The very essence of this novel lies within the protagonist, Meursault’s, existentialist viewpoint. Meursault undeniably believes that man is condemned to a lifetime full of despair, loneliness, and anxiety with no achievable meaning in his life other than simply existing.
For Meursault, morals have no meaning, emotions don’t affect him, and consequences to his actions are given no consideration. He accepts life as it plays out, without ever having the desire to discover something deeper or more meaningful.
I believe the fascinating character study is what allows the novel to break away from the traditional and conforming storytelling style of ‘character wants something… something stands in their way… character works around this problem’. However, Camus excellently depicts a protagonist who wants nothing, is affected by nothing, and therefore values nothing as a result.
This is immediately apparent in the opening line ‘My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. I received a telegram from the old people’s home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Very sincerely yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. It might have been yesterday.’
Instantly, the reader is plunged into the workings of Meursault’s mind, and, more specifically, his perception of living for today contrasting his recognition of a time when there will no longer be a today, and there never will be again (so what does it matter what happens?).
The loss of his mother in the opening of the novel is the starting point of the following series of events, leading irrevocably to the end of the novel, which, as is with all things, is ultimately overridden with death.
Contrastingly to Meursault’s undeniable role in this novel (as the existentialist narrator and protagonist), there are many conflicting views as to the significance of the other characters. Do they simply exist to amplify the dissimilarity between Meursault and other people, or do they serve their own wider meaning?
In order to further explore this question, I believe that Marie, Meursault’s girlfriend, is an important character to analyse. Initially, it is difficult to decide whether Camus designed her as an autonomous figure or a mere plaything for the neurotic Meursault.
However, further on in the novel, Marie demonstrates an active sexuality rather than serving as Meursault’s sexual object, as shown in the line ‘the way she laughed made me kiss her’; it is her actions that attract him, not his force that brings them together.
On the other hand, she could also be interpreted as a symbol, to further bring Meursault’s views into light. Continuing on in the way that Merusault often describes the seemingly insignificant aspects of a setting, at this point in the novel, Meursault notices a group of ‘white asphodels’ on the ground, which Marie soon starts to pick from their stems and scatter petals across the ground. This subtle reference to the immortal flower found in Elysian fields, sacred to Persphone and Hades, suggests that Marie may pose as an innocent and ambivalent natural life/death symbol.
Through these contrasting actions of Marie’s, Camus is able to excellently portray a complex character whose interactions with Meursault create further insight into Meursault’s indifference to his surroundings compared to the actual vibrant nature of them.
The use of first person in this novel allows for a rather eerie insight into the ‘benign indifference’ that Meursault feels throughout the novel, as is most clearly presented through his physical and sensory experiences that almost always focus on an unexpected aspect of the surroundings, far from those that would be considered more important or emotional.
