Meursault And His Mother's Death Essay

773 Words4 Pages
At the very first sentence of the novel, the reader is introduced into the tone of death. Camus keeps this tone of death very simplistic and unmoving. He has the protagonist taking his mother’s death calmly; “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe. I don’t know” (Camus 3). These three very short sentences at the very beginning this novel is very important due to the fact it sets a tone about death for the rest of the book. The protagonist, Meursault, receives a telegram that his Maman has died. He is not given any information about her time and cause of death expect that her funeral was the very next day. After this, the story progresses into the very next day. Camus does not give Meursault any emotion or reaction upon finding the fact that his mother has just died. There is nothing to learn about his reaction. From this point to the funeral, it seems as if Meursault is just going along with the flow. This book is in first person, so it is implied that the readers would be given the main character’s thoughts about his mother’s death. However, this does not happen. Meursault thinks about the small relationship he had…show more content…
The director greets Meursault and his mother’s death very kindly. He brings up the fact that it was Meursault’s fault that Maman was placed in the home, “‘You don’t have to justify yourself, my dear boy. [...] You weren’t able to provide her properly. She needed someone to look after her. You earn only a modest salary’” (Camus 4). There is the possibility the director is trying to make him feel bad about the fact he placed her in the home. However, he states that Maman had fun at the home and made many new friends. Meursault has little reaction to what the director says and soon evens up half-listening to what the director was saying. The director pities Maman’s death because of the small relationship Maman and Meursault had. He knows this due to the fact Maman’s son rarely visits
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