Maman's Existentailism

"So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too. As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world" (122).

Not only does this passage perfectly sums up the ideas of existentialism that Camus illustrated throughout The Stranger, but it is Meursault's first expression of any sort of positive feeling toward Maman. I guess the two are tied together. Meursault's beliefs, or lack of them, reflected in the existentialist ideals he represents, are the only things he is dedicated to. Not in that he demonstrates passion about them, but because he is devoted to telling only what is absolutely true.  This is contrasted with Meursalt's attitude toward his mother, indifference taken to the extreme.

Now, however, Meursault sees a reflection of his existentialism in his mother. He realizes that she, knowing she was close to death, was able to live her life for herself. This proximity to death is what allows Meursalt to also let go of the societal systems previously imposed on him, giving him a new freedom. He is, with the perspective of someone so close to death, able to see that the meanings given to life are actually meaningless, and able to just live. Rather than the sadness and depression normally associated with death, Meursalt finds that his closeness to death brings freedom and happiness and understands that his mother experienced the same thing, giving a meaning to her death, that offsets any sadness in it.