Throughout the story Marie pushes Meursault to show emotion for her as she does for him. “She [asks] him if [he] loved her” and when he says that “I didn't think so” it makes her seem more emotionally lustful than him (35). In this he brings out emotions in their relationship that Meursault hasn't even begun to think about. With him not being willing to understand her feelings and not being able to reciprocate her, it creates the idea that he is emotionally in control of the relationship. Later in the story Marie looks at Meursault again to see if he "wanted to marry her" and "if [he] loved her again" (42). When Meursault explains that "they could get married" if "she wanted to," he wonders why they would get married if he didn't care (42). This once again pushes the reader to place Meursault in a dominant position over the relationship due to his lack of emotional connection. It makes the reader believe that Meursault doesn't need statements about what their relationship is and is stronger in taking their relationship for what it is. In this the book makes Meursault seem dominant in their relationship and emotionally stronger than Marie. This goes back to the idea of ​​men having the emotional strength over women, as similarly shown in The Unbearable Lightness of