Meursault certainly hates life in prison at first, he hates not being able to smoke, he hates not being able to be with women, and most of all he hates not having the idle freedom he was so used to. However, once he gets acclimated to life in prison, he is living like his life has purpose, something he was not doing when he was on the outside. While his life is still extremely repetitive, even more so, he doesn't actually seem to dislike life in prison.
I think that this is partly because Meursault knows that he is guilty, so he sees the merits of him being imprisoned, and because having a small space completely to himself allows him to become the master of his own personal space. He is given his small cell, and he spends months exploring it. Mentally charting very single stone, and keeping inventory of every speck of dust. For someone as methodical as Meursault, especially someone that doesn't particularly like most human interaction, it's no surprise that this is heaven for him.
I think Meursault doesn't like or dislike prison. He is able to live with it and accept it, but never can really enjoy it.
ReplyDelete