Meursault is a man who lacks the typical emotional and social connections that define the human experience. People are constantly trying to conform to societal norms, which have been dictated by the people themselves. Meursault goes through life lacking any emotional investment in anything, resulting in him passively observing events as they happen instead of meaningfully engaging with them. His relationships are superficial, he acts only in the present and he is devoid of sentiment. This is where the title The Stranger comes from, as Meursault is a stranger to society due to his disregard for societal values and emotional attachment. He is a stranger to the values that hold a society together and form the human condition. Meursault is so focused in the present he lacks any purpose and meaning, and makes the reader question if meaning is a human invention. Most people usually have some sort of purpose or goal in their lives that they try to achieve and work towards, but Meursault doesn’t. He simply just exists, as if somebody forgot to give him his humanity. He cares about the physical, not the emotional.
His trial then ends up being not so much of a trial for killing a man, but more so about his failure to conform to societal standards of emotion, morality and humanity. His general lack of remorse and emotion is seen as inhuman by the court, so he must be sentenced to death not for murdering the Arab but for not being “human”. This lack of humanity is seen as a far bigger threat to society than the murder, and is the reason for his extreme punishment. The Stranger shows us how a society fears a person who rejects the ideas of humanity and emotion, illustrating how society pressures people into conformity and making the reader wonder if life has any inherent purpose.
