Analysis of The Outsider by Albert Camus

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In the given text, The Outsider by Albert Camus, the main issue is the attitude of Meursault towards his mother’s death. Mr. Meursault, the main character, is a man who is very much apathetic to the people and events around him. Meursault, as described throughout the text, is a bachelor who leads a simple life working at an office in Algiers. His mother has just passed away so he is preparing to leave for Morengo for the funeral. The opening sentences of the text reflect the sense of apathy directly: "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know." After his mother’s death, Meursault feels untypically cold and painless, just as he expected it to happen any time. Throughout the story, he is presented as cold and emotionless with regard to his relationship with his mother and her death. Even while he was asking for time off work for the funeral, he somehow needed to comment to his boss : "It’s not my fault." The dialogue between the two is a significant symbol of both his awkward; however pragmatist attitude and lack of concern between him and the employer.

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The author conveys the main theme through an uneasy though a calm tone, so that the atmosphere he creates mirrors the character’s personality. The narrator creates a cold atmosphere which serves to his purpose, to be very much effective on the reader and make an emphasis on the issue. The character seems very much distant to his mother as a son, as he rarely shown interest for his mother before her death. Besides, the caretaker was the one to ask him if he wished to see her mother’s dead body and reminded him to meet the warden.  Even her ...

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