Underlying Emotions

Perhaps the most notable characteristic of the first chapter of The Stranger is the drowsy tone of the text. The reader sees the narrator's fatigue pop up during his bus ride to the old people's home, in the mortuary, and at the funeral. His fatigue manifests itself in different ways, but perhaps its most intriguing form appears on page 9:

"That's when Maman's friends came in. There were about ten in all, and they floated into the blinding light without a sound. They sat down without a single chair creaking. I saw them more clearly than I had ever seen anyone, and not one detail of their faces or their clothes escaped me. But I couldn't hear them, and it was hard for me to believe they really existed" (Camus 9).

The narrator portrays Maman's friends as ghosts, describing them as floating, soundless, and surreal beings. The reader may wonder if they are even real at all. After all, hallucinations and fatigue are both symptoms of grief, and this may be the narrators way of expressing his emotions. The former symptom is debatable, however, considering that most hallucinations in this situation are typically of the deceased loved one. The narrator's fatigue as a sign of grief is certainly plausible, considering it is a common factor in the grieving process. Overall, the tone of beginning of the novel may serve as an underlying indication of what the narrator feels during the first chapter and later on.