Context: Mr Camu

Well here's some key facts. Camus was a pied-noir, a French man that had been born in Algeria.
-He lived a tough existence as a child, he and his were impoverished and his father died in the Battle of Marne.]
-He was victim of the Roman Catholic Bourgeois, disillusioned from authority and the church
-Sharp awareness of death. He suffered a severe case of Tuberculosis.
-Note; the Roman Catholic faith underpinned the French culture.
-NON-COMFORMIST FIGURE--- refused to go along with the anti-arab sentiment in Algeria

His thoughts on CAPITAL PUNISHMENT:

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

 

Honesty and integrity/appearances:

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

 

This is why Meursault is happy at the end. He gives up looking for a meaning in life. He finally begins to live.

You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.