Albert Camus' work of fiction, The Stranger, explores the life of a French man known as Meursault after his mother's death in old age. Meursault feels no grief over his mother's death as he believes doing so is futile since he, as well as Camus himself, is an atheist and existentialist. As such, he does not care about emotions and traditional beliefs and instead only cares about the physical world around him and his physical interactions with it. This is best exemplified by comparing the novel's opening paragraph, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I received a telegram from home: “Mom is dead. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours." This means nothing. Maybe it was yesterday." to the annoying heat that he complains about throughout the first chapter. After learning of his mother's death, Meursault shows no emotion in relation to her death. Instead he is more worried that the telegram doesn't tell him exactly when it happened. After arriving home, Meursault worries about the extreme heat it causes...