Camus says, "Not so fast!"

In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the first line is, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." Monsieur Meursault is the man behind these words. Immediately I thought he was heartless. Who doesn't know what day their own mother passed away? As I continued to read the first part of the text, Camus laid out examples, what I considered evidence, of Meursault as an emotionless character. Some examples include Meurasault not crying at his mother's funeral and sleeping with another woman the next day, not reacting to the abusive relationship between Salamano and his dog, and finally helping Raymond right a threatening letter to someone he does not know.

However, in the last paragraph of part one Meursault describes the four shots he fires at the Arab like "knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness". In other words, I believe Camus is telling readers, "not so fast!". He is telling readers we can not write off Meursault has an emotionless person. I guess the "door of unhappiness" is suggesting that Meursault was happy until that point. With this in mind, I re-read some earlier scenes of Meursault and Marie at the beach. The sentences are short and have a cut and paste feel, but the imagery and diction make the text magical. The use of physical words such as brushed and touched are used in a poetic way. I think his observations reveal more about Meursault's passionate side. Meursault has a knack for recognizing beauty. Beauty in the sky, at the beach, and more. 

Also, at first glance, I thought Meursault feels the time pass in prison because he is agreeable and does not stand up for himself. Moreover, I thought when he was done talking to the prison guard about freedom, that he accepted giving up his freedom. With closer reading, Camus suggests that Meursault is a genius for adapting to prison life, and in turn he does not give up his freedom. Once he starts to orient his thoughts around prison life he makes the idea of freedom attainable for himself. Freedom can permeate all boundaries and situations. 

I am not a hundred percent sure that freedom is universal as long as you have freedom of thought. Freedom of thought definitely is important but I think there is more to it. Overall, Camus presents Meursault as a complex character, one that readers need to be patient with in order to understand his uniqueness.