In Albert Camus's novel The Stranger, he begins to discuss the death of the main character, Meursault's, mother. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: "Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours." "That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. Immediately, the reader is able to see that Meursault does not show a particular emotion towards the death of his mother. He just thinks about how he has to go to the funeral, but shows no discomfort and doesn't even bother to figure out what day she died. However, in the end of part I, he discusses the weather to a great extent. Meursault states, "The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead. At the same instant the sweat in my eyebrows dripped over my eyelids at once and covered them with a warm, thick film"(59). Meursault spends a few sentences describing the feeling that the intense sun, but only uses about a sentence and a half to talk about his mother's death. The reaction was almost robotic. This shows that he feels very little connection to the people around them and maybe lives in a world that is more focused on himself. When Marie asks him to marry him, he says that he does not love her, but if she wants to get married then they could. He shows very little emotion towards her and is not excited by the idea of human relationships.
I agree with your argument. I think that Meursault feels very little connection to other people. He doesn't feel the same emotions others around him feel. He doesn't feel the same sadness for his mother as other people at the funeral, and he doesn't feel the same love for Marie when she wants to marry him.
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