Meursault

Throughout all of part one, it becomes very obvious that Meursault hardly cares for anyone or anything in his life. His entire life is based on what he feels like he wants to do at the moment, but he has no long term plan for the future. When his mom dies, he does not mourn for her, instead he just attends the funeral because he is supossed to and he talks about how when the funeral is over all of this will be over and his mom will be officially dead. Throughout the story Meursault sees things like Salamano beating his dog and Raymond beating his girlfriend. Meursault doens't care about either of these situations nor does he attempt to do anything about it. In fact when Raymond beats the woman he was in love with Meursaults sides with Raymond and determines that she deserved it because she was rejecting Raymond.

As mentioned before Meursault has no plan for the future and he doens't even care about the job he currently has. It seems like he is always fighting with his boss about work or getting time off. The saddest part about this chapter is that Marie wants to marry Meursault and once again he doesn't care or make any effort for her. He simply says, "I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to." (Page 41) It's sad because someone is asking to marry him and he gives such a bland answer. Meursault's attitude towards life seems to affect everything he does and everyone he's with.