How Did Mersault's Actions Influence His Crimes

It’s not Mersault’s actions that influence his crime, but rather his lack of actions. His apathy for everything and the absurd causes him to place life to near or on no value whatsoever. Since he feels no remorse for Maman’s death, he certainly won’t feel anything for a stranger’s death even if he murdered him. The court looked into Mersualt’s private life and found details about the death of his mother. When Mersault’s lawyer is talking to him and it is said that, “The investigators had learned that I had “shown insensitivity” on the day of Maman’s funeral” (Camus 64). The court later uses this as a potential motive against Mersault because it shows his indifference to death and how he hadn’t shown remorse after either death. His indifference also earns him the title “Monsiuer Antichrist” because he seems wicked in the eyes of the magistrate for not feeling any remorse. Also, the lawyer mentions how his thoughts and persona are off putting and the legal dealings would be much harsher if he spoke what he thought to the magistrate. Mersault said, “He made me promise I wouldn’t say that at my hearing or in front of the examining magistrate” (Camus 65). This was to try to prevent Mersault from receiving the

For example, the magistrate questioned Mersault’s spirituality and he said he wasn’t religious, and in the beginning of the book it talks about how Maman wasn’t religious and how in comparison he wasn’t religious. An example of this is, “While not an atheist, Maman had never in her life given a thought to religion” (Camus 6). Camus includes this to show where Mersault could have possibly learned his traits and how his personality were formed. This could be a direct connection to the murder because it’s his personality and decision making that leads him to commit the murder since the value of life is mainly held by religious