I read The Stranger decades ago so I might change my mind if I reread it today but this is what I got from it at that time.
I don’t see Meursault as a socio/psychopath. Sure, Meursault shares a lack of empathy and morals with sociopaths, but socio/psychopaths have particular nasty traits that steam from being narcissists. Meursault is not a narcissist.
Socio/psychopaths may not have empathy for others but they certainly have powerful emotions when it comes to themselves. One of their classic traits is how they exploit the emotions, beliefs, morals and trust of others -– even to the point of shedding fake tears. Meursault is not like that. He doesn’t show emotions for others nor for himself and he certainly doesn’t try to manipulate people – quite the contrary. If anyone is manipulated, it’s Meursault.
In essence, socio/psychopaths are immoral whereas Meursault is amoral.
Secondly, I don’t see the story as being about Meursault or psycho/sociopaths per se. For me, Meursault is just a caricature Camus uses to walk us through a meaningless world. Camus could have used an animal as the amoral protagonist - a cat that plays with a mouse until it is dead or rapes another cat, for instance wouldn’t be judged as evil because the animal is intellectually incapable of evil. They’re simply biologically driven behaviours.
Meursault is more like an amoral animal than a narcissistic psychopath; he lives in the moment and flops from one situation to the next as his whims take him. There’s no plan, no deliberation as to what an action might ‘mean’ or lead to. Even when Meursault kills an Arab on the beach it’s not out of hatred, revenge or even sick pleasure. His friend was going to kill the guy but didn’t so Meursault did. His reason? “Why not?” Meursault is no more complex than that. Why not?
In a way, Camus takes us back to ground zero before we were programmed by society’s ethics, morals and laws. He offers us a fresh look at a world that comes to us empty and devoid of meaning.
Unlike most people, Meursault isn’t driven by fear. He is free. He has absolutely no need to make-believe there’s a purpose behind this absurdity called life. It is what it is and he floats through it acting as one would if he wasn’t handicapped by limiting beliefs or corrupted by narcissism.
At the end of the book Meursault’s facing the death penalty (for killing the Arab) and a priest is bludgeoning him into believing in a world of good and bad, heaven and hell, salvation and punishment. These verbal attacks force Meursault to articulate his nebulous nihilistic vision and, in doing so, it brings Meursault to a deeper acceptance of life. Meursault enters a state of peace and resignation about his life and impending death. He has no guilt, no shame, no fear, no regret and no standard he’s failed to live up to.
Unlike all those who tried to threaten and shame him into being something he wasn’t, Meursault integrity stands - his beliefs and his lifestyle are in perfect sync and now, with a clearer understanding of himself, he has come into perfect alignment and peace. A peace that judgmental, fearful believers will never know.
EDIT: The Cure’s Killing An Arab - introduced a lot of people to the book back in the 80’s. Good stuff.
youtube.com/watch?v=SdbLqOXmJ04
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