Resumo de The Stranger - Albert Camus

Camus's Meursault is in no mood to attend his mother's
funeral. While he has no bad feelings toward her, he does not connect
with the grieving process he is expected to go through. He would rather
get the event over and done with as soon as possible. After all, he has been living without Mother for some time now,
and while he had some sort of feelings for her, they ?never had much to talk
about?. His lack of grief, however, disgusts those around him who expect
him to cry, sleep beside his mother's coffin, and long list of morbid details
that do not appeal to Meursault. He would like to simply continue his
life the same way he had been before her death, unaffected.

While Meursault is not a particularly kind and gracious human being, he is not
a bad one either. His apathy may
disgust many a reader, but it is not until he commits a crime that Meursault
has done anything wrong in the legal sense of the word. In fact Meursault never believes that he has
done anything wrong; he only belives that the people questioning him do not
understand the conditions that lead him to pull the trigger of a gun that
belonged to somebody else.

His innocence preceding the crime, however, is not seen as
such, and only intensifies his guilt.
Meursault?s lack of grief following his mother?s death is viewed as
parracide by the court, further darkening his chances in his trial. Thus, Camus?s novel ends with a third death
that leaves us with a burning question: How truly important is each human life
in the grand scheme of things?

While Meursault is marked by apathy (and, for a few
brief moments, frustration) for the greater part of the novel, he does finally
express a true opinion in the final sentence: If he is to be executed, he
wishes that the spectators greet him with ?howls of execration?. These ?howls? would in a way outweigh his
own desire to live, and make the court?s verdict acceptable in his eyes; if the
majority believes he should die, perhaps they are correct. This opinion of Meursault?s emphasizes the
author?s notion that while death does take from us the ability to reap the pleasures
of life, it has no real (or rather true physical) effect on those around us, or
on the universe. Thus, The Stranger captures
an Existential view of life and death, and brings to mind an important question
many are afraid to ask.

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