“It occured to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed” (1.2.24).
So far in the book this quote shows the character of Meursault, very indifferent and seemingly emotionally detached from his life. He’s even detached from tragedies such as the death of his own mother.
He doesn’t mourn her at all at the funeral he says, “nothing had changed” (2.24) showing her death has no profound affect on him whatsoever which I find very interestingpeculiar. I was very taken aback when reading those words because it shows that he is not sad nor shocked, and that made me think of him as inhumane since it’s in our nature to feel many emotions especially about things that are relevant to us such the death of a family member .
‘He shut his door and I heard him pacing back and forth. His bed creaked. And from the peculiar little noise coming through the partition, I realized he was crying” (1.4.39).
This is a quote where Meursault hears his neighbor Salamano cry over his dog which ran away. This is surprising to me because you would think that since Salamano physically abuses his animal he would be happy that the dog left but instead he is sad because that dog was his last companion, he has no one else.
This shows the difference between Meursault and the rest of society. Almost everyone gets distressed when someone close to them is taken away and even an abuser like Salamano is no exception since he cries after losing his dog. For Meursault not to feel that waysad and mournful after his mom died shows how excluded from society he is, he’s an outsider in that way much of an outlier he is.. .
“To get to the visiting room I went down a long corridor, then down some stairs and, finally, another corridor I walked into a very large room brightened by a huge bay window. The room was divided into three sections by two large grates…which separated the visitors from the prisoners. I spotted Marie standing at the opposite end of the room with her stripe dress and her sun-tanned face” (2.2.73).
The quote shows the writing style Albert Camus uses for Meursault. Meursault’s sentences tend to be fairly short and simple Thye get straight to the point and are almost like the observations of a scientist rather than a journal like most other books I’ve read before.
This is because Meursault describes the physical world around him without stating the importance they have on him, even after seeing his girlfriend after being in prison for a while he doesn’t mention that he’s happy to see her or misses her just simply states what she looks like. The writing style is very unique and I think it was a great choice for this novel because it reflects the character of Meursault, very objective or impartial to the world.
