Missing Pieces

While reading The Stranger, I constantly wondered why Meursault had become this kind of existentialist person. I asked myself if it maybe had to do with his father, as it was never mentioned until the last pages. When I came across a passage however, everything kind of made sense, except it was briefly mentioned. I had the hope that Camus was going to bring it up later, unfortunately that was not the case.

“When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned quickly that none of it really mattered” (The Stranger pg. 41)

Why did Meursault have to leave his studies? Was it such a hard thing for him so that he basically lost the meaning of life? Was it because of abandoning his studies that he became “unknown” to Maman?

The restricted information that Camus provides makes me think that that particular period for Meursault created such grief that he does not like going back to it. It can also be that he is no ashamed of having ambitions and thinks it is a stupid thing that he did have a reason for life at some point.

As I mentioned before we don’t know about Meursault’s father until the very end at its also quite simple.  He briefly mentions a story Maman told him about his father. I believe he does feel some kind of emptiness having to do with his paternal figure. Even though he didn’t know him, there is certain feeling of resentment in the way he talks abut him:

“At time like this I remember a story Maman used to tell me about my father. I never knew him. Maybe the only thing I did know about the man was the story Maman would tell me back then…I remember feeling a little disgusted by him at that time” (The Strangers pg. 110)

The moment when he remembers his father, and the only time he talks about him is when he is sentenced to execution. It made me wonder if his way of seeing life had to do indirectly with the feeling of emptiness related to his father. As I continued reading, he gets mad at the chaplain for asking him why he was calling him monsieur instead of father. Meursault responded in an aggressive way telling him he wasn’t his father. For me this was a demonstration of the empty slot his father left and no one could ever fill.

Most of the novel has a lot of missing pieces that for me show that Meursault tries to portray them as unimportant or meaningless but those are the pieces that have had most influence in his life.