Magic Moment in The Stranger

During the first three chapters of The Stranger, the character traits of the main character, Monsieur Meursault, are established through descriptions of his responses to his mother's death. The character is painted as very frank and somewhat unaffected by displays of emotion, tense situations, and daily life. This traits are exhibited in the following interaction with a mortician at Meursault's mother's funeral:

The man from the undertaker's said something to me then which I missed, He was lifting the edge of his cap with his right hand and wiping his head with a handkerchief with his left at the same time. I said, "What?" He pointed up at the sky and repeated, "Pretty hot." I said, "Yes." A minute late he asked, "Is that your mother in there?" Again I said, "Yes." "Was she old?" I answered, "Fairly," because I didn't know the exact number. After that he was quiet (16 Camus).

 This particular scene paints a portrait of Meursault's social skills and surface-level personality. He comes off as very pragmatic, almost indifferent to the death of his mother. Through small, internal expressions of grief throughout the chapter, the reader knows that Meursault is not heartless, but this interaction gives the reader context as to how other people may view him. The dialogue and actions really contribute to the reader's absorption in the "magic" of the story, to use Nabakov's language.