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            An Observation of the Parental Influences in .
             Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus' The Stranger.
             A man alone builds himself through his thoughts and actions, yet one can not deny the influential power of one's parents. The people who instill the first concepts of right and wrong, up and down, and love and hate, are our parents. Later on in life we may choose to question and possibly discard many of their ideas, but deep down, they have had a very powerful effect on us. Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus' The Stranger described the main characters' parents directly and indirectly, often being expressed through the protagonists' actions, feelings, and characterization. .
             Camus uses Maman as more of an indirect influence in his story than Kafka's use of Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, and Meursalt's father isn't even mentioned in the novel at all. However, Meursalt's docile attitude toward life suggests that he has had no strong male figure in his life to inspire more masculine roles of responsibility in him, so as to counteract his mother's meager ways. With this lack of a father, Meursalt seems to only understand the basic needs of a man, like his lust after Marie, but he has no fire. A father could have inspired Meursalt to take pride in his work, seek a wife to love him, and to relish in being able to supply for not only himself, but a family. Surely his mother did not instill that in him, for she was just quiet and watchful as her son grew up, as Meursalt says "When she was at home with me, Maman used to spend her time following me with her eyes, not saying a thing."" (5). .
             On the rare occasions throughout The Stranger that Meursalt refers to his mother, he does tend to subtly mention his attachment to her. Though he expressed no emotion when speaking of sending her to the home, her absence left him with an emptiness that only the distance from Marie could match. In his blasé manner, Meursalt became lonely around his apartment, noting that "It was just the right size when Maman was here.