If we define
alienation as the state of being estranged or separated from a group to which one belongs, there
are many examples of Meursault's alienation from the society that surrounds him. In the first
chapter, he is unable to respond appropriately to the caretaker who offers to take the lid off
his mother's casket and questions why Meursault doesn't want to see her one last time. When
Meursault watches his mother's friends at the vigil the night before her funeral he acknowledges
that he sees them across the room, but he thinks "it was hard for me to believe they really
existed." He doesn't overtly grieve the way the others are and is relieved when he can
finally escape.
After his arrest and imprisonment, Meursault's alienation
from his society deepens. He is put on trial for the death of the Arab, but his very character
is also put on trial as his seeming indifference to his mother's death becomes an issue to the
prosecutors. His indifference to his imprisonment and his lack of...
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