What is Raymond’s job?

Although Raymond insists that his job is guarding a warehouse, local rumor states that he’s a procurer, someone who finds women for sex work. Raymond is an abusive, misogynistic man who seems to have underhanded motives, and therefore it is tempting to believe the rumors that he’s involved with sex work. The prosecutor even presents these rumors as fact at Meursault’s trial. However, nothing in the text concretely proves or disproves that Raymond is lying about his profession. Like much else in The Stranger, Raymond’s job forces us to confront the absurdity of trying to impose surety onto ambiguity.

Why does Marie want to marry Meursault?

While Marie never gives an exact reason for wanting to marry Meursault, it seems likely that she’s following a normative cultural script. As she enjoys their sexual relationship and finds his peculiarities endearing, society dictates that the natural next step for them would be marriage. Meursault, who has no real ability to follow social norms that he doesn’t enjoy, doesn’t understand the need to bring love or marriage into a relationship that brings them joy in its current state.

Why does Meursault shoot the Arab?

Ultimately, there is no reason, and any attempt to craft a psychological reason or impose an explanation onto the senselessness comes from the reader, not from Meursault. In describing the first shot, Camus writes, “The trigger gave [way],” as if it has a will of its own, but the other four shots remove any argument that the shooting was an unconscious act. In court, Meursault blames the sun. This uncomfortable lack of motive ties into the book’s theme of absurdism. Just like life and death are without larger meaning, Camus argues, so is Meursault’s murder of the Arab.

What is the one other case to be heard after Meursault’s?

The last case on the docket is a patricide case where a son has killed his father. Although this case has no real connection to Meursault’s case, the prosecutor draws explicit parallels between that case and Meursault’s apparent lack of grief following his mother’s death. He even asserts in his closing statement that Meursault might as well have murdered his mother, when it is clear that Meursault did not kill her. Thus, the patricide case becomes a convenient lens for the prosecutor to try and make Meursault’s crime comprehensible.

Why is Meursault happy at the end?

Meursault is happy at the end because he has come to terms with the meaninglessness of his own life and the understanding that death is inevitable for all living things. If there is no greater meaning to his life and death will come eventually, it doesn’t matter whether he dies by execution or old age. If this is the case, trying to somehow avoid or delay his execution would only be a distraction from what will inevitably happen to him. Free from his desire to outwit death, Meursault finds peace and freedom.

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