That First Encounter with Tia

All within two short pages, Antoinette's friendship with Tia starts and ends, making it seem like a side-note of unhappiness in Antoinette's generally unhappy childhood, that only emphasizes how no little glimmer of happiness in her childhood, even in the form of what seemed to be a close friendship, can't last long. However, as proven by the later scene when Coulibri is burned and Antoinette runs up to Tia, assuming that she can life with her, the two page insubstantial friendship still meant something to Antoinette, even after the reader assumes that it had ended. The interactions of Antoinette and Tia and Antoinette's apparent interpretation that what appeared to be an abrupt ending to their friendship was actually just a minor argument can give us some insight into Antoinette's understanding of her society.

Although the initial cause of the argument between them was Tia's betting scheme to take Antoinette's pennies, what eventually lead to Tia storming off wearing Antoinette's dress was Antoinette bringing up the arguments she (presumably) heard from her parents. While before, their argument was purely kids' stuff, when Antoinette called Tia the n-word, she brought the whole argument into the real adult world. However, it could be argued that she didn't know how serious she had just made their argument. She probably thought that it was pointless to argue the original topic, which was a somersault, any further, so she decided to argue that she was just inherently the better person in the same way she had heard all the other white people arguing the point, even if their disagreements had nothing to do with racial superiority. She just sees that insult as a passive, all-encompassing argument for use on black people. However, Tia, who is clearly the better arguer, understands more about being insulted in this way than Antoinette does about insulting. She immediately had the upper hand and managed to walk off with the pennies and the dress.

This shows that Antoinette's childhood might have been rather tragic partly because she didn't understand society and the way society shaped the interactions of the people around her, so the way she thinks she can communicate with the people close to her keeps her from finding lasting happiness.

What was Meursault Tried For, and Who are the French People?

The actual crime that brought Meursault to the court room was the murder of a nameless Arab, but, as has been pointed out at various times in class, the prosecutor, judge, and jury never appear to question or care about the murder. Instead, they focus on Meursault's lack of remorse at Maman's funeral, and this is unquestionably the reason that Meursault is given the death penalty, "in the name of the French people".

That quote plainly states that French society can not tolerate a man like Meursault, but it is important to remember that the crime he is tried for has nothing to do with his mother, rather he was tried for the killing of an Arab man who the French care so little about that he is hardly even mentioned during the trial. French society would not have authorized the decapitation of a man just for killing an Arab, even if it were in cold blood (which it arguably is not, since Meursault is almost incapable of feeling anything, including hatred). It is plain that Meursault was tried, not really for the murder, but for his absence of emotions and how this was displayed at Maman's funeral. As his lawyer put it, "Come now, is my client on trial for burying his mother or for killing a man?".

So, the French refuse to allow someone who puts his mother in a home and doesn't cry at her funeral to keep living, but they seem perfectly content with someone like Raymond, who lures past  romances to his apartment to beat them. He got off cleanly with the aid of some small amount of testimony that the girl had cheated on him, which seems insignificant and inconsequential. They also apparently have no qualms about people killing Arabs, since the trial that was supposed to be about the killing of an Arab was barely even influenced by the murder.  Considering these points, "The Stranger" appears to be a strong critique of French society, or at least the contrived French society Camus describes: these people are ignoring true crimes, and killing a man whose only crime, according to them, is not shedding any tears, because people who beat women and kill Arabs fit nicely into society, but failing to show emotion deserves the death penalty. This makes the French people look illogical and distant from human morality.

It is made to look even more illogical by the fact that, until he was confronted by Arabs, Meursault seemed to have no enemies in the society that wanted him dead. Further, it was noted that the guard at the prison became friends with him while he was waiting for his trial. Even though the French people could overlook the crime of Raymond, they could also overlook these things in Meursault's favour in order to convict him of something as meaningless as putting his mum into a home. In short, Camus was either commenting on the French attitude towards Nazis invading France, or he thought that the French were all a bunch of nut-cases.