This passing mention of the newspaper article has always intrigued me. Why bring it up? It seems undeniably significant given it is the only story Meursault reads over and over in prison, but am I misled to attach so much importance to this story within the story? The premise of the tale of the Czechoslovakian is a deeply bitter one - a man leaves home, becomes rich, comes back to surprise his family, and gets unknowingly murdered by his mother and sister for his wealth. Is this the son's fault for this turn of misfortune? Can we attribute his death to bad luck? Or does the blame lie with his murderers who later kill themselves? Does the story ultimately trace back to the fundamental criticism of human greed? And what does it mean for Meursault?
Well Meursault is a bit skeptical of the story, but he does blame the son for attempting to deceive his family. Yet his concept of lying is a bit stretch. The Czechoslovakian did not set out to lie to his family for an evil purpose - he merely wanted to surprise them. It's much like a birthday surprise: you don't tell that person about the party because you want to heighten the pleasure he or she will surely derive from the party. But Meursault recoils from this idea strongly. For him, it's the act rather than the consequences of deception that is repulsive.
Meursault speaks the truth with similar deliberation. And tying in what I learned about Camus's stance on Absurdism, this story seems to affirm the philosophy that life is ultimately meaningless. Sure we search for meaning, much like how the Czechoslovakian did by trying to surprise his family, but where does that ultimately leads us?
Well, reading The Stranger, the answer seems to be death.
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