u/Calm_Caterpillar_166

the stranger is a book that I read years ago and I'm still thinking about it today, so you can imagine how powerful it is to leave such an impression, at the time, I thought I understood the character, because of the feeling of being alienated, the traditions that didn't make sense, the social expectations... but these last few days I've started seeing this book from a different angle, especially after reading most of Camus books, they usually share the same sentiment and the main character is always a reflection of him, even after learning more about Camus, and learning that he was a "pied noir", that made him feel like an outcast anx didn't really belong anywhere, yet, he still held French people higher than Arabs, specifically Algerians when it came to political beliefs... back to the stranger, meursault always felt alienated, but context matters here, he felt alienated because he was a French guy living amongst arabs, they live in communities, most people know each other, there is some warmth going there, philanthropy, altruism, these things won't make sense to someone who is individualistic, because of his culture, he won't understand why poor people still give charity because in his eyes this is making them poorer... so this story of meursault is less about a guy who is misunderstood, alienated, and more about individualism meeting collective humanity... meursault was simply culturally illiterate to the warmth around him. And it's a common experience for tourists who visit small communities and vice versa.