The Stranger: Different people and Punishment

p.98-123

Mersault is different. He has a different way of looking and living life. Mersault at the end shows us his strong personality and character, but at the same time we do know he is feeling weak. He is going to be executed, and he is not happy for this, but he knows he can’t do anything about this. Is it his fault for being different? Is it his fault for making a mistake? Mersault is almost like Sisyphus because they are both punished for being different. Are those who think alike and always act alike the powerful ones who get away with anything?

¨But my heart felt nothing, and I couldn’t even return her smile.¨ (p.105). Mersault is broken into pieces inside. He knows his life is over, and this is when not caring is the answer. What is the point of crying, or fighting back, when you are told that your punishment is execution? It must feel like a hole in your body, knowing that it could be your last day of living.

¨As for me, I didn’t want anybody’s help, and I just didn’t have the time to interest myself in what didn’t interest me.¨ (p.117). In this quote Mersault was being offered to dedicate his last time to ask God for help. But what was the point of this? Why should he ask God to help him right before being executed? What good would it have done if he was not even religious? Mersault was not interested in turning to God, he just had no interest at all for anything. He was different, he was careless, and so at the end of the book at the end of Mersault´s life you ask yourself, what if Mersault was not like this? What if he was not careless and if he was not different? Would he be in this position of being executed, and if he were to be a person with feelings in this position it would just be so much harder to let go of life.