Theme: Through his parallelism between Meursault's life and that of his mother, Camus demonstrates that the way in which one views both life and death only truly changes when survival is threatened.
- "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." (3) -This mirrors later on the uncertainty of Meursault's own death while he ponders the thought in prison. The almost flippant manner in which he regards the death of his own mother is also reflected when he considers the thought of his own death.
- "While not an atheist, Maman had never in her life given thought to religion." (6) -Meursault too has no religious preference. He almost shuns the idea of believing in a God.
- "The man on my left, a small young man with delicate hands, wasn't saying anything, I noticed that he was across from the little old lady and that they were staring intently at each other." (76)
- "The young man and his mother were still staring at each other." (76)
- "The only oasis of silence was next to me where the small young man and the old woman were gazing at each other." (76-77)
- "The little old woman moved closer to the bars, and at the same moment a guard motioned to her son. He said, "Goodbye, Maman," and she reached between two bars to give him a long, slow little wave." (77)
- "Anyway, it was one of Maman's ideas, and she often repeated it, that after a while you could get used to anything." (77)
- "[...] Maman and I didn't expect anything from each other anymore, or from anyone else either, and that we had gotten used to our new lives." (88)
- "For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiance,' why she had played at the beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had to right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it again too." (122)
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