El Extranjero. Albert | Camus

When Meursault’s mother dies, he does not weep. He drinks coffee with milk, smokes a cigarette with the caretaker, and watches the blinding sky of Algiers through a window. We, the jury of the living, demand grief as a performance. We want tears to validate a son’s love. But Meursault refuses the script. He only tells the truth: the sun was too hot, the light too heavy, and death is just a fact.

He is not a monster. That is the first mistake we make. el extranjero. albert camus

But Meursault is the most honest man in the room. When Meursault’s mother dies, he does not weep

“I had been right, I was still right. I was always right.” When Meursault’s mother dies