The Lack of Relationships in The Stranger

After reading The Stranger, I initially found the task difficult of identifying important themes throughout the book. One of the most obvious, however, is the theme of Meaninglessness and "The Absurd," a term coined by Albert Camus himself. One theme that did cross my mind though, was the theme of Relationships, and explicitly, how Meursault is unable to form them in his daily life.

Of course, readers are initially exposed to his lack of care and empathy when he hears about his mother's death and is rather annoyed by the time he must take out his day to visit her. In fact, all of the people he keeps in touch with are passionless from his mother to his friend Raymond, even his "romantic" relationship with Marie. Meursault is more focused, rather, on the physical experiences of his relationships. For example, this quote from Meursault is primarily based on the physical details of his "friends" rather than caring about what they have to say:

"That's when Maman's friends came in. There were about ten in all, and they floated into the blinding light without a sound. They sat down without a single chair creaking. I saw them more clearly than I had ever seen anyone, and not one detail of their faces or their clothes escaped me. But I couldn't hear them, and it was hard for me to believe they really existed"

Readers additionally begin to feel Meursault lack of conscience when he begins talking about his life with Marie. Marie is romantically involved with Meursault, and unlike Meursault, she focuses more on the emotional aspects of the daily events that occur in her life. For example, Marie is genuinely sad and discouraged when Mersault states that his life wouldn't matter one way or another if he married her. He states:

 "That evening, Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, "No"...She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved in the same way. I said, "Sure."

His inappropriate answers prove that he simply doesn't feel that she is different or unique compared to other people he is in contact with and therefore is freely able to admit to her that he does not love her.

At the final end of the book, readers get a slight glimpse that Meursault has finally realized what it is like to have an emotional connection with someone else. He states "to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate".