Grief in The Stranger

The iconic first line of Albert Camus' The Stranger is a perfect example of how the main character, Mersault, handles grief. His casual, nonchalant reaction to his own mother's death-"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know"- shows how detached he is from his family and his emotions. It is almost as if her death is an inconvenience to Mersault, as shown when he requested time off from work to attend her funeral.

We continually see Mersault dealing with large life decisions with a lack of care or grasp of the severity of the situation. He didn't truly know his mother, and therefore did not feel any strong emotions toward her death- other than annoyance. While we do not know exactly, it can be inferred through his relationships with other characters such as Raymond and Marie, that while this behavior is not triggered by Maman's death, that event certainly highlights it.

His reaction, or lack thereof, to his own mom's passing, is an interesting way to handle grief. When my own grandmother died, it was an immediate flood of emotions and tears, but when my sister heard the news, she kept her feelings to herself, while still grieving in her own way. It almost seems like Mersault is not grieving at all. To the outsider, it might have seemed like my sister wasn't sad about our grandma's passing, but it became clear that she was mourning more quietly than the rest of us. But because the reader has a first hand account into Mersault's reactions toward things, we know that he's not grieving quietly, or out loud, or at all.