From the character description of the scene its seems like he was aware that something bad was going to happen, because he said that he had the same feelings he had when his Maman passed away. According to my opinion Meursault tried to defend himself from the Arab. In my opinion the Arab was only trying to defend himself by holding the knife against Meursault, earlier in the scene his friend Raymond  got stabbed by one of the Arab so probably Meursault was taking revenge for his friend.

"the arab"

from the start of page 53, we see raymond go out of his way to make a hostile situation out of two strangers passing by on the beach. He all but orchestrated the circumstances that led to his evisceration and then seemed to be vengeful towards the people he tried to target. His innate animosity towards the 2 people is striking because he is essentially a foreigner in their land. Where one would think a measure of arid respect or at least indifference would  be present between these 2 peoples he moves with a self-entitled indignation that these arabs would dare disgrace his beach with their presence. It strikes out at me because more often than not we see colonial entities take the stance of  "superior " status with regards to their colonized regions and the attitudes that rise from that bring forth meaningless situations like the violence on the beach. It makes me wonder what other aspects of this society are slighted in favor of the colonizer's and not the colonized.

“In our society, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.” It means that a mother is the world to a man as she is the person to give him life, the person that raises him and the first woman to be in his life. As a man's mother dies his world should be shattered in pieces. So any men who does not cry when their mother dies never loved her. That only a heartless person could not cry when his mother would die. And in our society there no place for heartless people.

Meursault gives a description of what was happening in the trip to the beach with his friends. It is interesting to see how he describes the scene as if it was nothing to be really worried about. After the incident with Raymond, he goes back to the beach. He does not seem to be scared. Honestly, there is something in him that i cant yet understand. He seems like a man with no soul. Nothing surprises him, nothing makes him feel.

He tries to stopped Raymond from shooting, but in the end he does it himself. I wonder why after the first shot, he paused and continued with the other 4.

This part of the story happened very fast for me. Meaning it went from a nice day to instant life changing moments. Each time that i thought they were done with the situation it escalated. When Mersault can't handle facing the girls again after they return to the house the second time, he goes to find peace. It was very ironic how peace was where a potential danger just was but still it was better in his head then going to face his "friends" Mersault seems to not be able to handle emotional situations. he seems to have an emotional detachment and disconnect.   "at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace." The fact that when he shoots, he shoots 4 more times as if he was a sociopath in a way.

The Stranger (56-59)

I notice that on page 56 it foreshadows what Mersault is going to do to the Arab. He states "If the other one movies in, or if he draws his knife, I'll let him have it." Then later on that ends up being exactly what happens, Mersault is really seem to be a man of his word. He tells Raymond exactly what he plans on doing and does just that. This proves that Mersault takes relationships that he has serious to some extent even if he doesn't express that. Even when he says he has to explain what happened to Raymond to Marie and Masson's wife, you can tell he feels bad for Raymond, the whole reason he left the house to continue walking on the beach was part of that reason. He also describes the scene in very vivid detail he says that the heat was so intense, that he was drunk, the sea was gasping for air, and that he was sweating it builds up to what is about to happen to the Arab.

The Stranger

Meursault seems to be outside events. He describes the conflict of Ramon and the other men as if he's watching something on TV. He seems desensitized to the violence in front of him even though there's a lot of blood. He actually seems more troubled by the women's tears and questions than he does the violence. What seems the most troubling to him, though, is the sun. The sun attacks him--like cymbals, like a knife. It seems to stab him so that he is shooting at the sun and only accidentally kills the Arabic man.

I'm puzzled by the four shots he takes at the end. I wonder if he's expressing rage. If he blames the dead body for what it's done to his life. Or if he is as helpless to shoot the body then as he is the first time around. He seems governed by events, not the master of his fate.