In The Stranger, Mersault describes his environment in great detail. He hardly mentions his or others feelings. Meursault is interested far more in the physical aspects of the world around him than in its social or emotional aspects.
Mersault observes many social situations in which one person torments another character yet he doesn"t judge them. Mersault's friend Raymond Sintes beats his girlfriend and is rumored to be a pimp, but Mersault thinks nothing of Raymond's actions. Mersault's neighbor Salamano has a dog. Salamano beats his dog whenever the dog yanks his leash and after Salamano beats it the dog lags behind and Salamano beats him again.
Mersault views his relationship with Marie as purely physical. He only describes her physically and never perceives her as an emotional being. "She asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so."(Ward, Marie constantly shows sentiment for Mersault. During Mersault's trail, she forces a smile in an attempt to give Mersault hope. Marie even proposes to Mersault, but Mersault replies indifferently saying, "it didn"t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to." (Ward, 41).
Mersault has very elaborate and vivid descriptions of physical things such as his) environment "All around me there was still the same glowing countryside flooded with sunlight." (Ward, 16) He has very terse, plain description of emotion or social situations. Mersault only sees with his eyes, so he can"t recognize feeling or emotion. He only sees the importance of physical, tangible things. His reasoning revolves around his body. At his mother's funeral procession, the heat causes more pain than the death of his mother. During his trial, he even identifies his suffering under the sun with the murder.
Mersault's reasoning revolves around his own body, so he concentrates on what pleases his body. This is why he only sees what is tangible.