Camus divided his novel into two pars to show Mersault's development as a character. In the first half of he novel, Mersault is just stating the facts and the obvious around him. He just gives out his thoughts without any consideration of the consequences. He is very simple and is easily understandable through the syntax. The sentences are short and so it makes him seem as a character that is up to the point with no twists and turns.
For example, in chapter 1, Mersault says, "I was tired. The caretaker took me to his room and I was able to clean up a little. I had some more coffee and milk, which was very good. When I went outside, the sun was up" (Camus, 12). This shows Mersault's simplicity and the idea of him as a character that just states the fact.
Now in the second half of the book, Mersault develops as a character and begins to understand and change his way of thinking a little. After killing a person, which was probably a big impact on him but he didn't realize it yet, he feels like everything changed. The was he begins to interpret things around him changed, because he starts to understand things and not only state the fact. For example, he says, "I realized then that a man who had lived only one day could easily live for a hundred years in prison. He would have enough memories to keep him from being bored" (Camus, 79). Mersault begins to understand things more deeply instead of just stating the facts and having nothing to look forward to in life.
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