The Stranger

"I'd realized that the most important thing was to give the condemned man a chance. Even one in a thousand was good enough to set things right. So it seemed to me that you could come up with a mixture of chemicals that if ingested by the patient (that's the word I would use: 'patient') would kill him nine times out of ten. But he would know this--that would be the one condition. For by giving it some hard thought, by considering the whole thing calmly, i could see that the trouble with the guillotine was that you had no chance at all, absolutely none," (Camus 111).

During his time in prison, Mersault has an extraordinary amount of free time on his hands. If at all possible, he passes the time by sleeping. However, one cannot sleep all day every day. His waking hours are spent waiting. He waits for the daily walk in the court yard and for visits from the guard. After he is sentenced to death, Mersault waits for his execution. Although he was never a particularly joyful or engaged individual, he now is terrified by the prospect of having his life ended. It is ironic because he never seemed especially interested in any aspect of his life, other than satisfying his physical needs and desires. His relationships with the people around him were superficial and had little meaning to him. He is now faced with the certainty of being executed and suddenly expresses a great desire to live. However, he counters these hopeful fantasies with pessimistic and rational thoughts. He tells himself that everyone is going to die anyway, so the how and when really are of little consequence.
The image of the prison is a visual representation of the desperation and hopelessness that he feels. He is trapped not only by the bars on his cell, but also by the law, and by the sentence handed down by the judge. There is no escape from either.