Discuss the last sentence of The Stranger: "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet...

ends with Meursault's
refusal to renounce his actions, his refsual to show remorse for killing the Arab or for not
crying at his mother's funeral.  Instead, he hopes for an angry mob to jeer at his beheading.
 He says that no one had the right to cry over his mother's death because she was ready to live
her life all over again.  The same it is with him.  So, instead of tears, Mersault and Camus
want us to show anger in the face of death.

One of Camus' earlier essays,
"" shows this same hatred for death.  There, Sisyphus cheated Death and lived two
lives.  Rather than be buried, he again enjoyed the sun and ocean by his wife's side.  But Death
caught up to him a second time and, as punishment, made him forever roll a rock up a hill, only
to have it roll back down.  But, Sisyphus accepted his punishment.  An eternity of useless labor
was a small price to pay for seeing one's wife, the sun, and the ocean again after death.  In
the end, Sisyphus would have done it all over again, punishment and all.

Like
Sisyphus, Merusault is an absurd hero who:

• Loves life


• Hates death
• Scorns the gods

First,
Meursault loves life: he loves the beach, water, sun, and sex.  He has no regrets; he lives with
total freedom.  Like Maman and Sisyphus, he would live his life all over again, without changing
a thing.  He would not cry at Maman's funeral; he would shoot the Arab; and he would refuse to
feel guilt for either.

Secondly, Meursault hates death.  This is why he
doesn't want to see his mother.  This is why he doesn't cry at her funeral.  He hates those who
sit up all night and cry and torture themselves for another's death.  The culture of mourning is
absurd to Merusault, and so he becomes angry at the old people and Thomas Perez for feeling such
blathering guilt.  Instead, they should all love the sun, water, and each other rather than
following a hearse around until they faint.

Thirdly, Meursault scorns the
gods: at the rest home, at work, in prison, at the church.  He resents all forms of authority
that take away one's freedom by prescribing behavior which says one must cry at a funeral; one
must live to work; one much believe in God, etc...  All of these institutions limit choice and
freedom of the individual.

So, Merusault and Camus want us to be angry at his
death, not angry at him for killing the Arab, but angry at the entire culture of death: the
death penalty, the funeral homes, the churches, the prisons, the judicial systems, any
institution that makes a living off of death.  As readers, we too are in that angry mob
greeting him with cries at hate.  For he is
our absurd hero.