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Character Relationships in The Stranger

Summary:   Discusses the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus. Summarizes the story and examines relationships between characters in the text.

"The Stranger," by Albert Camus takes place in Algiers right before World War II. The novel begins with Meursalt receiving a telegram stating, "[m]other deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours" (3). He leaves Algiers to take a two hour drive to Marengo where his mother had lived in a retirement home. When he arrives he insists that he doesn't want to see his mother. The caretaker and director of the facility where rather puzzled at the fact that Meursalt didn't shed not one tear for his mothers death and didn't show any remorse for the lose of a loved one. His mothers close friend, Tomas Pérez was the only one from the retirement home allowed to go to the funeral because according to friends of the two, they were inseparable. Some of their friends say that Tomas Pérez was Madame Meursalt's fiancée. After the funeral, Meursalt goes back to Algiers. He then goes to the beach and runs into and old co-worker, Marie Cardona. After the beach, they go to the movies. Marie was a little confused at why Meursalt showed no sorrow for his mother death. Later, Meursalt becomes acquainted with one of his neighbors by the name of Raymond Sintés, who was portrayed as a pimp. Raymond becomes good friends with Meursalt. Meursalt then becomes involved with Raymond's scandal. Raymond had accused his mistress of cheating on him then beat her. His mistress' brother, described as "the Arab" gets into a fight with Raymond. Meursalt's other neighbor, Salamano, has a cocker spaniel whom he beats and yells at. Salamano had bought his dog because his wife had died and he was lonely. Salamano's dog runs away and Salamano cries and explains to Meursalt hat he couldn't bear to buy another dog because no dog would be able to replace his dog. Later, the issue of marriage came up between Marie ad Meursalt. Marie asks if Meursalt wants to marry her and he replies that it doesn't make any difference to him and that they could get married if she wants to.

Then, she asks him if he loves her and he replies that it doesn't mean anything, but he doesn't love her. She became angry and asks why marry her if he doesn't love her. He explains that it wouldn't make a difference if he loved her of not (41). That Sunday, Marie, Meursalt and Raymond went to visit Raymond's friend Masson and his family. They all went to the beach and went in the water. Later they ran into "the Arab." The Arab got into a fight with Raymond a cut his face. Raymond returned later that afternoon and almost shot "the Arab" but Meursalt persuaded Raymond to hand over the gun. Raymond went back to the house, but Meursalt stayed out on the beach. He wandered back to the spring where "the Arab" had been, to his surprise, he was still there. "The Arab" took out his knife and Meursalt reacted and shot him and killed him as well. Meursalt was later found guilty of the murder of "the Arab" and sentenced to death. His penalty was to be executed by being beheaded. The jury found him guilty because he seemed to have no heart at all. Their evidence was that when he was at his mothers funeral, he didn't cry or show any sadness. Also, they couldn't find why he had shot "the Arab" five times in total when "the Arab" had died with the first shot. Marie came to see him while he was in jail but was not permitted back because they were not married. Before his final hours, the chaplain came to see him. The chaplain informed him that many men had turned to God for comfort and hope in situations like these. But he explained that he saw that Meursalt's heart was blind and that he wouldn't do so. Meursalt became angry and yelled that he wouldn't want to spend his last hours with God. After the chaplain had left, Meursalt calmed down and thought of his mother. Then he finally understood why she had started a romance with Tomas Pérez. She wanted to start over again and Tomas was her new beginning.