Chapter 1
Meursault reads a telegram that his mother (“Maman”) has died and that the funeral will be the next day. He takes the two‑o’clock bus from Algiers, falls asleep on the journey, and awakens next to a soldier who asks how long he’s been traveling. Upon arrival he is escorted by the caretaker to the director’s office. The director, a veteran with the Legion of Honor ribbon, greets Meursault, examines his mother’s file, and tells him that she had friends at the home and was happier there; he assures Meursault that no justification is needed.
The director leads Meursault to a small mortuary where a white‑washed room holds a closed casket on cross‑shaped sawhorses. An Arab nurse in a colorful scarf stands nearby. The caretaker offers to unscrew the casket but Meursault declines; the caretaker asks why, and after a brief exchange the caretaker sits behind Meursault. The caretaker reveals he has been at the home for five years, explains the need for a quick burial because of the heat, and shares personal details about his Paris background.
During the night Meursault drinks coffee with milk, shares a cigarette with the caretaker, and watches the mother’s friends—about ten elderly men and women—enter the bright room. The women wear aprons, their bellies swollen; the men are thin and lean on canes. One woman cries softly in the second row. The caretaker informs Meursault that the crying woman was very close to his mother, describing her as “her only friend.” The residents sit in silence, some making strange chewing noises, while Meursault feels both fatigue and irritation at the quiet.
At dawn the caretaker wakes the other residents; they all shake Meursault’s hand as they leave. Meursault signs several documents in the director’s office, declines a final view of the sealed casket, and learns that the undertaker’s men have arrived. The director informs him that only Meursault, the director, the nurse, and one of his mother’s old friends—Thomas Pérez—will attend the funeral.
The priest from Marengo meets them at the home’s entrance, calls Meursault “my son,” and leads the group outside. Four funeral men position the pall, and the hearse—described as a glossy, pencil‑box‑shaped vehicle—waits at the gate. Pérez, a frail old man in a felt hat, follows behind. The procession moves through the hot, sun‑blazed countryside, with Meursault noting the oppressive heat, the cracking tar road, and the sweat on his face. Pérez repeatedly falls behind, takes shortcuts across the fields, and eventually catches up, his face wet with tears of exhaustion.
Along the way the nurse warns Meursault about sunstroke versus chills inside the church. The procession reaches the village; the priest begins the prayers, the hearse is sealed, and the body is finally interred. The chapter ends with Meursault reflecting on the heat, the landscape, and his relief at returning to Algiers.