Meursault's Algeria

Meursault published The Stranger in 1942, years before the tension between the French and Algerians came to fruition, during the Algerian War of Independence. At the same time of the publishing, the North African campaign of World War II had begun. France was under the Nazi's control, so British and American soldiers invaded the French colonies of North Africa in an attempt to free them. Due to this extensive fighting, one would assume that strains French-Arab relationship would be put on the back burner. The prevalence of the general "Arab" in the story says otherwise. Besides the Arab nurse from the beginning of the book, seemingly the only interactions Meursault has with Arab people is negative. The Arab characters do not have as much depth as the French or pied-noir characters, showing the distance between the two groups.