The Stranger Quotes And Analysis Essay

In Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” the “story of an ordinary man who gets drawn into a senseless murder” is told. Taking place in Algeria this man, Meursault, is constantly in a climate of extreme warmth, as are all the inhabitants therein. The sun, the source of light and the cause of this warmth, is thus a vital and normal part of his life. It brings warmth and comfort yet it can also cause pain and sickness. Throughout most of his life Meursault has lived with the conflicting forces of the sun and light, as a friend and foe. However in Chapter 6 these forces become unbalanced and the sun becomes an aggressor causing Meurault physical pain and jolting him into violent action. Although the sun becomes
Although before this chapter there was a balance between the good and bad effects, during this chapter the forces of the sun became unbalanced and so it continues throughout the text as an assailant attacking Meursault at every turn. As a direct result of the sun’s endless goading of Meursault, Meursault kills a man in an attempt to escape its wrath. From the beginning of the day the sun antagonizes Meursault. Upon his departure into the outside world the sun “[hits him] like a slap in the face.” and later on the “heat [presses] down on [him] making it hard for him to go on.” Also the diction used by Camus in describing the attacks upon Meursault, make evident the physical pain it causes. The rays of are described as “blades” that “blind” and “stab” at Meursault. In fact the killing of the Arab was Meursault’s attempt to avoid the reflections of the sun off of the knife the Arab possesses. These reflections “[shoot] off the steel….like a long flashing blade,” “cutting [his] forehead” and “[slashing] at [his] eyeleashes and [stabbing] at [his] stinging eyes.” Not until he shoots the Arab can Meursault “[shake] off the sweat and the sun.” Thus, as Meursault states later in the novel he kills the Arab “because of the