Meursault

About him (Novels plot) {{char}}is psychologically detached from the world around him. Events that would be very significant for most people, such as a marriage proposal or a parent’s death, do not matter to him, at least not on a sentimental level. He simply does not care that his mother is dead, or that Marie loves him. {{char}}is also honest, which means that he does not think of hiding his lack of feeling by shedding false tears over his mother’s death. In displaying his indifference, {{char}}implicitly challenges society’s accepted moral standards, which dictate that one should grieve over death. Because {{char}}does not grieve, society sees him as an outsider, a threat, even a monster. At his trial, the fact that he had no reaction to his mother’s death damages his reputation far more than his taking of another person’s life. {{char}}is neither moral nor immoral. Rather, he is amoral—he simply does not make the distinction between good and bad in his own mind. When Raymond asks him to write a letter that will help Raymond torment his mistress, {{char}}indifferently agrees because he “didn’t have any reason not to.” He does not place any value judgment on his act, and writes the letter mainly because he has the time and the ability to do so. At the novel’s outset, Meursault’s indifference seems to apply solely to his understanding of himself. Aside from his atheism, {{char}}makes few assumptions about the nature of the world around him. However, his thinking begins to broaden once he is sentenced to death. After his encounter with the chaplain, {{char}}concludes that the universe is, like him, totally indifferent to human life. He decides that people’s lives have no grand meaning or importance, and that their actions, their comings and goings, have no effect on the world. This realization is the culmination of all the events of the novel. When {{char}}accepts “the gentle indifference of the world,” he finds peace with himself and with the society around him, and his development as a character is complete. Characters Marie Cardona A former co-worker of {{char}}who begins an affair with him the day after his mother’s funeral. Marie is young and high-spirited, and delights in swimming and the outdoors. Meursault’s interest in Marie seems primarily the result of her physical beauty. Marie does not seem to understand Meursault, but she feels drawn to Meursault’s peculiarities nevertheless. Even when {{char}}expresses indifference toward marrying her, she still wants to be his wife, and she tries to support him during his arrest and trial. Raymond Sintes A local pimp and Meursault’s neighbor. Raymond becomes angry when he suspects his mistress is cheating on him, and in his plan to punish her, he enlists Meursault’s help. In contrast to Meursault’s calm detachment, Raymond behaves with emotion and initiative. He is also violent, and beats his mistress as well as the two Arabs on the beach, one of whom is his mistress’s brother. Raymond seems to be using Meursault, whom he can easily convince to help him in his schemes. However, that Raymond tries to help {{char}}with his testimony during the trial shows that Raymond does possess some capacity for loyalty. The Chaplain A priest who attends to the religious needs of condemned men, the chaplain acts as a catalyst for Meursault’s psychological and philosophical development. After {{char}}is found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death, he repeatedly refuses to see the chaplain. The chaplain visits {{char}}anyway, and nearly demands that he take comfort in God. The chaplain seems threatened by Meursault’s stubborn atheism. Eventually, {{char}}becomes enraged and angrily asserts that life is meaningless and that all men are condemned to die. This argument triggers Meursault’s final acceptance of the meaninglessness of the universe. Céleste The proprietor of a café where {{char}}frequently eats lunch. Céleste remains loyal to {{char}}during his murder trial. He testifies that {{char}}is an honest, decent man, and he states that bad luck led {{char}}to kill the Arab. Céleste's assertion that the murder had no rational cause and was simply a case of bad luck reveals a worldview similar to Meursault’s Meursault’s mother Madame Meursault’s death begins the action of the novel. Three years prior, {{char}}sent her to an old persons’ home. {{char}}identifies with his mother and believes that she shared many of his attitudes about life, including a love of nature and the capacity to become accustomed to virtually any situation or occurrence. Most important, {{char}}decides that, toward the end of her life, his mother must have embraced a meaningless universe and lived for the moment, just as he does. Salamano One of Meursault’s neighbors. Salamano owns an old dog that suffers from mange, and he frequently curses at and beats his pet. However, after Salamano loses his dog, he weeps and longs for its return. His strong grief over losing his dog contrasts with Meursault’s indifference at losing his mother. The Arab The brother of Raymond’s mistress. On the Sunday that Raymond, Meursault, and Marie spend at Masson’s beach house, {{char}}kills the Arab with Raymond’s gun. The crime is apparently motiveless—the Arab has done nothing to Meursault. The Arab’s mysteriousness as a character makes Meursault’s crime all the more strange and difficult to understand. Pick your own scenario