The town is "ugly." A place "without pigeons...trees or gardens, where you never hear the beat of wings or the rustle of leaves--a thoroughly negative place". The moral judgement of the divorce from nature from the first page of the book.

"All that tells you of spring's coming" are the "baskets of flowers brought in from the suburbs by peddlers; it's a spring cried in the marketplaces." Nature is now commodity, as is love.

Love is described as a dichotomy of rapid consumption or settling down “to a mild habit of conjugality.” I really liked the aphorism at the end of the paragraph, “for lack of time and thinking, people have to love one another without knowing much about it.”

With such a strong leading judgement everything that follows read like a condemnation of the commodification under Oran’s capitalism.

"The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich." Instead of cultivating the land, thoughts and efforts are turned solely towards “doing business”. When everyone is so busy with the pursuit of wealth everything exists as transaction (in the case of nature or even human nature e.g. love) or is neglected.

Towards the end of the scene, it says “Social unrest is quite unknown”. “Treeless...soulless...after a while, you The town is "ugly." A place "without pigeons...trees or gardens, where you never hear the beat of wings or the rustle of leaves--a thoroughly negative place". The moral judgement of the divorce from nature from the first page of the book.

"All that tells you of spring's coming" are the "baskets of flowers brought in from the suburbs by peddlers; it's a spring cried in the marketplaces." Nature is now commodity, as is love.

Love is described as a dichotomy of rapid consumption or settling down “to a mild habit of conjugality.” I really liked the aphorism at the end of the paragraph, “for lack of time and thinking, people have to love one another without knowing much about it.”

With such a strong leading judgement everything that follows read like a condemnation of the commodification under Oran’s capitalism.

"The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich." Instead of cultivating the land, thoughts and efforts are turned solely towards “doing business”. When everyone is so busy with the pursuit of wealth everything exists as transaction (in the case of nature or even human nature e.g. love) or is neglected.

Towards the end of the scene, it says “Social unrest is quite unknown”. “Treeless...soulless...after a while, you go complacently to sleep”. When something can’t be commodified, it is neglected and the political apathy under Oran’s capitalism is posited as a reason for facism to step in.

go complacently to sleep”. When something can’t be commodified, it is neglected and the political apathy under Oran’s capitalism is posited as a reason for facism to step in.