In the story "The Stranger," by Albert Camus, the belief that "the themes of loss and retrieval are at the core of Mersault's mythology and that they illumine the notion of exile to which he returns so often" is widely discussed. He does lose his mother to death and does seem to retrieve his identity, but does either of these impact his exile? Neither one of these themes has anything to do with the exile of Mersault; rather it is Mersault's own attitude for the exile he experiences in the story.
The first theme that is said to play a role in Mersault's exile is the theme of loss. Though Mersault does lose his mother in the beginning of the story, it does not affect how he acts throughout the rest of the story and he continues on like nothing ever even happened. "Then there was the church and the villagers on the sidewalks, the red geraniums on the graves in the cemetery, Perez fainting, the blood red earth spilling over Maman's casket, the white flesh of the roots mixed in with it, more people, voices, the village, waiting in front of a café, the incessant drone of the motor, and my joy when the bus entered the nest of lights that was Algiers and I knew I was going to go to bed and sleep for twelve hours" (Camus pg. 18). Normally when someone's mother dies, one would be filled with grief and sadness and cannot help but think about how much they will be missed and how much they were loved. In this quote, Mersault shows no type of remorse whatsoever. He seems to be completely unmoved and unchanged emotionally by the death of his mother. Not only does he not show any emotion at his mother's funeral, he just seems to not be there mentally the entire time. Mersault is constantly thinking of something else, and never lives in the moment. One could argue that this is just his way of coping with the situation, but if were one to read the entire novel, this would no longer be a belief as Mersault is this way with everything.
