Kramer and Meursault, How Similar are they Really?

In the hit tv show Seinfeld, Kramer seems very detached from reality at some points. He is always worried about what seems like the wrong thing. For example, in the episode, when Seinfeld’s car gets stolen, and instead of worrying about how he is going to help to get it back, Kramer talks to the thief and asks him to locate his brown gloves in the compartment. The very last scene of the show shows Kramer, with his brown gloves, talking to Seinfeld. This implies that Kramer saw the car thief, got his gloves, but did not help Seinfeld get the car back, again displaying his lack of interest in what most people would care about. Another example of Kramer’s detachment is when Owen March is having a stroke on the couch, and the ambulance can not get into the apartment. When he walks in, instead of being worried about whether or not Owen is ok, as a stroke is a very serious thing, he is worried that the movie he has his line in has stopped production because of the traffic, and he will not get to say his line. These examples of detachment are reminiscent of Meursault's detachment from reality.

Meursault, although not always worried about the wrong thing, can be very detached from reality. When his mother dies, he does not seem to care at all. He even says on the first page “Manan died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” (1) He shows no emotion that the woman who raised him, and who he lived with for a very long time, has passed away. In fact, he is more preoccupied with what day she died on, as after he read the telegram saying his mother had died, he said “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” (1) What should be a major event in his life is very insignificant to him, and this seems to be a trend throughout the novel.

When Meursault’s girlfriend at the time, Marie, comes over and asks him to marry her, his response is: “I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to.” (84) Marriage is a major event in anyone’s life, and Meursault does not care at all. In fact, it seems as though he could care less. This lack of interest proposal is also a testament to detachment to reality. When asked if he loves her, he goes as far to say that he does not. He is so indifferent to all major events that happen to him. This is because things that would be very important to most people simply do not interest him. This plays on the themes of nihilism in the novels without a doubt, as he feels like life and religion is pointless.