Meursault: The Absurd Hero

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             When Meursault's mother dies his attitude is absurd and his actions are unconscionable to society: "I then wanted a cigarette. But I hesitated because I didn't know if I would smoke in front of mother. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked" (Camus 14). This quote is interesting because Meursault realizes that smoking in front of his mother's dead body would be inappropriate yet he still decides to smoke. From this I get the impression that Meursault will continue to alienate himself from his relationships. His actions after the funeral seem like nothing bad had happened to him and there was no reason to be upset: "I asked her if she wanted to come to the cinema that evening. She laughed again and said there was a Fernadel film she"d like to see" (Camus 24). To see a comedic film the following day to his mother's death is unbelievable. I feel that Meursault is alienating himself from his mother and his surroundings in order to forget about what had happened the to her. A couple of days after the funeral Meursault says: "I realized that I"d managed to get through another Sunday, that mother was now buried, that I was going to go back to work and that, after all, nothing had changed" (Camus 28). This is an interesting quote because Meursault reveals the fact that he feels nothing had changed even though his mother had just died. His alienation at this point was not only obvious between him and his relationships but also between him and his emotions.
             Camus" characterization of Meursault as an emotionless and unaffectionate man, adds to the effect of revealing existentialism to the novel. During Meursault's trial he reveals that he feels no remorse killing the Arab: "I"d have liked to explain to in a friendly way, almost affectionately, that I"d never really been able to regret anything. I was always preoccupied by what was about to happen, today or tomorrow" (Camus 97). In this quote Meursault reveals that he does not bother thinking about what he has done in the past but rather what is happening at the time.