon might ask you, "Where’s the logic in 12th century Europe when everyone got together and decided to kill people who didn’t believe in their religion?" According to the absurdist point of view, the humans throughout history have done some pretty nonsensical things.

The Stranger concludes that, because of this absurdity, we can’t find meaning in the world. Now that you've read the book, it's up to you to decide if the world is indeed absurd.

The Stranger Plot Analysis

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.

Initial Situation

Meursault is detached.

Meursault is unaffected by his mother’s death, living the same mundane life he always has, clerking at the shipping company, rendezvousing with a new girlfriend, and passing time with buddies doing random, light-hearted things. Boring. Wake us up when Meursault laments his mother’s death or professes his love to Marie like a normal, hot-blooded guy, please. He is totally unreal. Who toils on in such a banal existence like that, without any ambition? Who smokes and refrains from shedding one single tear at his own mother’s funeral? And moreover, who goes to a comedy movie with some random girl he met at the beach the day after said funeral? We get the sense that Meursault is a depressed sociopath. Actually, this novel would be more interesting if he in fact turns out to be a sociopath. Wait a minute… does he?

Conflict

Fight!

A bit intoxicated by the wine at lunch time, Meursault, Raymond, and Masson take a stroll down the beach. Confronted by the two Arabs who had been following Raymond for a week now, the men fight. Raymond hits one of the Arabs, the brother of his ex-girlfriend. The Arab slashes Raymond’s mouth and arm with a knife. Masson punches the other Arab face down into the water. An alcohol-fueled, interracial fight this early on in the book bodes ill for the rest of the book. But this or any fight screams "conflict," which is super-convenient, since this is the "conflict" stage.

Complication

Meursault gets a gun.

After Raymond comes back from the doctor’s, he and Meursault decide to get some air down by the beach. The two again stumble upon the Arabs. Raymond feels compelled to shoot the one who attacked him, but Meursault talks him out of it. Raymond then hands Meursault his gun for safekeeping (or for what will obviously be some later shooting).We can just smell how complicated it’s going to get now that a GUN is introduced. That shiny, powerful thing is bound to get used.

Climax

Murder!

The Arab doesn’t move at first. Meursault approaches. The Arab draws his knife. The light bounces off the steel and cuts like a blade at Meursault’s forehead. A drip of sweat reflecting the scorching sun temporarily blinds him. The flash of the blade slashed at his eyelashes and stabs at his stinging eyes. Meursault squeezes his hand around the revolver, and the trigger gives. BANG!! [Pause.] Meursault then shoots four more times at the motionless body. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! We told you that gun would come into play. Also, notice how we (and the text) used all these short, staccato sentences to describe the tension-filled action? That’s a hint that you’re in climax-land.

Suspense

Meursault is put on trial for murder.

Meursault’s own attorney doesn’t understand him; the magistrate judge invokes Christ to save his hardened soul; the prosecutor is intent on sending him to the fiery pits of Hell. Witness after witness stands to testify to Meursault’s good moral character. The courtroom is packed with sweaty bodies in the dead of summer. With his closing remarks, the prosecutor calls Meursault a "monster" and asks the jury for his "head"…What in the world? Meursault thought his case was "simple." The magistrate wanted to "help." And Meursault’s attorney thought the case was "tricky" but easily "win-able." Just what is going on? Why does the prosecutor say that Meursault is morally guilty of killing his mother? With much sweat and heavy heart-pounding, we wonder if Meursault will be found guilty.

Denouement

The verdict is in: guilty.

After only 45 minutes of deliberation, the foreman of the jury comes back into the courtroom to read the verdict. Meursault hears a muffled voice somewhere, and then the presiding judge informs him that he has indeed been sentenced to death. We hoped for a finding of "not guilty" despite the red herrings. But from the duration of the deliberation alone we could tell that this was coming. Just listen and hark, you will hear the "muffled" sound of the anti-climax plopping into our laps. This is the "falling action" – we knew it, we saw it coming, and we half-expected ourselves to be as quasi-stunned as we are now. Where is the justice? Was this just? Does anyone care? Probably not, and heading up the non-caring team is protagonist Meursault himself.

Conclusion

Meursault confronts his death and finds peace.

On what is presumably one of Meursault’s last dawns before the execution, he awakens peacefully to the wonderful smells of summer earth. He doesn’t have to search long and hard for the fortune cookie message; just as his mother rebelled against dying, he too must confront his impending execution. Emptying himself of all hope, freeing himself from the shackles society seeks to place upon him, Meursault emerges worry-free. A final, hopeful twist to an otherwise bleak and absurdist tale?! You can’t put it past Camus to deliver this, and with a double dosage of calm, no less. Meursault is finally at peace with the philosopher residing inside him. Be this a cognitive, psychological, philosophical or logical triumph, we walk away rejuvenated by the conclusive courage Meursault exhibits now. Wow, has he matured through this ordeal. But alas, the story ends here, as does Meursault and the Classic Plot Analysis.

What’s Up With the Title?

