Does Meursault's idea of existentialism change throughout the novel? Toward the beginnign of the novel Meursault maintains a carefree mindset, to the point where the world almost revolves only around him. He lives his life without specific meaning and makes decisions on the spot. “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home…”(3). The death of his mother is almost irrelevant because he sees it as a natural occurrence, and it was supposed to happen this way. Although this is how he acts in the beginning, his mindset is altered shortly before he is supposed to be publicly executed. In this moment specifically he recalls people crying at his mother’s funeral and not they thinking they deserved to cry for her. At his execution though, he wanted to people to cry for him and to mourn in his loss. This change in mindset is also a change in his views and the way he lived his life.
I didn't think the wanted people to mourn him, I think he wanted them to hate him. He said "I had only to wish...that they greet me with cries of hate." (123)
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