Meursault kills the Arab for three main reasons, the first is that he killed the Arab as revenge for Raymond Sintes after the Arabs attacked him and left him with a cut on his arm. The second reason that Meursault killed the Arab is an automatic reaction to danger, and lastly there might have been the a influence of Mother Nature’s forces and their effect on Meursault reasoning to the situation
Many of Meursault’s traits affect the way he acts towards certain situations, he is emotionless and callous which allows have to produce very irrational behavior. Additionally he is very isolated from society and therefore does not understand how society requires him to act. Another trait Meursault has that could have been a contributing factor to his murder of the Arab is that he is amoral; this means that he is neither moral nor immoral. Furthermore he is honest which means that he does not think of hiding his lack of feeling by shedding false tears over his mother’s death. In displaying his indifference, Meursault implicitly challenges society’s accepted moral standards, which dictate that one should grieve over death
Meursault`s relationship with Marie, his involvement in Raymond’s affairs, his trip to Masson’s beach house, and his taking of Raymond’s gun are the choices Meursault makes that lead up to his killing of the Arab.
Loyalty is a major theme in this Novel. Meursault is very loyal to Raymond despite the fact that we know that Raymond is using Meursault. However after the Arab attacks Raymond and they return to the house Meursault goes out for a walk, when he faces the Arab again his loyalty for Raymond shows and he therefore kills the Arab. Another them that appears is life and death, if Meursault had not killed the Arab it is almost certain that he would have been the victim and that the Arab would have killed him. Finally the last theme we can find is irrationality; Meursault reacted to the Arab without any rational