the stranger

In the passage when Marie asked Mersault to marry her, Albert Camus suggests that everyone reacts to love and relationships different by having Mersault react so blunt towards Marie's question. Camus also showed everyone reacts to love and relationships different by the way Marie reacted after Mersault answered her. In many cases, Mersault's reaction would push a girl away, but in this case Marie just acted like everything was fine. Camus is showing that love and relationships may mean more to one person than the other.
When the passage begins, Marie asked Mersault if he would marry her. Mersault just answered saying, "It didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to"(41). Marie wanted to know if he loved her and he just said he probably didn't love her. She asks, " So why marry me, then?"(41). This probably really broke her heart even if she didn't want to show it. She is obviously in love with Mersault and he is just telling her, emotionless, that he doesn't love her. He is also giving off the impression that he is taking this relationship as a joke. Marriage is a serious impact on a couples life and a decision made by two people who are in love. " If she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes." (41-42). Marie could tell Mersault was just saying yes to give her an answer. She felt a little rejected and obviously hurt that the man she wanted to marry could careless.
She didn't talk for a while, thinking, contemplating what to do next. Finally, she spoke. " She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved in the same way. I said "sure" "(42). This part really showed people react to love and relationships different very different. Asking the rest of their lives with you takes a lot of courage and Mersault put Marie down hard. Mersault could care less about marriage, and it seems Marie really wants him to love her and marry her.
By the end of the passage, Marie found herself questioning if she loved Mersault. But she knew she loved him because he was peculiar. Mersault didn't really say anything to Marie. " I didn't say anything, because I didn't have anything to add, so she tool my arm with a smile and said she wanted to marry me. I said we could do it whenever she wanted"(42). Marie seemed like she was going to change her mind because Mersault seemed so blunt, and didn't care about anything. He doesn't love her, he doesn't mind if they get married, and he would have said yes to any other girl he was involved with.
At first love and their relationship seemed very important to Marie, and nothing to Mersault. At the end of the passage, their relationship and love wasn't so meaningful. Camus used a way in which love and the relationship didn't matter to the couple to show everyone reacts different.