The Stranger: Disappointment or Murder?

Part 2: Chapter 3

¨…with such glee and with such a triumphant look in my direction that for the first time in years I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all those people hated me.¨ (p.89-90) Mersault knows that he is guilty , he killed someone but was it just self defence? Or was he just not thinking? Did he not care at all? At this point I think Mersault doesn’t know why what eh did was done; he just knows that he killed the Arab and that he is guilty for it. With this quote we get to see a little bit of Mersault feeling sadness. He feels people are disappointed at him. Not only are they disappointed at him killing a man, but also at the way he is and lives his life. In court they talk and ask many questions about his mother’s death and the day after showing and trying to make a point. They want to show that Mersault is bad and careless. I don’t think these other issues of Mersault´s life should be brought into the court room. It is a case about a murder. Mersault killed a man, but did he kill him on purpose?

I admire and respect the way Mersault goes through his prison days. His carelessness towards life helps him out, because he just takes his long days to think about his life and his memories. He doesn’t think sadly, he just thinks. If I were in his case I would not like to think at all about my life outside of prison or about my memories. It would kill me; I think it would make me more depressed. In prison is he feeling so careless because he thinks that there is nothing that can be done?