A Happy Death

Content Warning: This section contains an offensive quote about people with disabilities.

“In this flowering of air, this fertility of the heavens, it seemed as if a man’s one duty was to live and be happy.”

After murdering a man in cold blood, Mersault steps outside and feels rejuvenated. Though he had struggled to find purpose or meaning in life, he is now intrigued by the world around him. The imagery of the above lines embodies the idea of rejuvenation and rebirth. The contrast between the brutal murder of a helpless man and the springlike vivaciousness of the outside world suggests that Mersault is only able to find life in violence.

“We all fall on top of each other. There were so many dead and wounded that you could have rowed a boat across the blood in that gully.”

In the restaurant, Emmanuel shares an old war story. The tone and pattern of his speech are identical to the boastful anecdotes told by the other men. This traumatic memory of intense and extreme violence is just another tale told over lunch, illustrating the extent to which the men in the story have become desensitized to violence.

“His entire life lay in the yellowed image the mirror offered of a room where the filthy oil lamp stood among the bread crusts.”

Mersault perceives his life to be a muddied reflection in a filthy mirror. His life is not whole or satisfying. Instead, it is barely present. He is not a person, but a reflection in a mirror, an echo of someone who might truly be alive but is unable to recognize himself. Mersault has nothing that makes real life worth living, so he studies the muddy reflection instead.