Let’s start with, what is the title? In case you didn’t know, Camus was French; so he wrote The Stranger in French, and because it seemed appropriate, gave it a French title: L'Étranger. Here’s where things get tricky – in the translation. "L'Étranger" could have easily been translated as "The Foreigner" instead of as "The Stranger," and actually is in some cases. Translations aside, it’s more fun to argue semantics. Let’s run with this "foreigner" bit. Our main character, Meursault, is a French man living in French Algiers. In some senses, yes, this makes him a foreigner to the land, but the text establishes that in fact his family has lived there for several generations. Viewed in this light, Meursault is no more a foreigner to French Algiers than third generation Americans are foreigners in the U.S. More likely, Meursault is a metaphorical foreigner. We know this guy is detachment personified, so it’s easy to argue that he’s a foreigner to society, to common, human customs – he’s an outsider (yet another possible translation for the title, by the way).

This is based on the word "foreigner," but the same thing applies to the title "The Stranger." Meursault is a stranger among other people because he is so isolated from them – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and, by the end of the text, physically (he’s imprisoned). He’s strange. He’s a stranger. Or quite possibly, he’s the stranger.

The Stranger Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye.

The Sun, Heat, and Weather

Perhaps more than facial expressions, the sun is an apt indicator (and perhaps, predicting device for us, much like Punxsutawney Phil). However, also like Punxsutawney Phil, these predictions are vague and hard-to-read. Depending on its intensity, the sun either makes Meursault sleepy, angry, happy, or resentful. Or Dopey. Or Sneezy. For a guy with a limited range of emotions to begin with, this is quite extensive. It’s almost as though Meursault is using the sun as an excuse to justify every feeling he has. And the murder he commits.

So let’s take a look at this murder bit. Just as Meursault is about to turn around, to leave the beach altogether, we hear this line: "But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back." "But," he says. He would have left, but the sun was too intense. The sun "[makes him] move forward" toward the spring (and therefore, toward the Arab).

What kind of guy lets the weather dictate his actions? As we’ve seen many times before, Meursault is a "path of least resistance" kind of guy. He’s also mentioned that his "physical needs often [get] in the way of [his] feelings." We see these both at play here; it’s easier for Meursault to step towards the cool water and away from the sun, and his feelings of apprehension (probably about the impending showdown at high noon) are inhibited by his physical need to cool off.

It’s also perfectly reasonable to claim that Meursault is like an element of nature himself. After all, he claims at the end of the text that he’s found a kinship with world – that it is so much like himself, a "brother," really. Additionally, if all living beings are made equal by death (which Meursault argues at the end of The Stranger), then he is just a creature of the world himself; it makes sense, then, that he’s subject to his physical surroundings. We shouldn’t think of him as any sort of higher level being – just as an animal with physical needs, pains, and desires.

Colors

Meursault devotes significant attention to the different colors of the sky, the sun’s rays at different times of the day, the beach, the ocean, etc. In this book, green is usually associated with happy moments, which we know from the vague and undecipherable line: "The sky was green; I felt good." Red colors are associated with anger (like the Arab on the beach scene) or sex (like Marie’s dress). It’s probably no coincidence that these two are linked (as they are with Raymond and his ex-mistress).

The Old, Odd, Robotic Woman

Appearing in both Part I, Chapter Five and in Part II, Chapter Three, this woman arouses Meursault’s curiosity because of her peculiarity and meticulousness. Intrigued by her machine-like qualities, he tries to figure her out by studying her at the diner and then following her afterwards. Later, seeing her stare in court at him without emotion, Meursault is unnerved. This woman seems to move along in her own world, set in her ways and oblivious to society’s judgments. In many senses, she symbolizes the mechanisms that define Meursault. She operates on the same basic principles, but the outcome is very different for her than our protagonist – she blends in as a spectator at the trial.

The Crucifix

The obvious symbolism here is Christianity, but the crucifix is more than that in this novel. It also represents the Afterlife, society’s acceptance of it, and man’s collective search for a higher order or meaning that renders significant an otherwise absurd life. In stark contrast to the Absurdist that is Meursault (and Camus), the crucifix also represents everything that Meursault does not believe in. Rejecting it twice (once from the magistrate judge and the second time from the chaplain), Meursault detests the notion that his life must have any rational explanation or significance. Meursault defies the game society plays in a futile attempt in search of meaning – something larger and grander. He does not believe in it, and is content without it.

The Courtroom

Not just a place where Meursault’s life is on trial, the courtroom also symbolizes society’s forum in The Stranger. The judge is the self-proclaimed "moral umpire," calling the shots. The jurors are representatives sent by society to cast their judgments (and stones) at Meursault. The entire trial symbolizes society’s attempt to rationalize a universe – or a chain of events – without order. The verdict represents society’s rejection of Meursault’s nonconforming ways.

Young Reporter in Courtroom

Appearing at Meursault’s trial in Part II, Chapter Three introduces a young reporter wearing gray flannels and a blue tie who studies Meursault intently with his very bright eyes, betraying no emotion. Meursault confesses that this gives him "the odd impression of being watched by [him]self." With that subtlety, we note that this calm young reporter represents either Meursault or Albert Camus – either way, an Absurdist.

Laughing and Swimming

Laughing and swimming are the two actions that remind us that, in fact, Meursault actually is human after all. Meursault is strangely attracted to laughter, as we all are in some way, we suppose. He finds Raymond instantly friendly – once the man laughs. His heart melts and he wants Marie – yes, in that way – each time she laughs. For Meursault perhaps, laughter symbolizes innocence, simplicity, and nonchalance. (Yes, everything good.) What is true of laughter is also true for swimming. Meursault loves to swim. Marie adores swimming. The two meet while they were swimming, and Meursault essentially makes his first move while in the water. Carefree, wholehearted goodness? You bet.