Fiction Reviews: The Stranger (Albert Camus)

 

This is the story of a middle-aged man who lives in Algiers. Meursault takes the bus from Algiers to Marengo to see his mother for the last time. While at the morgue, he stands before his mother's coffin, which rests on wooden planks as the four nails are driven in. During the funeral, he feels overheated and is anxious to bury his mother simply to end his own physical suffering.

Once back in Algiers, he meets Marie and starts an affair. They go swimming and then decide to go to the cinema to see a movie starring Fernandel. Meursault has a friend, Raymond, a violent man who is being stalked by an Arab man because Raymond beat the man's sister.

While Raymond, Meursault, and Marie are walking on the beach, they are followed by two Arabs. After a confrontation, Raymond is injured in his arm. Raymond and Marie return home to treat the wound, leaving Meursault alone on the beach.

The heat is extreme. The sun is powerful enough to blind Meursault, and in a moment of sensory overload, he shoots the Arab. During the trial, the judge notices Meursault's lack of remorse; he cannot explain his reasons for the killing to the court. The prosecutor paints him as a monster—a man who didn't cry at his mother's funeral, began an affair the next day, and went to see a comedy.

Consequently, Meursault is sentenced to death by the guillotine. In prison, he receives a visit from a priest who intends to convert him to God, but Meursault chases him away in a fit of rage.