On one hand, this is a book that is easy to read: short, clear narrative, and dramatic. On the other hand, it’s hard to understand: there is always a drifting feeling when Meursault went through the significant life events. It feels like everything is very thin and unreal.
For Meursault, I think there are 3 layers:
- The raw senses and reflexes. Like when he felt hot during the day of burying his mom. The dizzy sun which made him shoot the Arab, the curling and couldn’t stop teeth chattering.
- The overall higher level life experience based on layer 1. Like how the evening feels, how he enjoys to be with Marie and so on.
- The deep rationality that life and things don’t have an inherent meaning.
Because of the reasoning of layer 3, he was able to accept senses and reflexes at layer 1: “that is nature”, treating humans like machines. And he was able to let nature and the easier path direct his life experience of layer 2, without the moral obligation from society, and say little since it doesn’t matter much. He is very honest about it, which is the cause of the tragedy. (Or not really a tragedy if the life doesn’t really matter?)
This attitude is based on philosophy. So it’s hard to explain to the jury why he killed the man when on the trial. He needs to explain why things don’t have a meaning, and that’s a huge philosophical topic. So he only said: it was because of the sun. The killing is at layer 2, the reasoning behind it is at layer 3, the sun, which is at layer 1, was the trigger. It’s too hard to explain the whole chain, so he only said the last element of the reasoning chain, which sounds ridiculous.
Meursault’s behaviour only makes sense if layer 3 is true. It sounds absurd at first. Most people assign a meaning to life, either through religion, or something like doing good for society. That’s why the jury sentenced him. But if you think about it deeply and go through all the philosophical thoughts, maybe things don’t really have a meaning. That’s why when the chaplain came to visit, he yelled “I was right” at the end.
Lastly, on a side note, if Meursault was in China, his behaviour about his mom’s death may be easier to be understood, since there was a great example from more than two thousand years ago. According to the text 至乐 (Perfect Enjoyment), Zhuangzi (庄子), a famous Chinese philosopher, sang and drummed (a clay pot) when his wife died (he seemed happy). The visitor asked him, “Isn’t that excessive?” Zhuangzi said: there was no life at the beginning, life came from nature and then went back to nature. If I cried, it means I didn’t understand the meaning of life. This is so similar to the end of the book: “for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself – so like a brother, really – I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone …”