The Stranger III: Bk. 2 Ch. 2-3

When Mersault reads the story about the Czechoslovakian, he concludes with a moral lesson - he interprets it as a allegory. He concludes that "you should never play games" (80). To a large extent, this is how he spends his life: he does not play the "games" of society. Whereas society would prefer that he put up a façade of sadness at his mother's death, he does not follow this rule. Whereas society would prefer that he equivocate about some of his deeds - most notable in his discussion of his sexual interactions with Marie - he does not avoid what he has done. There are many actions that society would prefer him to take which Mersault considers to be "games" and does not want to "play." Mersault chooses to ignore the rules that constitute the "game" of society because he considers society to be no more important than the rules of a game: important in context of the game (just as he understands that he is going to be punished for killing the Arab), but this "game" should not determine how he lives his life - ultimately, he, like any game-player, exists outside of as well as within the game, and can choose to ignore those rules externally despite needing to follow them in their context.