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In The Meursault Investigation, names are usually freighted with additional meaning. Most names derive from the Bible, and shed some light on the characters’ relationships with one another. For example, Musa and Harun refer respectively to Moses and Aaron, the two famous brothers from the book of Exodus. While Moses is the hero, who saves his people from enslavement, he relies on Aaron to act as his spokesman, mediating his interactions with the world. Their relationship mirrors the power dynamics between Musa and Harun, who sees his brother as a larger-than-life, heroic martyr. Harun adores his brother and resents living in the shadow of his death, so he takes some comfort in the power he derives by being the only person who can speak to Musa. Meriem translates to Miriam, Moses’ sister who saves his life as a baby; this represents her emotional kinship to Harun, but also suggests that their relationship is one of guidance and affection, rather than love. Of course, Joseph derives from the biblical character who is betrayed by his brothers; this mirrors his betrayal by Harun and suggests that, despite differences in race and class, the men are more like brothers than strangers. Meursault’s name translates to “the messenger” in Arabic. This reflects Harun’s admiration for his literary genius, but it’s also ironic—Harun has devoted his life to refuting the narrative Meursault has put forth about his brother.
Moreover, granting or withholding a name is always a sign of power. Throughout the novel, Harun is incensed that in his novel Meursault refers to Musa exclusively as “the Arab.” Denying Musa a name deprives him of his essential humanity in Meursault’s narrative. It’s this detail that makes it possible for Meursault to murder Musa without guilt, shame, or punishment. One of the novel’s major concerns is language’s ability to define and give value to narratives; Meursault’s literary treatment of Musa lies at the center of this problem, since it reflects the ability of abstract language to cause tangible harm.
Names Quotes in The Meursault Investigation
The The Meursault Investigation quotes below all refer to the symbol of Names. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
Well, the original guy was such a good storyteller, he managed to make people forget his crime, whereas the other one was a poor illiterate God created apparently for the sole purpose of taking a bullet and returning to dust – an anonymous person who didn’t even have the time to be given a name.
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For centuries, the settler increases his fortune, giving names to whatever he appropriates and taking them away from whatever makes him feel uncomfortable. If he calls my brother “the Arab,” it’s so he can kill him the way one kills time, by strolling around aimlessly.
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Chapter 6
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Arab. I never felt Arab, you know. Arab-ness is like Negro-ness, which only exists in the white man’s eyes. In our neighborhood, in our world, we were Muslims, we had given names, faces, and habits. Period. The others were “the strangers,” the roumis God brought here to put us to the test, but whose days were numbered anyway […].
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Chapter 14
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At one and the same time, I felt insulted and revealed to myself. I spent the whole night reading that book. My heart was pounding, I was about to suffocate, it was like reading a book written by God himself. A veritable shock, that’s what it was. Everything was there except the essential thing: Musa’s name.
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Chapter 15
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The Arab’s the Arab, God’s God. No name, no initials. Blue overalls and blue sky. Two unknown persons on an endless beach. Which is truer? An intimate question. It’s up to you to decide.
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Names Symbol Timeline in The Meursault Investigation
The timeline below shows where the symbol Names appears in The Meursault Investigation. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Harun has also read the novel and absorbed its meaning. The protagonist has “a man’s name,” while Harun’s brother (Musa) had “the name of an incident.” The author could have named...
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...him but by writing about his death in such a dismissive manner and eliminating his name from the story.
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...story for the interlocutor. Meursault kills an Arab who, in his novel, apparently lacks a name. Then he explains that his murder is “the fault of a God who doesn’t exist,”...
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Harun warns the interlocutor to make a note of Musa’s name, otherwise he will stop telling the story. He says his genealogy is “pretty pathetic”: he’s...
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Harun’s brother is named Musa, but he will always be known as “the Arab.” For centuries, the settler has...
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Harun often repeats Musa’s name so it doesn’t vanish. He wants the interlocutor to write in down in large letters....
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Chapter 2
...of calling all unknown men “Mohammed”; Harun does the same thing but substitutes his brother’s name, Musa. It’s also the name of the bartender in this bar.
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Harun has named not only the barman but another patron Musa as well. He says that the second...
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Chapter 4
...acquires with the events of her dreams, so nothing makes sense. She often cites the names of people she has heard about through neighborhood rumor, as if she can track them...
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Chapter 5
...that Musa might have been well-known or famous, if only Meursault had given him a name. Mama could have her pension, and Harun could have a brother to take pride in....
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...the outline of the story. At two o’clock on a sunny afternoon, Meursault kills an unnamed Arab. The murderer is convicted for “having buried his mother badly,” and he says that...
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Chapter 6
...of his usual haunts. He gets dizzy thinking about “how a man could lose his name, plus his life, plus his own corpse” in one afternoon.
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Chapter 14
...to grips with how beautiful the writing is, but he also can’t believe that Musa’s name is absent from the entire work. Contrary to his hopes, he can’t learn anything about...
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Chapter 15
...talks too much—just like Meursault, another murderer who has gone unpunished. He remarks that Meursault’s name translates to “the messenger” in Arabic.
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