The story begins: “‘Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” I cast no judgment on Meursault. We can’t say he lacks feeling or self-awareness. People process grief differently and on different timelines. He had been paying for his mother’s stay at the old age home. He lives eighty miles from the old age home. Perhaps this represents emotional distance. (He had not visited her often.) He wasn’t ready for her death and needed time to absorb and accept it emotionally. He is mildly offended that his boss did not immediately offer his condolences, but says his boss will see him in mourning when he returns from the funeral. He says, “For now, it’s almost as if Maman weren’t dead.” Meursault says that after the funeral, everything will seem more official. He needs to get through the wake and funeral before he can fully process his mother’s death.
