He explores his memories, sleeps, and is occasionally taken away to be interviewed by a magistrate or his lawyer. Due to his general apathy and detachment from life, his time in prison is not overly punishing. He reflects on his incarceration and the trial he is about to face. The heat of the sun and the confusing situation cause Meursault to shoot the young Algerian four times. That afternoon Meursault goes for a walk alone and encounters the Arab again. Meursault convinces Sintes to calm down and takes the gun. He tracks down the Arab and his friend and points a gun at them. Later, Sintes tries to exact revenge on the youths. The Arab draws a knife and cuts Sintes before they run away. The Algerian youth (whom Meursault refers to as the Arab) and his friend try to attack Sintes. Meursault spends a day at the beach and feels ill under the oppressive sun. They are followed by a young Algerian man, the brother of Sintes’s mistress. Sintes invites Marie and Meursault to his friend’s beach house. Meursault tries to comfort Salamano but is bored by the old man’s recollections about his pet and his dead wife. Meursault also talks with an elderly neighbor named Salamano, a man who is often heard shouting at his sick dog. However, Sintes receives no punishment, as he enlists Meursault as a witness to say the woman was unfaithful. Sintes beats his mistress so badly that the police are called. Sintes reunites with his mistress thanks to the letter and, soon after, Meursault and Marie overhear a violent argument in Sintes’s apartment. He writes a letter for Sintes to trick the woman into returning. As with everyone else, Meursault barely considers the feelings of Sintes or his mistress. Meursault agrees to help without thinking about the ramifications of his actions. Sintes blames the woman for being unfaithful to him, and he wants to embarrass her.

Over the coming days, Meursault strengthens his friendship with a neighbor named Raymond Sintes, who enlists Meursault to exact revenge on his Algerian mistress.

However, Meursault struggles to commit to any emotions regarding their relationship. They develop a romantic relationship and, after a date at the cinema, she spends the night with him.

Upon returning to Algiers, Meursault goes to a swimming pool where he reunites with a former coworker named Marie. He spends more time scrutinizing the elderly funeral attendees than he does thinking about his mother. His mother is buried the next day, but Meursault demonstrates none of the emotions expected of a grieving son. He takes a bus to the retirement home where she lived and stays with her body before the funeral. Meursault, a young man living in Algiers, receives a message which tells him that his mother has died.

The stranger the outsider