The Outsider and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty The opening lines of the novel, The Outsider by Albert Camus, set the tone for the book: "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know" (pg. 9), it is a dreary and depressing sentence, so are the thoughts of a character by the name of Meursault. However, the circumstances that took place, plunged him into a spiral of events. Strangely, his thoughts stayed the same, yet his life changed dramatically. Conversely, the story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber, is seemingly contrary to the novel The Outsider. In the beginning of the story, Lieutenant