"The Outsider", by Albert Camus; "Meursault doesn't want to make life simpler. He says what he is, he refuses to hide his feelings and society immediately feels threatened." (Albert Camus) Discuss.

Yes, I think it is true, that Meursault doesn't want to make life simpler. He doesn't make life simpler in that he is not lying and not saying more than he feels. We all do it, every day, to make life simpler. This is the problem, that Meursault doesn't play the game and is therefore condemned. On his mother's funeral he doesn't want to see her and Meursault stopped the caretaker of opening her coffin. "…

…the world tries to interpret Meursault behaviour and fit it into a system, society can understand. Meursault however doesn't understand those serious boxes through which the world works. Meursault is not breaking any rules of society intentionally. He is just scrupulously honest, has no reason for doing things and lacks any kind of the usual social standards. As Camus said, he is a man who, without any heroic pretensions, agrees to die for the truth.