In analyzing the issue of motivation for Meursault, Sprintzen (1988) determines that Meursault exists outside of the usual concepts of rationality and meaning:

A motive, no matter how malevolent, bespeaks an intelligible individual. A motivated act is an intelligible act; its world, a familiar world. To insist upon there being a motive--to insist so unself-consciously that the possibility that there might not be one does not even arise--while, at the same time, characterizing that motive as the willful rejection of humane sensibilities, here truly is the "best of all possible worlds." Presented with a criminal who is metaphysically comprehensible but morally reprehensible, society may, at one and the same time, reaffirm its cosmic drama and purge itself momentarily of any repressed and taboo inclinations that threaten to shatter it

Understanding does not mean agreement, however, or even a recognition of validity. For Meursault, it simply means that he knows why his boss reacts as he does.

Meursault himself has no idea of his motive. When asked, he says it was because of the sun, as if the heat had made him do it. As Melden (1961) writes,

The way Meursault always stands at a distance from himself suggests that this killing cannot be called an impulse, though it might seem so. In the deepest way, Meursault always remains true to his own nature even if he cannot articulate what that nature may be.

Meursault's act is ethical in that it is true to himself and to his view of the world. It is also the first real act of his life, the first direct action that he has ever taken as he has previously moved through life without purpose or consequence. This act will have consequences. He relishes this idea as it comes to him once the murder has been done and the heat has left him alone. The Arab has pulled a knife on him it is true, but this one part of the mosaic through which Meursault has been passing and in which he has been living on this one day on the beach. It is not the reason why he shoots the Arab but only part of the whole, a whole that actually stretches back to his agreement to write the letter for Raymond. When Meursault sees what he has done and knows that he has made a choice and taken an action that will have consequence, he fires four more shots into the body of the Arab, further undoing the life that he has led to that time.

Meursault is the protagonist of The Stranger, He is an intelligent and thoughtful man who has examined life and who sees through the artifice by which others live to the underlying truth. Society sees him as rebellious, particularly after he kills the Arab. Yet, Meursault is rebellious from the beginning. The novel opens with his mother's death, and he does not react to this situation as we might expect someone to react. Indeed, he seems indifferent to the fact of her death, to the point of being uncertain about whether it was today or yesterday. Death is no great puzzle for Meursault. Everyone has to die, and this is why everyone is absurd. Meursault's indifference toward his mother's death stems from his understanding that it does no good to rail against death, for it is inevitable and unchangeable. He is also indifferent because he is not bound by the usual ideas that others in his society are bound by, including love for his mother. He is very matter-of-fact about her death and about the funeral he gives for her.

But, in the first place,

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1747
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)