A story about nothing? Well, not really. He just made me think of George when he complained that there was only “one roller towel” to last all day in the bathroom where he works (25). In truth, there is complexity and oddity to be found in all of Mersault’s relationships, particularly with Salamano, his neighbor.

The conversation that Mersault has with Salamano after Salamano loses his dog was the most compelling moment of the story for me, where I felt most immersed in this world with human beings. For much of the story preceding that I had difficulty sensing any strong feeling from the narrator. Even though his apathy towards life is truly human and this should not be dismissed as a boring story due to the boring nature of the world, this was the first point where I really felt lost in the world of The Stranger.

“When she died he had been very lonely. So he asked a shop buddy for a dog and he’d gotten this one very young…they had grown old together”(44-45). Mersault yawns after this, while I’m stricken with grief for this man’s loss, and he says that he is “sorry about what happened,” and I still felt after that that even though I had been profoundly affected by the old man’s story, Mersault was not affected at all, and through that, his character continues to take shape. Perhaps it is not that the story is about nothing, but that the narrator is not interested in finding meaning within his life, and is content to continue living a life of no substance.