In Albert Camus' The Stranger, Meursault is seen as a very unique character, but not in a good way. Throughout the novel, he continually fails to show normal human emotions regarding things like his mother's death, Marie's love, and the man he killed. Most of the people in his town, along with the reader at first, are unable to reason with his actions, but as the final events of the novel unfold, the reader begins to see Meursault in a different light. The novel begins with Meursault getting a telegram saying that his mother had died. He takes time off from work to go to her funeral and completely fails to show the emotion the reader expects to see from a son towards his recently deceased mother. First, when it arrives, the coffin is already sealed. The caretaker realizes that it was his mistake and is about to reopen the coffin, but Meursault tells him not to bother. Meursault then continues not to cry and instead falls asleep. The next morning, someone asks Meursault how old his mother was and he couldn't remember. Later in the novel, Meursault and Marie are sitting in Meursault's apartment when Marie asks him if he loves her. He says, “I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so” (Camus 35). To love or not to love a person is entirely human, but to say that it means nothing is a complete failure to recognize a concept that almost all people value. Ultimately, at Meursault's trial, Meursault shows no remorse for killing the Arab and even says that he didn't feel bad at all about what he had done. These are the kinds of actions that lead the reader and citizens to think that Meursault is some sort of evil, emotionless monster. The key ingredient in a serial killer is the lack of remorse... middle of paper... what he feels. He felt some sadness about his mother's death and expressed it. Just because everyone else takes a few steps forward doesn't mean they should just adapt. Once the reader understands that Meursault only values ​​the truth and is willing to die for it, the reader becomes much more sympathetic towards Meursault. Some readers might even consider it noble of him to die for what he believes in, since he could have gotten away with it if only he had overexpressed his emotions a little to the judge's satisfaction. Without understanding that he actually has a system in place, people just think he is completely strange and even a possible danger to society. The people asked and Meursault answered; they were disappointed because they did not understand that "seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable" (Albert Camus).