The Stranger

The first statement in quotation marks we hear from any character comes from Mersault as he claims that his mother's death and his having to miss work are not his fault. This focus on the narrator while simultaneously distancing the narrator from events and responsibility is central to the tone created by Camus.

Several times during the first chapter, Mersault falls asleep. First, on the bus to the home he provides several reasons why it may have happened. At each juncture of his sleeping he points out elements in the environment which would have led to his sleeping. We are thus led to believe that the sleep was beyond his control, that it was brought on by elements of the situation, and that the sleep happened to the passive Mersault. In reality, Mersault treats his mother's death like the death of an acquaintance. To Mersault his mother's life ended like everyone’s life must end one day.