Meursault's Shooting Of The Arab

There is one defining moment in the Stranger—Meursault’s shooting of the Arab. In fact the book is structured around it, part one is pre-shooting, part two is post. It is the shooting that makes Meursault loose his freedom, and eventually his life. But for Meursault, it isn’t significantly important. Killing someone doesn’t change him at all. Prison is a bigger change, but he gets used even to that. It is only once he is sentenced to death that Meursault’s character actually begins to change. Throughout Part 1, we see time and time again how indifferent Meursault is to things that, for most people, provoke strong and emotional reactions. The death of his mother is an extreme and very clear example. The day after her funeral he goes on a date and, when reflecting on her death that …show more content…
This indifference is part of a large philosophy of life which he describes after he is offered a promotion by his boss, “I said yes, but that really it was all the same to me. He asked me if I wasn’t interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another…”(41). Meursault goes through his life with caring at all, always choosing to do whatever is easiest, because he doesn’t feel that anything is of any importance. His tendency to adopt the path of least resistance is in fact one of the factors that lead to him shooting the Arab. Meursault originally becomes involved in Raymond’s troubles when Raymond asks Meursault to write the letter