Meursault is not a sociopath. At least not completely. He has feelings, and we see that every once in a while. It's just that he doesn't feel very strongly about many things. By the end of the book, we are really more worried with what the trial thinks about Meursault than how he feels about the situation. It's easy to just miss how Meursault feels since he mentions feelings so sparingly. By the end, I would argue, he has reached a sort of happiness. I don't mean the kind of happiness where he could ask for nothing more. Obviously he would jump at any chance to get out and find Marie. I just mean that he isn't particularly upset by his lot at the end. He understands he is going to die and finds that knowledge freeing. Is that really so strange to us? Many characters in many books have a sense of freedom as they knowingly go to their deaths. Is Meursault's reaction really all that surprising?
I suppose this is the time when we figure out how he feels about his mother - that burning question, lit from the first sentence. There's been a lot of argumentation over Meursault's guilt, but that's all our opinion and the opinion of the court. He is sorry she died and would rather that she hadn't. At the same time, that's just life, as far as Meursault can tell. She seemed perfectly happy in the Home, and he hadn't mistreated her or anything. He did the best he could for her, so really there's nothing left to worry about. Except that's not how people are 'supposed' to react. People are supposed to be terrified of death. They're supposed to be irrational and afraid and to cry over things they have no control over. People are supposed to have to fall apart before they can learn and change their lives; before they can find happiness.
I would argue that Meursault just sort of skips a few steps. He is an extremely logical person. He doesn't really care about social norms. He just wants to be liked. Being sad doesn't really serve a logical purpose other than sometimes it can make you feel better to get it all out there. Meursault doesn't have anything to get out there. Whatever closer he needs, he has already found. What reason would he have to break down crying? It would just make him even more uncomfortable with the heat and everything else. Meursault just skips right to the acceptance. Maman is dead. That's all there is to it. But the understanding, the learning part doesn't come until he does snap, in a way. He seems perfectly fine with death, but he doesn't understand his mother until he flies off the handle at the priest. Then it all just dawns on him. Everything is meaningless. Therefore, we must create our own meaning. The court could never understand this concept, whether Meursault was to defend himself or not. The Magistrate dangles a cross in front of his face for goodness sake. There is no way that a group of people who completely believe, and in fact know that there is a One True God and that there's some larger plan for everyone and that they are all basically pawns with their own raison d'etre could possibly understand atheism. So they don't, and they kill Meursault for it. They kill him because humans are still and have always been afraid of what we don't understand. It is easier to reject the unknown rather than question it. Meursault is still human. He's just more rational. The irony being that the jury can't make sense of his logic.
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