The “Kübler-Ross five stages of grief” are, in my experience, the psychological anecdote most familiar to the layman. In it, the framework is laid out on how the average human generally reacts to a life-altering tragedy. The model presents us with a path fraught with pitfalls and emotions from denial to acceptance – the kind of journey one would certainly expect to embark on if a sudden and tragic death befell their beloved mother . Such tragedy is exactly what happens to the film's protagonist. very first sentence of the existential opus entitled “The Stranger”, by the Algerian author Albert Camus. Meursault (as his name would however be incomprehensible to his French-Algerian compatriots, apparently indifferent to this catastrophe of catastrophes and continues his life without shedding the slightest tear. He is ostensibly an emotionless exception to the Five Steps and seems to have jumped, serenely, directly from the onset of tragedy to final acceptance This is terribly unsettling to his peers for a number of reasons, namely that it represents an apparent hole in his ability to "feel", a quality they believe him to be. so central to their lives that his absence might make him somehow less human than them However, through the use of first person narrative, Camus makes it very clear that Meursault is indeed human -. so deeply human in fact As Meursault is forced to wait in the harsh, dazzling light of the morgue for other people who might wish to see his mother's body, he demonstrates a conscientious disregard for "politeness." » which accompanies such a formal situation; he gives in to his desire to light a cigarette in front of his late mother. He hesitates at first but quickly ignores the potential... middle of paper ......py death, these are questions for a dawn beyond that of the guillotine. » Meursault, although curious and sometimes perplexed, shows himself in these final moments for what he really is: Human. Nothing more, nothing less. He, like all of us, is experiencing a deep and profoundly cutting loss. He fights, just like all of us, to maintain tranquility even in denial. He gives in, just like the rest of us, to melancholy and depression. He pleads and negotiates, just like the rest of us, when all hope is gone. He lashes out, just like the rest of us, even those who want to help. He finds, ultimately, just what we all hope to find, peace and contentment. Whether intentional or not, Camus's "The Stranger" perfectly follows the classic "Five Stages of Grief" as he journeys from the tragic loss of his mother to her climactic and bloody end on the guillotine.