PART ONE

CHAPTER 2

Summary

One Saturday Mersault decides to go for a swim and meets Marie Cardona, who used to work as a typist in his office. After they swim together, Mersault asks Marie out for a movie in the evening. They decide to go and see a comedy starring Fernandel. During the evening, Mersault tells Marie about his mother's death.

After the movie, Mersault and Marie return to his place. After making love, Marie stays over for the night, but she leaves on Sunday morning before Mersault wakes. When Mersault finally gets out of bed, he tries to relax, but finds that he is restless and bored. He walks around his apartment, reads an old newspaper, smokes, and gazes out on the neighborhood. He also realizes that nothing has really changed in his life after his mother's death. His Sunday routine is the same as always, and at the end of the day, he is glad to have gotten through it. He sees his life as meaningless, just as he saw his mother's death as meaningless.

Notes

Since Mersault is a bachelor with no responsibilities, he is used to spending his weekends in a leisurely manner. In this chapter, set on the Saturday and Sunday after the funeral, he follows the same pattern, with no thought or grief for his mother. On Saturday morning, he decides to go for a swim and meets Marie Cardona, who used to work in his office. In the evening, they go to a movie, which is a comedy. Mersault then asks Marie back to his place, where they have sex. After she spends the night, Marie leaves on Sunday morning, and Mersault tries to relax, but he finds he is restless and bored. When he finally thinks about his mother's death, he seems unemotional and states that nothing has really changed in his life since she passed away.

Mersault appears to lack emotional ties or sensitivity towards human relationships. He has no feelings of sadness or loss over his mother's death, which occurred earlier in the week. Even though he should be in a period of mourning, he behaves as if nothing has happened.

After her funeral on Friday, he decides to go for a swim on Saturday. When he meets Marie, he asks her to a movie and then brings her back to his place to spend the night; but his relationship with Marie means nothing to him. Because of Mersault's lack of emotion, there will be an underlying current of alienation, hopelessness, and uncertainty throughout the novel.

PART ONE

CHAPTER 3

Summary

On Monday Mersault returns to work. His co-workers express their condolences and ask about the funeral. When someone inquires about the age of his mother, Mersault realizes that he has no idea how old she was. It was never important to him. As a result, he answers the question by stating that she was around sixty.

When he meets Emmanuel in order to go and have lunch, the two of them do something really irrational, for they run and jump onto a fast moving firetruck, just for the fun of it. Almost like children, they are proud of their accomplishment. It is a relief from the boredom of the office. After lunch, Mersault goes back to his office and completes a tiring day. When he returns home after work, he encounters Salamano, his neighbor. He is an old man, who lives alone with his old dog, a spaniel that has developed some kind of skin disease. Both dog and owner are a terrible sight, for they are hairless and scabby. Even though Salamano walks the dog every morning and evening, he treats him in such a disgusting manner that everybody in the neighborhood calls it a "crying shame." Mersault, however, does not condemn Salamano for beating the dog, for he feels the dog would run away if he were dissatisfied in any way.

Before entering his apartment, Mersault also encounters Raymond Sintes, another neighbor, who works as a pimp. No one in the neighborhood likes him because of his occupation and his intense, sometimes violent, personality. Mersault, however, does not care about Raymond's personal life and has developed a casual friendship with him. When Raymond tells Mersault about just beating up a man until he was "bleeding like a pig," Mersault is unaffected by the story.

When Raymond asks Mersault to come over for dinner, he accepts the invitation. As they eat, Raymond explains that he has learned that his girlfriend is having a relationship with another man. As a result, he plans to throw her out of his apartment, beat her up, and write a letter to her that will make her repent. Raymond asks Mersault to write the letter on his behalf. Finding the whole issue interesting, Mersault agrees to write the letter, which he finishes before returning to his apartment.

Notes

In spite of the fact that Mersault does not have emotional ties to other people, he does enjoy the company of Emmanuel. When he meets him for lunch, the two young men irrationally jump onto a fast moving firetruck, for no real reason except to relieve their boredom. This act emphasizes two aspects of Mersault's personality; he can be spontaneous and do things just for fun.

Although Mersault is basically a non-interfering person, he does know and acknowledge his neighbors who live in his apartment complex. When he returns home, he greets Salamano, an old man who lives on his floor. Unlike his other neighbors, who condemn Salamano for treating his old dog poorly, Mersault does not judge him. He feels the dog would run away if he were unhappy.

When Mersault sees Raymond, the pimp, he agrees to have dinner with him. Even though everyone in the neighborhood dislikes Raymond because of his job and violent personality, Mersault seems to be unbothered and does not worry about the consequences of being associated with a pimp. He is also unaffected by the news that Raymond has just beaten up a man until he was "bleeding like a pig." In a like manner, Mersault does not care that Raymond has beaten his girlfriend, who had been cheating on him. In fact, Mersault even agrees to write a letter of condemnation to the girlfriend on Raymond's behalf. This action complicates the plot, for it gets Mersault involved with the Arabs, who will cause his downfall.

Mersault's non-committal, non-judgmental attitude is the crucial feature of his character. He does not seem to care about much of anything and rarely contemplates the consequences of his actions. It is ironic then that he sometimes makes an issue over unimportant details. He has complained to his boss about the wet towels in the bathroom at work. After washing his hands, he prefers to dry them on a clean towel rather than a soggy one. In a similar manner, Mersault will notice details in life that other people would miss. He comments on the shading of the sky as he walks home from work and the color of the scabs on Salamano's dog. At the same time, he has no idea of the age of his mother. This contrast is part of the absurdity of his character.