Essay On The Character Of Meursault In Camus

Throughout the novel, Camus illustrates Meursault as an emotionally detached man. Beginning with this passage, Camus introduces Meursault’s nonchalant attitude, and therefore begins to develop a careless, emotionless tone. When Meursault states, “That tells me nothing. It could have been yesterday,” and neglects to exhibit any concern about how his mother died, the reader can determine that Meursault is more concerned about when his mother died than he is that she died at all (Camus 3). Soon after, it becomes apparent that Meursault not only does not care about his mother’s death, he does not care about anything in general. Even worse, Meursault appears to be incapable of experiencing any emotion, whether it be sorrow or love, and therefore …show more content…
The carelessness Meursault displays through his relationship with Marie and murder of the Arab now adds to a higher meaning. It is not until he learns of his own execution that Meursault displays any fear, or any emotion whatsoever. For a while, he dwells on the idea of escaping from prison, and therefore escaping death; however, it soon occurs to him that there is no point in worrying about death because it will come for everyone. At this point, the purpose for the tone Camus adopts becomes clear: it is futile to worry about death when death is inevitable. Although Meursault feels that it is unfair to die by execution, he soon understands that he will die eventually anyway and this is when he learns to accept his impending execution. The careless tone Camus adopts and emphasizes through Meursault’s actions and beliefs enforce the novel’s message by conveying that it is meaningless to care about something one cannot control (death), and therefore should not allow it to consume one’s