Summary

In Chapter 3, Harun describes the way his mother has aged. He says he does not know how old she is because before Independence people did not keep up with dates. Harun adds that he does not often go to see his mother, who lives in Hadjout, because of a family secret. He explains that after Musa was killed, they moved around in Hadjout until his mother got herself hired as a housekeeper for a household who lived in a house that Harun’s mother had her eye on. She waited for Independence when the French settlers who lived in the house abandoned it. She then moved herself and Harun into that house, the house where she still lives.

Changing the subject, Harun asks his companion where Meursault’s mother is buried. He says that even though he has looked for her grave, he has...