Throughout the book, we see why Meursault is considered an outsider, an outcast. He does not cry at his mother’s funeral like any other compassionate human being would and does not show any ambition or motivation. When being offered a job promotion, Meursault simply brushes away the offer, and tells his boss he has no desire to strive for greater success and is content with his mundane way of living. This, of course, bewilders his boss and causes him to throw a fit of anger. Meursault is not only mentally and emotionally isolated from others, he is also spiritually isolated from them: he is an atheist, meaning he lacks the belief of a god. This perplexes others as they are astonished by the thought of a man that firmly rejects religion. His unique behavior and way of thinking is a mystery, and the common …show more content…
people of society have difficulty understanding him, so they are not able to know him. Humans have a natural desire to know all, for we feel safe with knowledge; the fact that Meursault’s personality is unknown to us becomes a threat towards society, and he must be punished for it. During his court hearing, all of the topics that were discussed had no relevance to the murder; the arguments referred to Meursault’s behavior and lack of compassion, and later on in the book, Meursault is eventually imprisoned and isolated from the rest of humanity, no longer able to threaten society by his way of living.
2) Discuss a major conflict in the text. A major conflict in this book is Meursault’s struggles with society’s efforts to change him by setting their own moral values upon him and trying to establish rational explanations for his actions that are not accurate. Throughout the book, we see many people become baffled by the way Meursault is so indifferent and detached with life; they have a hard time accepting the way he is, and so they try to influence him into becoming a rational, compassionate man like the rest of society.
When the magistrate and chaplain approached Meursault, they were astonished to find out that Meursault was an atheist; they told him that he needed God in his life and that he should believe in an afterlife.
Meursault stood his ground and told them that how useless religion is and that he is content with his atheistic way of living. Meursault could have made the decision to adopt the Christian beliefs and try to find peace through God, but eventually, because of his own personality, he would have seen the absurdity in his actions and return to atheism. Doing this would have prevented society from influencing him into adopting the common, human beliefs that they are trying to place upon
him.
During Meursault’s court hearing, the prosecutor and Meursault’s lawyer were making assumptions about his actions that did not reflect his intentions and thoughts at all. He chose to keep quiet as the two men argued, and a false image of himself was brought out to the people in the court. If Meursault had chosen to explain his actions for himself, it probably would not have changed the original outcome of his sentence to death because the jury would not have been able to understand his complicated way of thinking. Meursault would still go through the torment of awaiting his death, and then find inner peace by having an epiphany about how meaningless life is.
Throughout all of society’s struggles, Meursault was able to avoid being intimidated by the punishments placed on him and stay true to himself and his moral values.