Nothing, nothing mattered

Allusion: When Meursault states that "Nothing, nothing mattered," Camus is making a direct reference to the philosophy of the absurd or existentialism. These words symbolize the lack of reason in life as human beings have no concrete definition of what life actually is and as all have the same ending: death.

Literary Reference:
When Meursault finds out about his mother's death, he shows no emotion: "'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything" (3). This demonstrates that "nothing mattered" at that time since his mother was no longer alive. Meursault's lack of emotion shows that death is something natural and therefore, nothing should matter when it (death) arrives.

When Marie asks Meursault if he loves her, he responds with indifference: "A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so" (35). This demonstrates once again that "nothing mattered" in terms of love, since it wouldn't matter at the stage of death.

At the beach, after Meursault fires the first bullet, he decides to fire another four: "Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness" (59). Meursault "[fires] four more times] to show the inevitability of death and that "nothing mattered" after the first shot. After Meursault had fired the first bullet, he knew that he would be experiencing a life full of "unhappiness"; therefore, the last four shots didn't make a difference since the Arab was already dead.