THE STRANGER SEMINAR Why did Meursault hesitate to shoot the gun?

I think that Meursault hesitated to shoot the gun because at that point he was aware of the absurdity of the world and had come to terms that there was no meaning in life. Therefore, he wanted to see if shooting the man more would somehow bring some sort of meaning and purpose to his life. On page 59, Meursault says, Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness. This quote describes how Meursault was hoping that killing a man would show him some kind of meaning or rationality to his life, and as he continued to shoot him and nothing happened, he got more and more unhappy with the absurdity that is life. What passage BEST represents Camuss recommendation for how we handle the Absurd (the imminence of death and meaningless of universe)? It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed. To be honest I dont think that this passage totally encompasses Camuss recommendation for how we handle the absurd, but I think it has some interesting points. I think it is extremely difficult to fine one passage that totally explains Camuss perspective. Through this passage, Camus shows that Meursault faces issues like the randomness of death and the irrationalness of the world through his lack of social morality. Later on in the novel, after he is charged with murder, he is as indifferent as he was at his mothers funeral. He says on pg. 77, At the time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowering overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it. Living as he does, without any meaning, he is essentially unpunishable. Everything is a condition of existence. There can be no punishments and nothing is a reward. In the end, death ultimately ends up cancelling everything out for Meursault; how he chose to do, how he lived, what he did with his life, etc. None of them make a difference, since he, like everyone else, has one fate being death. So going back to the first quote about Sundays, I think that his quote sums up what Camus thinks pretty well because even though Meursaults life is meaningless and unpunishable, he could still have found meaning in his life. He could have found meaning in his mothers death, and he could continue to find meaning in his life in his work or personal life. Instead, he decides to dwell on the fact that life is meaningless and irrational. Camus thinks that even though life is essentially meaningless, we should be aware of the absurdity of it and still continue to strive for meaning, which, ultimately, Meursault does not do.