I, and I think many other readers of The Stranger, first brushed Meursault off as being simply indifferent to life and emotions. However, Meursault is neither simple nor indifferent and it is in the last few pages of the novel that I truly grasps how complex and deep Meursault is.
In the beginning of the story, Meursault seems to lack emotion at his mother's funeral and is criticized for it. This is, in fact, is one of the examples used to convict Meursault during his trial. But it is Maman's death that also reveals a more complex side of Meursault when he is in jail.
Meursault says as his is sitting awake waiting for dawn, "For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman"(122). For someone who thought Meursault was nothing but indifferent, the shear fact that he thought about his mother after her death is significant. What's more interesting, is that Meursault finds ways to relate to her. He understands why she took a "fiance" towards the end of her life. He now feels the same freedom she felt towards the end of her life because he is facing the potential of death. It is for this reason that Meursault says no one had the right to cry over Maman's death. He feels the same as she did, that he is ready to live life all over again, and he believes that crying over Maman would not fit this belief.
The belief that Merusault was repeatedly criticized for, that he was indifferent to his mother's death, proves false in this last scene. The reader learns not only that Meursault was able to relate to his mother but also that he found that death made life seem able to be lived again. While he may have appeared indifferent to life, Meursault was actually very invested in life and his connection with his mother. The final pages of the book revealed not only truths about life and humans but also more about Meursault.
I totally agree with this post. I think that even though on the surface Meursault may seem to be an emotionless body, he does love and care about things, specifically his mother. I think his general demeanor actually allows him to be significantly happier than the average human, and 100% happier than the average prisoner. He just doesn't view death in the same way society expects him to.
ReplyDeleteI think that the points you brought up here not only say a lot about Meursault as a character but also about us as humans. Meursault's apparent "lack of emotion" is what gets him into trouble with the law in the first place. But in the midst of this, we realize that just because he didn't express his emotion the way that is correct to society, doesn't mean that he is not capable of feeling emotion at all. The fact that his lack of apparent remorse was a sole reason for execution says a lot about our humanity as a whole.
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