Summary
[F]or the first time, in that night alive
with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference
of the world. . . . For everything to be consummated, for me to feel
less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators
the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
After his trial, Meursault only cares about escaping
the “machinery of justice” that has condemned him to death. The
newspapers characterize the situation of a condemned man in terms
of a “debt owed to society,” but Meursault believes the only thing
that matters is the possibility of an escape to freedom. He remembers
his mother telling him how his father once forced himself to watch
an execution. Afterward, Meursault’s father vomited several times.
Now, Meursault thinks an execution is really the only thing of interest
for a man. He only wishes he could be a spectator instead of the
victim. He fantasizes about a combination of chemicals that would
kill the condemned only nine times out of ten, because then at least
he would have a chance of surviving.
Meursault also dislikes the fact that the guillotine
forces the condemned to hope that the execution works on the first
try. If the first attempt fails, the execution will be painful.
Hence, the prisoner is forced into “moral collaboration” with the
execution process, by hoping for its success. He further objects
to the fact that the guillotine is mounted on the ground, not on
a scaffold. The condemned is killed “with a little shame and with
great precision.” Meursault counts himself lucky every time dawn
passes without the sound of footsteps approaching his cell, because
he knows that such footsteps would signal the arrival of the men
who will take him to his execution. When he considers the option
of filing a legal appeal, Meursault initially assumes the worst,
believing any appeal would be denied. Only after considering the
fact that everyone dies eventually does he allow himself to consider
the possibility of a pardon and freedom. Whenever he thinks of this
possibility, he feels delirious joy.
Against Meursault’s wishes, the chaplain visits and asks
why Meursault has refused to see him. Meursault reasserts his denial
of God’s existence. When the chaplain states that Meursault’s attitude results
from “extreme despair,” Meursault says he is afraid, not desperate.
The chaplain insists that all the condemned men he has known have
eventually turned to God for comfort. Meursault becomes irritated
by the chaplain’s insistence that he spend the rest of his life
thinking about God. He feels he has no time to waste with God. The
chaplain tells Meursault that his “heart is blind.”
Meursault suddenly becomes enraged. He shouts that nothing matters,
and that nothing in the chaplain’s beliefs is as certain as the chaplain
thinks. The only certainty Meursault perceives in the whole of human
existence is death. In the course of his outburst, Meursault grabs
the chaplain. After the guards separate them, Meursault realizes
why his mother started her little romance with Thomas Perez. She
lived in the midst of fading lives, so she chose to play at living
life over again. He believes crying over her would simply be an
insult to her. Meursault has finally shed any glimmer of hope, so
he opens himself to the “gentle indifference of the world.” His
only hope is that there will be a crowd of angry spectators at his execution
who will greet him “with cries of hate.”
Analysis
While awaiting his execution, Meursault takes the final
step in the development of his consciousness. Whereas during his
trial Meursault passively observed the judgments leveled against
him, in prison he begins to ponder the fact of his inevitable death.
He begins to see his life as having a past, present, and future,
and concludes that there is no difference between dying soon by
execution and dying decades later of natural causes. This capacity
for self-analysis is a new development for Meursault, and it contrasts
greatly with his level of self-awareness earlier in the novel.
Once Meursault dismisses his perceived difference between
execution and natural death, he must deal with the concept of hope. Hope
only tortures him, because it creates the false illusion that he can
change the fact of his death. The leap of hope he feels at the idea of
having another twenty years of life prevents him from making the most
of his final days or hours. Hope disturbs his calm and understanding,
and prevents him from fully coming to grips with his situation.
