"When she were a home with me, Maman used to spend her time following me with her eyes, not saying a thing. For the first few days she was at the home she cried a lot. But that was because she wasn't used to it. A few months later and she would have cried if she'd been taken out. She was used to it" (5).
Being "used to things" is a recurring theme in The Stranger, especially when it pertains to Meursault's way of looking at the world. He dislikes change, which is obvious from the beginning. He finds it annoying when people cry at his mother's funeral, a display of emotion that is common at such an event as a funeral, but is also annoyed when they stop. He is obsessed with the physical aspects of life: the sun, light, and heat all fascinate him to an extent that this has overshadowed any kinds of feelings or emotions he may have had. When the weather changes, when something happens that disturbs the routine of his day, Meursault is irritated by the temporary inconvenience, but soon becomes "used to" the path that this inconvenience has led him down. He is focused entirely on what people are doing and not what they are thinking, which is why he is so focused on the physical change that goes on around him.
