The Stranger Tone

In literature the tone of the narrator is a key point when developing a story. Tone is the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, or situation. In The Stranger the author, Albert Camus, creates an unemotional tone throughout the book. In The Stranger the narrator, Meursault’s, unemotional tone develops due to the death of his mother and the murder he commits.

The first few sentences draw the reader's attention because of the cold and emotionless start the novel has. "Mother died today. Or, maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: 'YOUR MOTHER PASSED. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY.' Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday" (Camus 1). Meursault’s careless response to his

mother's death is the beginning of the unemotional tone throughout the book. Meursault also shows his cold heart early on when he is asked if he wishes to see his mother before the burial and he insists that he does not wish to see her. Also, he shows no emotion at his mother’s funeral while her friends that attended could not hold themselves together due to the lose of a loved one. Meursault’s unemotional tone continues to grow into chapter two. The day after his mother was buried he did not stay home and grief nor mourn, instead he went to a public beach and ran into a friend and later attended a movie with her. Meursault does not show any emotion during the event of his mother’s death besides guilt (Stranger). “Somehow one can’t help feeling a bit guilty, I suppose” (Camus 24).
Meursault unemotional tone is easily shown during the event of the pointless murder he commits and the trail leading up to his execution.

After Meursault had no emotion when his mom died he continued having no emotion later on in the novel, when he murdered a man whom he shot several times while at a friend's beach house. Meursault then had a trial because of the life he had taken, but he did not seem to care that he would be going to jail and could be executed. When he got in jail he had told himself “and I decided that, if ever I got out of jail, I'd attend every execution that took place" (Camus 138). This line in the novel shows the reader how cold hearted Meursault really is that he would go watch criminals die if he ever was a free man once again. Meursault discusses his guilty feeling with himself while in jail but realizes guilt is an emotion and wishes to lose that feeling. "I was saddled with a load of guilt, of which I must get rid" (Camus 148). Albert Camus continues to show the reader the little emotion the narrator has by including his selfishness and also never sparing anyones feelings or beliefs. “I went close up to him and made a last attempt to explain that I'd very little time left, and I wasn't going to waste it on God. I hurled insults at him, I told him not to waste his rotten prayer on me" (Camus 151). Meursault also shows his selfishness when he states "almost for the first time in many months I thought of my mother." (Camus 153). In the last couple

of pages in the novel, Meursault starts to become so unemotional is seems as if he is lifeless. Meursault explains how he believes life is meaningless and there is no purpose because everyone is born to die. He sees it as everyone will die either now or later so all lives are equally meaningless and after death you will have no further importance. These thoughts running through his mind allow him to come to an understanding that he will be dying by execution and he gives up hope that he would get out and die a natural death.
An unemotional tone is developed through the narrator, Meursault, because of the death of his mother and a crime he commits which leads to his execution. He remains monotone throughout the book, he does show emotion or feelings for the taste of a café au lait; the warmth of sun and water; the touch of his fiancée, Marie (Stranger). In The Stranger, Albert Camus focus on the unemotional tone of the narrator is what striked readers attention and made the book seem realistic. The tone of this novel is the most important element because it develops not just the story but also the narrator and other many characters.