Meursault change in character

The Development of Meursaults Character Throughout the Novel The Outsider

The novel The Outsider itself is split into two parts. In the first part we see the world through Meursaults eyes before he kills the Arab, and the second part that is also seen through Meursaults eyes however it is after the incident. We can identify small individual changes, which lead to a completely different Meursault as a whole. Noticing that he learns how to make a choice, he gradually begins to understand peoples behaviours, his own behaviour also changes from a passive to active one and finally he also begins to understand the significance of his own life.

Gradually towards the end of the novel Meursault realises that he can act past his immediate feelings to best fit the situation, as he grasps the presence of a choice.  In the first half of the novel Meursault is not capable of measuring the pro's and cons of his decisions but uses intuition for all the actions he takes. ''(She) asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said I didn't mind.'' A great example of how Meursault sees only one way out of each situation that he is in. He is convinced that whatever happens is right, because in the end it all won't matter anyway, therefore he makes no choices in his life. When Marie confronts him about a life-changing event like marriage one could say he reacts indifferently, forcing her to make the decision. However after the incident Meursault slowly learns to act against his beliefs to achieve something he wants. ''I gave the impression that I was agreeing with him. To my surprise he was exultant.'' Here Meursault actively makes the choice of going against his beliefs to make the examining magistrate go away. We can see the development of Meursaults character because he uses reason to determine his reaction. The reader can actively see him making a choice which benefits his situation, something he was unable to do beforehand.

Secondly Meursault moves from feeling clueless about people’s emotions to understanding what others feel about him. In the first part of the novel he describes others with great detail yet he fails to understand them. After following a lady who he met at Celestes restaurant he says ''I thought how peculiar she was, but I fairly soon forgot about her.'' Mersault follows her in the hope of understanding her further however after he fails to do so he goes back to what he was doing earlier without thinking about it in greater detail. He just accepts the fact that he doesn’t understand. However upon being locked away and questioned about his relationship with others, he learns to analyse and understand what people think of him. ''I think I recognised the expression that I could see on every face. I'm quite sure it was one of respect.'' Right after being sentenced to death Meursault claims to understand that the people in court show signs of respect. Something he would never have been able to point out before, as he would only see the physical aspects of ones behaviour. We know this because respect would not be the first expression one would expect to see after committing a murder.

Another distinct change we see in Meursault is, his behaviour becomes much more active rather than passive. We can see this in the last chapter of the novel once Meursault chooses to yell at the Chaplain. ''I started shouting at the top of my voice and I insulted him.'' It is clear that during the last few hours of his life, Meursault disagrees with the Chaplains opinion and is mostly annoyed with his wish to lecture him. Meursault does not accept the chaplain’s intentions and actively protests to show his disagreement. Something Meursault would never have done at the start of the novel. ''He asked me if I'd mind doing it right away and I said no.'' In contrast when Raymond asks him to write a letter to his girlfriend at the start of the novel so that Raymond can beat her up later, Meursault simply agrees. He agrees to write the letter for the sole purpose of having no reason not to. He accepts Raymond’s plans letting Raymond make the decision.  Showing that he will allow anyone to take the decision for his even if it is not morally correct, because again to him it makes no difference.

Finally, Meursault realises that his life is not indifferent to one of others. We can see that Meursault looks upon his life in a different manner right before his death, he realises that his life is of some importance to him yet he does not view it with complete enthusiasm. ''There was nothing to permit me such a luxury.'' The day before his execution Meursault ponders upon the option of escaping his own execution, after thinking about it he comes to the terms that there is no way. He thinks whether there have been instances where prisoners managed to escape their death, and in the end he looses all hope and labels such an event as 'luxury'. This lets the reader know that Meursault has experienced recognition for his life. The implausible chance of him continuing to live sounds astounding, he however knows that there is no chance of that happening and the fact that he labels the opportunity to live as a ''luxury'' we know that he has come to appreciate all the small things he has had in his life.  We also know that Meursault regrets his lack of personal interest in his own actions, especially his crime. ''the very second it was taken, its consequences became just as certain, just as serious, as the fact that I was lying there flat against the wall.'' When he speaks of the decision made to sentence his to death he labels the actions followed by such a decision as 'consequences'. This leads us to believe that he knows it is his own fault that he is in such a situation and that he does regret it. Linking back to the passion he now feels towards his own life.

In conclusion, the crime Meursault committed forced him to think over his fundamental values and contributed to his change in character. At the end of the novel he comprehends the ability to make a choice for which he uses reason to determine it. He is also capable of observing people and understands what they feel, he becomes more active rather than passive and finally he understands there is meaning to his own life.