Yet the Arab's connection to Raymond is, to Meursault's mind, entirely incidental and he shoots the Arab without even thinking of Raymond. Ironically, Meursault's murder could be considered a tremendous sacrifice made for a friend's wellbeing (it is Raymond, after all, who has a problem with the Arab, not Meursault). Though he helps Raymond by writing the letter to his mistress and by testifying to her infidelity at the police station, Meursault does not feel these actions to be any sort of burden on himself and performs them in a spirit of indifference.

Though fond of Marie, Meursault does not feel bound to her as a unique individual and freely admits he isn't in love with her. At his mother's vigil, he drinks coffee and smokes as usual, not feeling obliged to act differently out of respect. Once he no longer has anything to talk with his mother about, he sends her off to an old people's home and is puzzled to hear his neighbors disapprove of the decision. His casual attitude towards these relationships enables him to treat the people in his life according to his own desires without feeling any sense of duty or loyalty towards them. All of his relationships – from the filial relationship he had with his mother to his friendship with Raymond to his romantic relationship with Marie – are passionless, determined much more by incidental, superficial impressions than by deep-felt emotional bonds. Throughout the novel, Meursault remains unable to experience deep, complex relationships to the people in his life.

Meursault the stranger