Blog Post #13: Meursault's Outlook on Life

Meursault's outlook on life follows a very existentialist mindset. He lives in the moment and is indifferent about the past, future, and, sometimes, the present. His attitude of indifference towards most of the things in his life can come off as pessimistic and negative, but in reality, he doesn't care one way or the other. While Meursault is indifferent about most of the things in his life, he is still very observant and he notices everything. Meursault has a neutral attitude for, what most people consider to be, very important moments in a person's life. When his mother dies, Meursault doesn't seem to feel sad or numb, but instead he has no emotions. He doesn't even remember the day she died on. He narrates, "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know" (Page 3). Meursault also shows his indifference in his relationship with Marie. As their relationship progresses he narrates,
"[Marie] asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't..." (Page 41). Meursault doesn't even have an opinion, good or bad, about one of the biggest commitments in a person's life. He lives his life with an indifferent attitude and takes life as it comes to him, not dwelling on the past or the future.

I don't think that as a whole Meursault's outlook on life is a good one to have. Some parts of it, such as not dwelling on or worrying about the past or the future, could be nice, but overall his mindset is a hard one to grasp. He lives his life without a plan or goals, and I think that would be difficult. Meusault's life seems to be pretty stagnant and unchanging, because of his indifference to what happens to him. Even when his boss offers him a new position, which most people would jump on, Meursault seems to not care, like he could take it or leave. I think it depends on the person, but for me, having this outlook wouldn't be useful because it seems to lack the ability to move forward in life.