Within The Stranger, Meursault is portrayed as an "other" because no one seems to understand him. This causes people to make incorrect assumptions about who he must be, how he feels, his thoughts, and his reasoning. Although it is clear to Meursault what he is thinking, even the reading is still confused because he doesn't appear to be "normal".
I think a very clearly theme in the book is that people fear those who aren't like them. In many instances we see characters who don't know how to react to Meursault's lack of emotion. The priest, for example, tries to conform to Christianity and acts as though Meursault is a monster when he refuses. However, Meursault is not a monster, he simply has his own opinions that he lives by. Meursault is also found guilty at the trial because the prosecution found that he was unsympathetic and remorseful, but no one at the trial can make a true judgement about his feelings towards the situations. Finally, when his acquaintances testify at trial, all they can say is that Meursault is a "good" and "honest" man but that doesn't give any real insight to who he is, proving that no one really knows or understands him as a person.
Meursault is an "other" in The Stranger because no one knows who he really is, including the reader. He is such a peculiar character that people quickly decide that they need to change him because he is different from them, but Meursault isn't a psychopath for being the way he is. He is simply just different than those around him, leading to their poor assumptions about him and making him into an "other" before even trying to understand his opinions or character.
Good job with this, I really like how you explained why the character's view him as the "Other". I completely agree with what you said about that people don't relate to those they don't understand, and don't like what they can't explain. I find it very interesting that in the book Meursault gets confused why people expect such different things than what he gives. I would assume that Meursault would be able to pick up on the fact that he is different, but I guess that is the true-ness of his character. He is aware and only cares about himself and things that effect him (which isn't very much). He doesn't have a care to worry about what he doesn't need to.
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