Stranger Journal 1

Cultural Journal: What stood out to me was the laziness, and easygoing nature of the French portrayed by Camus. As Meursault goes to the beach to swim he notices "there were a lots of young people." swimming is a huge part of life in Algeria, as it is very hot there. It seems that a lot of french people there have quite a lot of free time to just do what they would like, like all the people at the channel, while Meursault is simply sitting on his balcony, watching the street, he notices "the street slowly emptied out. The matinees had all started"(22) The streets are now empty, because everyone is going to the movies. Matinees must be a large part of French culture. 

Journal 1: Meursault seems very detached, and overall lackadaisical. Nothing really seems to matter, from his mother dying, to falling asleep, he doesn't really keep track of what he has done. He knows what has happened, but never really knows why, or cares to know for that matter. "Maman died today. Or Yesterday maybe, I don't know."(3) One would assume right away, that he is utterly emotionless, the death of one's mother should be a big deal. But, on page 20, he remarks that as he "hoisted [himself] up next to her" that the occasion was "nice, and, sort of joking around" He can still feel physical emotion, but while he views the act of swimming with Marie as nice, he still has that lackadaisical tone as he says that it was sort of joking around. His ability to express physical emotion is further portrayed when "Toward the end of the show, I gave her a kiss, but not a good one."(20) He is again expressing physical emotion, but with his ever persistent lackadaisical tone. Camus would create Meursault like this to possibly convey his beliefs of a mix of existentialism and absurdism.
A phrase I found that Meursault seems to repeat quite a lot, is a sort of guilty thought. "It's not my fault."(1), "it isn't my fault"(19), "I felt like telling her it wasn't my fault"(20) Whenever Meursault or someone else talks about his mother's death, he has to assure them that it isn't his fault. Why does he keep reminding everyone that his mother's death was not his fault? After Meursault has been characterized as this lackadaisical, detached person, he seems to be feeling quite a lot of hidden guilt.