The title character is Meursault, an Algerian (" a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture ") who seemingly irrationally kills an Arab man whom he recognises in French Algiers.

Raymond is taken to court where Meursault testifies that she had been unfaithful, and Raymond is let off with a warning.

Meursault is now disoriented on the edge of heatstroke, and when the Arab flashes his knife at him, Meursault shoots.

Although Meursault's attorney defends him and later tells Meursault that he expects the sentence to be light, Meursault is alarmed when the judge informs him of the final decision: that he will be decapitated publicly.

In prison, while awaiting the execution of his death sentence by the guillotine, Meursault meets with a chaplain, but rejects his proffered opportunity of turning to God, explaining that God is a waste of his time.

Meursault is a French Algerian who learns of his mother's death by telegram.

Another aspect of Meursault is that he is an honest person.

Raymond Sintès is the neighbor of Meursault who beats his mistress which causes a conflict with the Arabs.

Raymond can be a foil character of Meursault in that he takes action while Meursault is indifferent.

Raymond also views things on what he owns-he assaults a woman because she cheated and he insists Meursault is his friend after a simple favor from Meursault.

She represents the enjoyable life Meursault wants and she is also the only reason that Meursault regrets going to jail.

Masson is the owner of the beach house where Raymond takes Marie and Meursault.

Meursault and Thomas Perez – The relationship that Thomas has with Meursault's mother is one of the few in the novel that show a real emotional attachment.

This is a contrast to the relationship that Meursault had with his mother.

Whereas Meursault shows indifference to her death, Thomas is truly hurt by this event.

Meursault and Raymond Sintès – This is one of the more obvious foils in this novel.

On the other hand, Meursault is very honest about what he feels.

Meursault and Salamano – When Salamano's dog is lost, he is heart-broken.

Although the chaplain persists in attempting to lead Meursault from his atheism, Meursault finally accosts him in a rage, with a climactic outburst on his frustrations and the absurdity of the human condition ; his personal anguish at the meaninglessness of his existence without respite.

The attorney pushes Meursault to tell the truth but never comes through and later, on his own, Meursault explains to the reader that he simply was never really able to feel any remorse or personal emotions for any of his actions in life.

The story's second half examines the arbitrariness of justice: the public official compiling the details of the murder case tells him repentance and turning to Christianity will save him, but Meursault refuses to pretend he has found religion ; emotional honesty overrides self-preservation, and he accepts the idea of punishment as a consequence of his actions as part of the status quo.

Indeed, Meursault is never even asked to confront, reflect or comment upon the victim as anything other than as a consequence of his actions and the cause of his current predicament.

Meursault only meets with French-Algerians and doesn't name Arabs in the novel.

In the story's first half, Meursault is an unperceptive man, existing only via sensory experience ( the funeral procession, swimming in the sea, sleeping with his girlfriend ).

Thematically, the Absurd overrides Responsibility ; despite his physical terror, Meursault is satisfied with his death ; his discrete sensory perceptions only physically affect him, and thus are relevant to his self and his being, i. e. in facing death, he finds revelation and happiness in the " gentle indifference of the world ".

In the Meursault region, the premier cru vineyards planted at Meursault-Charmes have topsoil almost above limestone and the resulting wines are very rich and rounded.

There are multiple instances throughout the novel where significant moments do not have an emotional impact on Meursault.

Despite its long history and association with Chardonnay, the wines of Chablis are often overshadowed by the New World expression of the varietal and even by other Burgundian Chardonnays such as Montrachet, Corton-Charlemagne and Meursault.

The main character in La mort heureuse is named " Patrice Mersault ", similar to The Strangers main character " Meursault "; both are French Algerian clerks who kill a man in cold blood.

Within the Meursault AOC there are some Premier Cru vineyards, but no Grand Cru.

This has however not stopped the wines from Meursault from competing with the white burgundies from the villages Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet, where several Grands Crus are situated.

Marie, like Meursault, enjoys physical contact in their relationship through the act of sex.

The dramatic prosecutor theatrically denounces Meursault to the point that he claims Meursault must be a soulless monster, incapable of remorse and that he thus deserves to die for his crime.

Raymond invites Meursault and Marie to a friend's beach house for the weekend, and when there, they encounter the spurned girlfriend's brother and an Arab friend ; these two confront Raymond and wound him with a knife during a fist fight.

Later, walking back along the beach alone and now armed with a pistol he took from Raymond so that Raymond would not do anything rash, Meursault encounters the Arab.

He brings Meursault into the conflict which ultimately results in Meursault killing the Arab.

In itself, his killing of the Arab man is meaningless, merely another occurrence that " happens to " Meursault.

Interviewed by the magistrate, he mentions it did not matter that he paused and then shot four more times ; Meursault is objective, there was no resultant, tangible difference: the Arab man died of one gunshot, and four more gunshots did not render him ' more dead '.

When Mersault is prosecuted for shooting an Arab man during a fight, the prosecuting attorneys seem more interested in the inability or unwillingness of Meursault to cry at his mother's funeral than the murder of the Arab, because they find his lack of remorse offensive.

The lyrics describe a shooting on a beach, in which the Arab of the title is killed by the song's narrator ; in Camus ' story the protagonist, Meursault, shoots an Arab on a beach, overwhelmed by his surroundings.

Meursault sees no reason not to help him, and it pleases Raymond.