Study Questions

1. What does Meursault hope for when he’s first put in prison?

2. How does the Arab prisoner help out Meursault?

3. What does Meursault feel the first night he spends in jail?

4. How far apart are the prisoners kept from their visitors?

5. What does Meursault long for when he sees Marie?

6. What does Marie do when Meursault is led back out of the Visitors’ Room?

7. Why does the jailer think Meursault is different?

8. Besides women, what else are the prisoners deprived of?

9. As Meursault loses track of time, what are the two words that still have meaning for him?

10. What does Meursault use for a mirror?

Answers

1. Meursault has a “vague hope” that something good will happen, some “agreeable surprise.”

2. He shows him how to make a pillow with his sleeping mat.

3. Meursault feels bugs crawling on his face.

4. They are separated by a “gap of some thirty feet.”

5. He wants to reach out and squeeze her shoulders.

6. She throws him a kiss.

7. The jailer tells Meursault he’s different because he can think and “use his brains.”

8. Smoking is also forbidden in the prison.

9. The words “yesterday” and “tomorrow” still have meaning.

10. He uses a polished “tin pannikin.”