Parallels

Trust and The Stranger surprisingly have a lot in common. From the dulled monologue to the unusual characters, they both seem to portray carry the same types of themes. In The Stranger, it is not hard to recognize the level of indifference that Meursault regards his relationships with as well as everyday activities. He finds pleasure in doing things that usually would not be something that someone enjoys, like sitting in a room by yourself looking out of a window the whole day, or following a random woman down the street. 

But he does share this unique quality with the main character in Trust, who is also different in many ways: she is pregnant in high school, she "killed" her father, and she agreed to marry a man who is much older than her. However, they both share something eerily similar: their regard for love.

In the book, Meursault does not care if he marries Marie, he is very nonchalant about the situation as a whole, and agrees to marry Marie because, "why not".  A parallel can be drawn between this proposal and the proposal between Maria and Matthew, who agree to get married out of the blue with a conversation that was very dull and lacked any sort of emotion. Matthew agrees to marry Marie, but also says that what he has for her is not love, but respect and admiration. 

Both of these situations create marriages that do not revolve around love, but circumstances.