The Chaplain serves as a final attempt to force Meursault into following normative social scripts, in this case, seeking Christian forgiveness for his crime. Like others before him, the Chaplain assumes he knows what Meursault is thinking and responds accordingly, using a typical evocation of Jesus’s mercy. The overall weakness of the Chaplain’s arguments in the face of Meursault’s complete disinterest in them emphasizes the novel’s view of religion as a limiting worldview that distracts from the truth of life’s ultimate absurdity. For example, the Chaplain is horrified that Meursault would imagine Marie’s face instead of Jesus’s in the cell. Because the Chaplain sees life through a Christian lens, he misinterprets Meursault’s enjoyment of pleasure as a particular attachment to life. In reality, Meursault doesn’t love earth so much as he likes what feels good in the moment. If Meursault were to follow the Chaplain’s dictates, he would lose the enjoyable moments he has left to what he sees as the illusions of hope or fear. The Chaplain’s assertion that Meursault is blind thus enrages Meursault because in Meursault’s view, the Chaplain is the one stubbornly incapable of seeing the true nature of life.

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