What's wrong with Meursault?

Meursault has a very iconic nonchalant response to just about everything he is presented with. As much as I'd like to believe Meursault is the most chill person ever known to man, I don't think that's the case. For someone to think nothing matters and be indifferent on such heavy topics like extreme violence and love shows some kind of mental problems. Most "normal" people would agree that murder is a terrible thing and should never be an option, however, for Meursault, he seems to see it as an acceptable choice, saying you either shoot or don't shoot. The fact that Meursault fired four extra shots into the Arab confidently in comparison to the first one truly shows some When asked by Marie if he loves her and wants to marry her, he replies "I don't think so, but that doesn't mean anything." Such lack/difference of understanding of human feelings and humanity in general is a key aspect of mental disorders.

So where did this mental disorder originate from for Meursault? I don't believe Meursault was just created into the world like this as simple as that would make things. I believe that potentially the reasoning behind Meursault's personality is the absence of a real father figure in his life. The feeling of abandonment probably gave him serious trust issues for everything else in life, which could help explain why he feels so indifferent, maybe he doesn't trust what people are telling him is right, perhaps that's why he just sees the facts beyond the social issues. We can also tell from his mother's dead that he felt pretty indifferent and distanced from her as well, so maybe the bigger problem here is that Meursault didn't have a good influence to teach him regular human values. I think this is very important to acknowledge in order to explain why the heat stroke isn't a valid excuse for Meursault's actions. While heat stroke can lead to behavioral changes, most people don't fire four shots after pausing on accident. As much as I disagree with other people's opinions, I don't just pull out a gun and shoot them, that would show serious anger management issues and other mental issues as well, I think we can all agree on that.

Comments

  1. MitchellNovember 17, 2018 at 11:22 AM

    I don't know that it clears up anything about the perplexing scene on the beach, but Meursault's observation that he could either shoot or not shoot (and that it amounts to the same thing) seems to me less about the *choice* he faces, and more a (puzzling) realization that it doesn't matter whether he shoots or not. This seems obviously false, right? One choice leads to jail; the other to more time hanging at the beach with his "pal" Raymond. But in a much larger-scale perspective--the kind Meursault adopts near the end of the novel--it still doesn't matter, just as no choices he makes in life matter, as it all amounts to the same thing in the end. It's not clear that he's giving any thought at all to the Arab's "opinions" (like, a guy who harasses and assaults my sister will have to face some consequences). He's not "intending" to shoot in any meaningful way. It just "happens." Camus tries to write it in a way that drains the act of all meaning. The idea that such a consequential act would have no meaning is very hard for us to grasp. Meursault is a kind of thought-experiment, an enigma for us to try and understand.

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