How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Matthew Ward's translation, published by Vintage International published in 1989.
Quote #10
[…] the way he saw it, we were all condemned to die. But I interrupted him by saying that it wasn’t the same thing and that besides, it wouldn’t be a consolation anyway. (2.5.15)
Through his atheism, Meursault has accepted death as his—and everyone else’s—final sentence.
Quote #11
The chaplain knew the game well too, I could tell right away: his gaze never faltered. And his voice didn't falter, either, when he said, "Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?" "Yes," I said. (2.5.15)
Meursault has already gone through all this with the magistrate. In its absurd repetition, he sees the whole thing as a "game"—the same word he used to describe his own arrest, trial, and conviction.
Quote #12
"I know that at one time or another you’ve wished for another life." I said of course I had, but it didn’t mean any more than wishing to be rich, to be able to swim faster, or to have a more nicely shaped mouth. It was all the same. (2.5.23)
Meursault challenges the chaplain’s view of Christianity with the absurdist position that nothing means more than anything else.