The character of Mersault in l'etranger

Although Meursault does not weep at his mother’s funeral, this is not a reflection that he is a heartless man, for his relationships with other people in the novel are good. Merusault did not just throw his mother in a nursing home to get rid of her. He truly felt sorry for sending her there, but he felt he could no longer care for her needs, and it was only best that she receive the prope

Although the prosecutor accuses Meursault of heartlessly killing the Arab out of sheer madness and evilness, the reader is able to see what Meursault is thinking throughout the entire ordeal. The reader senses Meursault’s confusion, and is able to see that it wasn’t so much that Meursault was trying to be evil as that he was just confused and delirious, and didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. The reader sees that he is not a heartless killer who planned this murder to get revenge, but instead sees that Meursault did not intend to hurt anyone. When Raymond decides to first start a fight with the Arabs, he instructs Meursault to simply stand by, and only fight if he is needed to. This shows that even Raymond knows that Meursault is not the fighting type, that he usually wouldn’t hurt a fly. However, when Meursault later picks up that gun and kills the Arab, he is not fully aware of what he is doing. Meursault pulls the trigger to relieve from himself the burden of the hot sun and bright lights, not to rid the Arab of his life. During his thinking as he approaches the Arab, Meursault talks about the sun bothering him, and all he wants to do is make the weather more comfortable for him. As soon as he pulls the trigger, Meursault comments that he shook off the sun and the sweat. It is almost as if Meursault thinks he is killing the sun, and not a human. He did not intend to murder anyone; he was just delirious because of the hot sun, and wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing.

Therefore, Meursault’s actions are not just heartless and intentional; they have reason behind them. Many of his thoughtless actions are not due to his being evil, but are instead due to his being slightly dillusional and out of it most of the time. His pleasures in life are that of an ordinary man: sleeping in late, smoking, cooking himself breakfast, waving to the nice people who walk by on the street. He never talks about enjoying killing people,

Some topics in this essay:
Camus’ L’Etranger, God Meursault, Arab Meursault, Raymond Meursault, God Besides, , Meursault’s Meursault, throughout novel, reader meursault, aware doing meursault, funeral reader meursault, reader able, mother’s funeral, slightly unemotional, funeral reader, slightly unemotional meursault, doing meursault, aware doing, wrong choices, nursing home,