Everybody Does NOT Love Raymond

In Albert Camus's novel, The Stranger Things, everyone is pretty odd but Raymond and Meursault gave me weird vibes. When we first meet Raymond, he seems like a pretty normal guy who felt bad for his neighbor's pet. Although he seemed normal, his overall persona declined very rapidly. I got the impression that Meursault didn't know Raymond very well and was almost uncomfortable that Raymond invited him into his home in the first place. Then, Raymond goes on this rant about his mistress and how he thinks she is cheating on him. Meursault didn't seem to show any discomfort from this man, who is pretty much a stranger, pouring his life story onto him. More importantly, Meursault took no issue in feeding his story. When Raymond said, "I'd smack he around a little, but nice-like.. She'd scream a little" (30), Meursault simply agreed that this woman, who he does not know, deserved harm! Maybe Meursault was agreeing just to make the conversation less awkward, but even still, how could he say that?

Raymond also gave no sympathy to Meursault's mom passing, and I thought that was really insensitive. Again, Mersault was not offended and it made me think that maybe Mersault wasn't close with his mother after all. Overall, both characters seem a little out of touch with interacting politely with each other and I am interested to see more wacky things Mersault and Raymond have in store through the novel.