In Albert Camus’s existentialist novel "The Stranger", the protagonist Meursault struggles to construct an individual system of values as he responds to the disappearance of the old. He exists largely in a state of "anomie", as seen from the apathy evinced in the opening lines: "“Aujourd’hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas”" (“Today Mother died. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know.”) 