The death of a loved one
is typically one of the most emotionally distressing events people face,
particularly when that person is a parent. In most societies, it would be
considered taboo for a son to respond to his parent's demise with indifference.
However, in The Stranger, readers first meet the protagonist when he tells them,
"Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know" (3). This
seemingly impassive statement typifies the ostensible lack of emotion and
detachment that the main character, Meursault, exhibits throughout the novel,
and for which he is unfairly vilified and condemned.
In the first chapter of
Camus's novel, Meursault speaks of his mother's funeral in terms of the
itinerary he must follow to fit it into his schedule, as though he is bothered
that it is interrupting his usual routine. He says he must travel "about 80
kilometers" on the "
When Meursault initially
arrives at the nursing home where his mother spent her last years, he tells the
reader, "I wanted to see Maman right away" (4). However, as he first
waits for and then talks to the director of the home, he begins to grow a bit
distant and weary, saying, "The director spoke to me again. But I wasn't
listening anymore." When the director asks if he would like to see his
mother, he responds with silence and simply follows him to the mortuary (5). The
caretaker arrives shortly thereafter to unscrew the casket, but Meursault tells
him to stop. He does not want to see his mother, he suddenly decides, but says,
"I don't know" when asked why (6). Because it is usually expected that
those left behind wish to see the deceased one last time before the interment,
the fact that Meursault not only declines the opportunity to do so, but that he
has no reasonable explanation for this decision, is rather strange. Moreover, in
the succeeding pages, he drinks coffee and smokes in front of his mother's
casket. This is viewed as both disrespectful and inappropriate, but Meursault
sees nothing wrong with it, explaining, "Then I felt like having a smoke.
But I hesitated, because I didn't know if I could do it with Maman right there.
I thought about it; it didn't matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we
smoked" (8). Meursault's apathy toward proper social conduct is seemingly
the issue, but he does at least briefly consider that perhaps he should not do
these things in the presence of the casket. He reasons that it does not matter,
but not because he is insolent or does not care about her. Rather, he feels
drained from all the formalities the funeral entails and the emotions people
expect him to show. However, as the reader sees later in the novel, Meursault
says, "Everybody knows life isn't worth living. Deep down I know perfectly
well that it doesn't matter much whether you die at thirty or at seventy....Since
we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter" (114).
It can be seen, then, that Meursault acts in what appears a callous manner
because he sees death (as well as life) as wholly unimportant. Therefore, he
feels the entire affair of the vigil is an unnecessarily formal and sacred
manner, and so sees no offense in his actions.
During the funeral
procession itself, Meursault makes repeated remarks as to how hot and
uncomfortable he feels. He describes the countryside they bear the casket
through as "inhuman and oppressive" because of the scorching "sun
bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat" (15). At one
point, a man in the procession asks Meursault if his mother was old, and he
guiltlessly admits to the reader, "I didn't know the exact number"
(16). This information, to him, has no true importance, but is merely a rather
absurd source of proof to a stranger of his concern (or seeming lack thereof)
for his mother. Throughout the procession, Meursault seems more distracted by
his own physical discomfort than with his mother's death or the funeral itself.
However, this, again, is not because he is cold and uncaring, but because he
does not see any of it as having any real consequence. As he says later in the
novel, Meursault's mind is "always on what was coming next, today or
tomorrow," and because his mother has died, she is now a part of that past
to which he gives no thought or substance - not because she does not mean
anything to him, but because the past and the matters of life and death do not.
These events form the true
basis for which Meursault is judged and castigated when he is on trial for
having killed an Arab, a matter that is hardly discussed during the proceedings
at all. Rather, he is really on trial for what is considered the abhorrent and
unthinkable social crime of not crying at his mother's funeral, an offense that
is misunderstood because Meursault is being judged on the basis of mores to
which he does not subscribe. He is convicted, not for shooting an Arab on the
beach one day, but for failing to fulfill society's expectations of what is
proper behavior for a son who has lost his mother. Essentially, that Meursault
remains true to his unique sensibilities and attitudes about life and the world
in general is the real, larger reason for his execution, becoming a sort of
misunderstood martyr.