The Stranger by Albert Camus

The short story The Stranger took a turn that I did not see coming when the man character, Meursault, killed a man on a sunny day at the beach. Up until the end of part one, Meursault was an odd character, but I never recognized him as a killer. He seemed to live a fairly normal life, but the one thing he was lacking was emotion. This was shown at his mothers funeral, when he did not grieve at all. Without emotion, Meursault existed in society, but he was not a part of society. He had interaction with a girl, Marie, and his neighbors, including a man named Raymond. It bothered me that he lived by the motto that nothing matters. He spends time with Raymond and Marie, but he is indifferent the entire time. The only attraction he has to Marie is sexual; he enjoys her company but he does not feel love for her. She asks him if he would like to marry, and he does not care at all. Even though I don't like the way that Meursault acts, I do not think he is necessarily an evil person.

As the story goes on, Meursault becomes closer with Raymond and Marie, and they make a trip to a friend of Raymond's at the beach. As they walk along the beach, they run in to an Arab man that is the brother of a girl that Raymond had an altercation with. He pulls a knife on Raymond, Meursault, and Raymond's friend Masson, and Raymond reveals a gun. However, they both back down, and the three leave the Arabs alone. They return to Masson's beach house, but for some reason Meursault goes back out, and he takes the gun with him. He again finds the Arab man on the beach, and the man pulls out a knife. At this point Meursault makes it clear that if he wanted to, he could turn back and walk away, but instead he goes forward and he shoots the Arab man. Out of nowhere, Meursault has committed murder.

I still do not think that Meursault is an evil person at this point. I think that he is sick, and that since he does not have the ability to express emotion, the act of murder to him was like any other. Meursault's indifference continues as he sits in jail, he doesn't quite seem to understand the consequences of his crime. Or maybe he does understand, but it does not really matter to him, because he does not care about life. As time goes on, I think that we see a change in Meursault. He begins to long for Marie, and not just for the sexual attraction, but he starts to realize he had genuine interest in someone other than himself. Marie is the first person that Meursault has become attached to in his life. Meursault's progression in jail is what makes him a good person. The interesting thing is that Meursault had to be physically removed from society in order to realize his desire to become a part of society emotionally.

Although he committed an evil act, I believe that Meursault was a truly good person. The fact that he was incapable of being emotional and that he did not care about life was changed durning his time in prison, and his transformation showed that deep down inside he was a good person, and he did not mean to harm anyone.