Absolute Apathy: Review of Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Part One.

“Mother died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know.” With these sterile words, Albert Camus began one of the most famous works of the 20th century. The book opens with a young man in French Algeria, Mr. Meursault, whose mother has passed away. With this, he is drawn into a series of events that would be catastrophic and tragic to any normal person, but to Meursault, it is portrayed as nothing but a thorn in the side. He attends the wake and funeral without shedding a tear, is more focused on the people who also come to the wake, the coffee he is served, complaining about the heat, his boss not being indignant over his absence, and observing an elderly gentleman who was close to his mother.

The day after the funeral, Meursault returns to Algiers and encounters one of his office colleagues, Marie. Meursault believes that Marie likes him, which is correct. They reacquaint, swim at the beach, watch a comedic film at the theater, and head back to his apartment. She is surprised to learn of his mother’s burial just the day before but forgets it.

Continuing with life, his neighbor, friend, lecher, and rumored racketeer, Raymond Sintes, requests Meursault’s help. Raymond wants him to write a letter to his girlfriend, who he believes has been unfaithful. The letter is meant to be a simple invite to Raymond’s apartment. Upon her entering, he’d accuse her of cheating and throw her out. Meursault agrees to write the letter, nary a thought regarding the nature of Raymond’s request, or how his girlfriend would fare from his plan. 

The next day Meursault is back at work. Meursault feels a bit anxious regarding his boss. Meursault reasons his boss is angry at him because he took Friday and Monday off (turning a two-day break into four). His boss demands to speak with him. Contrary to Meaursault’s suspicions, it is good news. His boss informs him that since he is a young man, it might suit him to go abroad to work and live in Paris and that young men typically enjoy such ‘adventures.’ Meursault gives a wishy-washy nonanswer, to which his boss becomes irritated at his lack of decisiveness. Meursault backtracks slightly, stating that he isn’t opposed to the idea. His boss, annoyed at his ‘lack of ambition,’ doesn’t pursue the topic any further. 

On Saturday, Marie is at his apartment and asks if he loves her. Meursault, ever detached, answers very blatantly in the negative stating “It doesn’t mean anything, but I don’t think so.” Marie still proposes marriage to him. Meursault would be fine with getting married, and he’d  have no problem. Though he still wouldn’t love her. He states that his response causes Marie to appear ‘sad.’ The moment is then interrupted by yelling in the next-door apartment. Meursault and Marie open the door, and the landing is crowded with tenants. They are huddled outside Raymond’s apartment, listening to the cacophony of Raymond savagely beating his girlfriend. The police are called and Raymond is made to stay in his apartment until he is summoned to the station. In the end, Raymond is let off with a warning after Meursault testifies to his girlfriend being unfaithful. Meursault expresses little emotion regarding the scenario. 

During this time another one of his neighbors, an old derelict named Salamano, comes to him with the case of his lost dog. Salamano had a sickly spaniel, who he was inseparable from, whom he would also kick and abuse to his heart's content. Salamano is inconsolable regarding the dog, saying he’s already taken up the matter with the police. Meursault suggests heading to the pound. Salamano says he's tried that and he isn’t there. The shelter folk then casually floated the idea of his dog being run down in the busy Algiers streets. He got the dog after his wife’s passing and it meant everything to him. He ends up linking how much he missed his dog to the death of Meursault’s mother, who Salamano is certain that he “loved very much.” He sidetracks himself saying that the whole building is talking about his uncaring attitude towards his mother’s passing. Salamano then marches back to his apartment, cursing the dog all the while. Meursault later hears him sob and wail through the night.

On Sunday, Raymond invites Meursault and Marie to stay for the day at his friend’s beach house the following Sunday. Meursault accepts. The day rolls around and Meursault, Raymond, and Marie all leave the building and walk to the bus stop. They spot a ground of ‘Arabs’ who Raymond identifies as some of his ‘enemy’s men.’ The group includes the brother of Raymond’s beaten girlfriend. The men stare them down, but ultimately do nothing and do not board the bus. At the house, they meet Raymond’s friend, Masson, and go swimming. Raymond, Masson, and Meursault then walk on the beach. They then notice they are being followed by two Arab men (one being the brother.) A fight then ensures. Masson and Raymond are winning until one of the Arabs pulls a knife. Raymond is slashed in his arm and mouth. The Arabs then flee, and Raymond is taken back to the house. Masson then takes him to a doctor. Meursault does not feel like explaining the situation to Marie and Masson’s wife, so he returns to the beach to smoke a few cigarettes.

A few hours pass and Raymond returns to the beach, bandaged. He asks Meursault to take a walk with him. Meursault doesn't want to but he follows without a fuss. Raymond leads him to where the Arabs ran off. Raymond then flashes a revolver. The Arabs hide behind a rock, and Meursault convinces Raymond to give him the weapon. 

After some more walking the heat further advances, so Raymond goes back inside. Meursault finds mounting the stairs to return to the house only to face the women’s inquiry into the events earlier that day, far too laborious in the scorching heat. Thus he continued to walk on the beach, increasingly dazed, confused, wracked with sweat, and suffering from a headache. He then encounters ‘the Arab’: Raymond’s Girlfriend’s Brother. Meursault has his hand stuffed in the pocket with the revolver, gripped tenaciously about his hand. The Arab reveals his knife and holds it warningly. The relentless sunbeams reflect off the surface of the knife and into Meursault's eyes. Meursault then pulls the revolver out from his pocket and fires upon him. He halts after the first shot and then unleashes four more. The brother is dead.