Meursault, the main character of Albert Camus' The Stranger, is an intriguing individual with a complicated relationship with the world around him. He is curious by nature and often questions the reality and purpose of the situations he finds himself in. It often reflects on whether an interaction is “natural” or not. What he means by this remains unclear as the story progresses, but we can infer that he is trying to examine the normality of everyday situations and whether they are valuable or not, whether interactions really matter or not. As a non-religious skeptic, Meursault is quite critical of our existence. Meursault is unique: he follows a unique routine and has a unique outlook on life. Instead of just judging him for being different from most people and condemning his violent mentality, we should instead learn from him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For much of the beginning of the story, Meursault leads a rather normal life. However, he is more reserved than most people. He is not troubled by the death of his mother, who had already been in a nursing home for a long time before her disappearance. But it is remarkably indifferent; Meursault seems to perceive his mother's funeral as an obligation rather than a celebration to honor her life. Throughout his time at the wake, he is annoyed on multiple occasions by funeral attendees making loud noises, but is also annoyed when the room is completely silent. While going to church for his mother's funeral, Meursault curiously accepts an idea proposed to him by a nurse: either he should walk quickly to the church and end up sweating due to the physical effort required, or walk slowly and end up sweating due to the heat of the midday sun. Following the theme of whether or not our existence really matters, Meursault simply accepts the inevitability of sweat and wastes no time trying to resolve a situation over which he has no control. However, he sees the heat and the long walk as an inconvenience, instead of seeing them as necessary steps to honor his mother's life. He would rather be able to go about his daily life at home than go out of his way for any reason, even if it's a habit to honor the woman who raised him. Meursault's daily life is simple; He works a day job like everyone else and spends his free time at home or relaxing with his friend Marie. He appreciates routine much more than most people, and it may be difficult to understand, but such a mentality is worthy of respect. Meursault has a comfort zone; one he doesn't want to go far from. He is perfectly happy living in this comfort zone, but others don't seem to understand this behavior. Later in the story, during the court proceedings for his case, several witnesses who testify against Meursault describe him as a cold and uncaring person. The prosecutor, unaware of Meursault's unique mentality, notes that "the day after his mother's death, [Meursault] was out swimming, starting a dubious relationship, and going to the movies" (Camus, 94). This comes only after his mother's caretaker defamed Meursault in the eyes of the jury by pointing out that he "had not wanted to see [his] mother, that [he] had smoked and slept a little, and that [he] had had some coffee " (Camus, 90); the jury notes that Meursault simply carries out normal activities during the wake and does not go beyond showing any emotion. The way Meursault behaves perplexes most people; we're not used to someone who seems to show so littledesire to get away from routine. However, his behavior is not harmful, even if others consider it so. One of Meursault's greatest social taboos, experienced in the mid-20th century, is being an atheist. When Meursault first meets the magistrate presiding over his case, he waves a cross in Meursault's face as if to cleanse him of sin and make a statement about his lack of religion, as he "waved the crucifix almost directly over [Meursault's] head " (Camus, 68). This interaction immediately reduces Meursault's chances of being exonerated from the charges he faces, even though the judge appears to be fairly impartial during the rest of the trial. Remarkably, Meursault remains calm while the judge attacks him in an extremely aggressive manner. He does not seek to defend himself, nor to defend his opinions, simply in the interest of excluding himself from any unnecessary conflict. Interestingly, as he has done before, Meursault questions how natural the situation was; whether it was actually meant to happen or not, while noting that subsequent interactions were perfectly natural and seemed to go very well. He seems to want to justify the judge's behavior simply as a consequence of his observations; as if it were inevitable that the judge would lash out at him because of his passion for his religion. This question of inevitability will become crucial later in the story, near Meursault's execution. In prison, Meursault tries not to spend most of his time in his cell simply wasting away; he reads books and looks at the sky and tries to improve his memory in an attempt to get the most out of this experience away from his laboriously mundane routine. Sometimes he "would start thinking about [his] room, and in [his] imagination [he] would start at one corner and go around the room, mentally noting everything that was in the way" (Camus, 78). Looking closer, Meursault is simply creating a new routine. He wanders around his cell and spends eighteen hours sleeping every day. Just like in the days following his mother's funeral, Meursault tries not to make his time in prison inconvenient. As long as he's dealing with something, he might as well make the most of it and try to keep his life as interruption-free as possible. As such, although he is not credited for it, he appears to behave the way a model prisoner would behave. He is diligent, reserved and does not cause problems in prison. As part of his routine, Meursault notices and later reads a newspaper clipping about an ironic story in Czechoslovakia. A man was murdered by his mother and sister who wanted to steal his fortune, while he slept in the hotel they managed. Unfortunately the two did not know that the man was their respective son and brother, as he had spent years away from home. Meursault found the story a little disconcerting and a little ironic. He asked himself how "natural" everything was in the events that occurred, which he has done on numerous occasions in the past, such as with the judge. The situation was not inevitable, as the family chose to kill the man. However, this could have been avoided altogether if the man had announced himself to them before stopping there and trying to surprise them. The fact that Meursault is interested in the situation is relevant because he wants to know whether it really had to happen or not and what could have prevented it, just like in his case. When he sees Marie for the first and only time in prison, Meursault does not seem to gain much from his encounter with her beyond seeing her and being able to converse with her. The room is noisy with various inmates communicating with their loved ones and he has to yell to talk to Marie. In the end, he seems happy to..