Sleepy Meursault

Meursault sleeps a lot. When he isn’t sleeping he’s often sleepy. I think his sleepiness is a sign that even if he doesn’t narrate it or even realize it himself, he is processing a lot of complex feelings.

Near the beginning of the book Meursault falls asleep on the bus: “It was probably because of all the rushing around, and on top of that the bumpy ride, the smell of gasoline, and the glare of the sky and the road, that I dozed off. I slept the whole way” (4). Then while he’s keeping the vigil he falls asleep twice: “It was pleasant; the coffee had warmed me up and the smell of flowers on the night air was coming through the open door. I think I dozed off for a while” (9). And later on: “Then I dozed off again.” (11). It makes sense that he would be tired since it’s the middle of the night but since he sleeps for the whole afternoon and most of the night it’s a little odd that he’s still tired in the morning; right after the vigil he notes “I was tired” (12). The most plausible reason for him being exhausted is the emotional toll from his mother’s death.

When Meursault gets home from the funeral he sleeps for an incredibly long time. He says one of the only things he remembers about the day was his “joy when the bus entered the nest of lights that was Algiers and [he] knew [he] was going to go to bed and sleep for twelve hours” (18). Then even after all that sleep he “had a hard time getting up, because [he] was tired from the day before” (19). Again, it’s not normal for someone who isn’t regularly sleep deprived or dealing with a health problem to be that tired so I think Meursault must be so tired because he is upset about his mother’s death.

Meursault also sleeps a lot in prison: “Then there was sleep. At first, I didn’t sleep well at night and not at all during the day. Little by little, my nights got better and I was able to sleep during the day, too. In fact, during the last few months I’ve been sleeping sixteen to eighteen hours a day” (79). Consistently sleeping more than sixteen hours a day is not normal for a healthy person. But you would expect someone in Meursault’s situation to be dealing with a lot of strong emotions and it would make sense for Meursault’s tiredness to be explained by emotional exhaustion.

Meursault is also extremely tired after his only real show of emotion in the book. He’s sleepy after yelling at the priest: “With him gone, I was able to calm down again. I was exhausted and threw myself down on my bunk. I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up with the stars in my face” (122). I think Meursault is also tired from dealing with emotion here.

Meursault’s consistent sleepiness after dealing with painful feelings might even shed some light on why he murdered a man. While Meursault is walking on the beach with Raymond and Masson he feels tired: “I wasn’t thinking about anything, because I was half asleep from the sun beating down on my bare head” (53). I think his tiredness here is more due to emotional distress than the sun. Meursault is particularly struggling with some emotional problem on that day, which partially explains why he becomes crazed enough to shoot someone.