L'Étranger by Albert Camus begins with the death of the main character, Meursault’s mother. “Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas”. This admission of a son's unconcern about his mother's death is the key to Meursault's simple, uneventful life as a shipping clerk. He lives, he doesn't think too much about his day-to-day living, and now his mother is dead. The behaviour shown by Meurault towards his mother’s death and his lack of emotion, contrast with the traditional type of behaviour you would expect from a hero. The impact of this indifference is shocking, yet it is a striking way for Camus to begin the novel, thus highlighting one of the main themes from the outset. To Meursault, life is not all that important; he doesn't ask too much of life, and death is even less important. He is content to, more or less, just exist, setting out the "anti-hero" idea from the start.…show more content… When he declares that it was “because of the sun", he is labelled “a monster,” by the prosecutor. The sun is a symbol for feelings and emotions, which Meursault cannot deal with. To Meursault, the sun is an influence on all his senses. The anti-hero element is present here as a hero would show more emotion and regret whereas Meursault does