After unfortunate events, Mersault, the main character of Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger ends up shooting an Arab man. This leads to him being arrested and spending most of his next summer in a prison cell. Throughout the book Mersault has always been a rather individual character, who doesn’t care a lot about the people surrounding him and doesn’t have a deeply platonic relationship with anyone. He has friends and people around him, but doesn’t really care a lot about his appearance to them or his responsibilities or consequences. In the beginning of the book Mersault’s mother dies of old age, and he is judged for not talking care of her and rather putting her in a nursing home, and furthermore, not knowing her exact age. This however, only comes out later, when he is being prosecuted for murdering the Arab man, when it turns out, that instead of being the observer, Mersault is now the one being observed. He changed after his time in prison by losing his sense of empowerment and being unable to live in the moment and not thing about his future, this lets him realize that he is no longer the observer but rather the one being observed and judged by society.
Throughout the whole book Mersault has always been portrayed as the observer of society. The man, who silently sits on his balcony, having a smoke, and watches the pedestrians walk through their life. But after being imprisoned, Mersault doesn’t feel his sense of empowerment anymore due to being in prison and forgetting how society acts. Normally a man in prison sooner or later forgets how society behaves (at least the little things). But Mersault doesn’t only forget this, but also loses his sense of empowerment, his little god-complex, sitting on the balcony, watching the people walk by. He no longer observes people, and instead is not invisible on the balcony anymore, but is being watched in a little cell. He is used to his role in society to be the silent watcher, but now he has not only become famous because of the murder he committed, but will also always be in plain sight and always talked about. His silent character trait doesn’t change much throughout the novel, but he definitely loses his way of how he acts and his comfort zone. Not only does he not feel comfortable anymore, but he also doesn’t know how to react to different situations. In the second part of the book, one can clearly see how much Mersault has changed action-wise. He cries in court, in front of so many people, because he has finally realized how it feels to be judged by other people, not because it is the first time, but rather because he notices it for the first time. He later, looses his mind and ends up screaming at the priest, a thing one would never expect the calm, restrained Mersault to do. And lastly, he no longer has the ability, or the motivation to act (for Marie for instance). During the court sessions he no longer smiles, he no longer talks about the fans and the heat, but talks about the future, a way to get out of prison, a way to rid him of his charges. He thinks about the future, and this, is not the Mersault to whom the readers were so used to when they first met him.
From the beginning of the book up until when he realizes that he will spend a bit longer in prison Mersault lives a certain type of lifestyle. He doesn’t live his “live in the moment” lifestyle anymore. He used to not worry about the future or the consequences of things he did, he just did what he wanted to. He has lost this lifestyle of characteristic because of living in prison for such a long time, where this lifestyle is impossible. He always does things with the explanation of doing it because he feels like it. Now that he is in prison he no longer has the ways to live that kind of lifestyle. He is limited and restricted and realizes that he is now being punished due for killing the Arab man. He realizes that he can feel the punishment of not having his cigarettes or not being able to see Marie anymore. Before going to prison Mersault was able do the most spontaneous decisions like following the robot lady after eating out. Now that he is in prison he no longer has this freedom and can’t do anything he wants anymore. He realizes that spontaneous choices with no meanings can no longer be possible for him and starts to think about life differently.
In the end Mersault realizes that his actions and the following consequences have changed him. He feels insecure and sad, like a part of his life is missing, or like he has missed out on something in life. He cannot fulfill his spontaneous wishes anymore and has been given more time to think about his actions and things. Perhaps this could be interpreted as a characteristic of Mersault, that he has never fully lived his life because he was too occupied making spontaneous decisions and not thinking about them. He is no longer the silent observer, and the spontaneous action-taker. Mersault has been reformed and remolded by the prison bars, into a new, self-pitying person. Too bad that he realized how to live at such an inconvenient time in life.