The Stranger, Part I

The main character of this story is so strange. He's just so apathetic towards everything, he doesn't seem to care. His mother dies, but is he sad? No, not really. He goes to her funeral, but doesn't feel anything. And it's not that he feels something other than sadness, he just doesn't feel anything. Marie asks him if he loves her, and wants to marry her, and he's even indifferent to that. "Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her."Not only is he indifferent, but he seems unable to sympathize with anyone, like the old man who is torn up over losing his dog. He remarks that it's pitiful, but other than that, he doesn't try to comfort the man or anything, just tells him about the pound. During the funeral procession, Perez is clearly unable to keep up and is very upset by Maman's death, but he doesn't offer to help the man or even slow down. It's like he doesn't fell compassion. Reading this story, it's as if he's outside of himself looking down on his life and making calm observations. Like he's watching his life rather than living it, if that makes any sense. And I can't understand why he murdered the Arab on the beach. The glint of the sun off the knife was in his eyes, so he shot the Arab? If the sun was bothering him so much, you'd think he would have gone inside instead of continuing to wander around the beach.
I can see why we are reading this after talking about existentialism. This man is alienated from everything. He has no religion. He's certainly not connected to any other human beings, even those that care for him. He is even separated from himself.