The Legacy of Strangers

While reading the passage in The Stranger at Celeste's restaurant with the robotic woman, I couldn't help but think about how I view and think about strangers in my life. Meursault sees this woman order all of her food at once and meticulously check off all of the radio programs in her magazine and that is the only thing that he learns about this woman; that one time she did these strange things at a restaurant. What I kept thinking about is how that interaction will most likely be the only time he sees this woman and will also probably be the only time he even thinks about this woman. But at the same time if Meursault does remember this woman she will forever be the robotlike weirdo that orders all of her meal at once and pays before she eats it. The reader can take this passage in one of two ways.

The first is that, when you are the stranger, the people around you will most likely never think of you again. If you subscribe to this belief then you are essentially free. In many situations, you no longer have to think about what people think of you because after this microscopic moment in time, they will forget you even exist. The issue with this interpretation is that, in your own ignorance, you will cement an unflattering legacy for yourself.

The second interpretation is that you only have one chance to make a first impression and after that you may always be remembered by your actions in that single fleeting moment. This belief is much more of a burden in that it may cause one to suppress their inner desires because they are the slaves to their own image. However if you subscribe to this interpretation, your legacy will be whatever you want it to be because you have ensured that you only displayed the qualities of yourself that you deemed acceptable.

So essentially the question is this: is it better to be blissfully ignorant or to be burdened by perfection?