Eyes in the Stranger by Albert Camus Essay

From page fifty-eight to fifty-seven of Albert Camus’s The Stranger he uses the relentless Algerian sun as a motif for the awareness of reality that pursues the main character, Meursault, throughout the passage. When each motif appears in the novel such as this passage, Meursault’s actions change. This exemplifies that the light, heat, and sun trigger him to become debilitated or furious. Albert Camus sets up this motif in the passage to indicate to the reader that this motif shows the major themes of this novel. This motif shows Meursault’s emotion, how the imagery of weaponry affects Meursault’s actions, how the sun is a representation of society, and how the sun weakens Meursault.

Albert Camus’s novel, The Stranger is regarded to the philosophical ideas of Existentialism, yet seems to also incorporate Absurdist tenets throughout the book that show ideals of being a unique type of individual with different actions that society disagrees with.

1. How does Camus set up Meursault's personality -- how does Meursault respond to others' conversation, to ordinary social situations, and to the death of his mother?

Daru informed the Arab about existed choices and did not try to show him that one of them would be more honorable than the other .However, the teacher wished the man to stay away from French officials. “Daru with heavy heart made out the Arab walking slowly on the road to prison” (Camus 11). Words “with heavy heart” highlighted the man wanted Arab to choose the road to nomads. The sentence could show that Daru was more on Algerian than the French side in the conflict in spite of his pursuance of neutrality. Teacher’s attitude was highlighted by the Arab’s behavior. Daru treated apprehended man as a guest, not a prisoner, but the man could deny his hospitality or even kill the teacher as a roadblock on the way to freedom. However, the Arab did not hurt Daru, accepted his food and beverages. This behavior can be treated as “a sign of political solidarity, the food symbolizing the exchange of life between them” (Bernardo). Arab’s decision to go to the police headquarters in Tinguit, and the fact he did not try to hurt Daru, showed the man was not really a bad person; and the murder he committed could be a result of emotions or misunderstanding. These suggestions make readers to support Daru’s decision to give the Arab an opportunity to choose his fate by himself, and not make a man a subject of “a travesty of a trial” (Bernardo). While the teacher did not want to have an impact on people’s fate, his

In his novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, irony within the protagonist’s ( Meursault ) contrasting perception of the human condition is used to illustrate and invoke the reader to question the contradictory nature of societal expectations. His indifferent and unprecedented reactions to experiences - relative to the characters that Camus laid before him - aid in displaying the absurdity of a world constrained by the chains of conventional wisdom. The contrasting nature of Meursault's demeanor in defying conventional wisdom in experiences such as love and death not only reveals the underlying hypocrisy of the human condition but further illustrates the arbitrary essence of defining a human life.

Meursault, the protagonist of Albert Camus’ The Stranger does not feel fear in the novel, he hardly feels anything at all. It is this lack of feeling and reason on Meursault’s part that ignites fear in others. This is best demonstrated while Meursault is being interrogated by the magistrate. The magistrate feels that everything must happen for a reason and the thought that this may not be true frightens him. He feels that without concrete reason and explanation his life

At the start of this realization, Camus displays how the French whites, have a racially segregated perspective towards the Arabs and blacks. Camus first starts of this differentiation by having Meursault dehumanize “ the Arabs” as they were “backing away” from the colonists (56). By not giving the arab men names, Camus demonstrates the idea of “othering” them to reduce the impact of their being from the impressions of their brain. In describing the nameless men, Camus goes further to only express how the Arab men were “ lying down in greasy overalls;” demonstrating the classist view in society between races, and how the only description of the Arab men is to

Though fascinated with Alan, as the book progresses, it strays from focus on Alan to Dysart, and more light is shone on Dysart’s own problems. Shaffer gives Dysart numerous monologues, not concerning Alan, but rather, problems and events he has experienced in his own life, though Alan has influenced these events. In his opening monologue, Dysart “keep[s] thinking about the horse! Not the boy: the horse” (Shaffer 9). Shaffer immediately confronts with Dysart’s self-centered nature, for from the beginning, Dysart’s mind would rather think about an animal. Nevertheless, the manipulation of Alan is unintentional, for Dysart does not identify with Alan in order to better himself, but rather to bring to light problems within himself, displaying further his own selfish nature. In contrast with The Stranger, the truth is brought out and presented to its entirety to the audience, but Alan never receives a true diagnosis. It remains up to the reader to decide what went wrong with Alan, and what caused him to stake out the eyes of the horses. On the other hand, all kinds of faults are presented within Dysart, like his impotence, or his inability to find something to become passionate about. Dysart begins to cross the line when asking Alan questions concerning the events leading up to the staking of the horses eyes, to the point of identification with Alan, and eventually, his own demise. His prying continues until he finds himself

In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Camus uses a variety of literary devices in order to create a moment of inward reflection from readers, in which we reflect on just how absurd our existence is. Camus expresses his critique through one major character, Meursault, and a few minor characters as well. Camus’s use of irony pushed readers to look beyond the surface, and come to the conclusion of where the irony was displayed. Camus also made use of ironic moments in order to contrast the expectations of society, to how Meursault differs from that, all to gradually expose the hypocrisy of mankind. Camus generally uses this literary device in order make us evaluate our own selves and more importantly to display the fact that we as people can be truly happy, only if we accept our fate, instead of fighting it. In a way, he’s suggesting we be more like Meursault. Examples of this would be the funeral caretaker insisting that Meursault view his mother's body, and Meursault continuously refusing. Camus does this to make people think: what exactly is wrong with Meursault not wanting to see his dead mother? Through this technique camus shows societal expectations of how people are supposed to mourn lost, and certain responses to lost are deemed abnormal. Thus Meursault’s lack of grief automatically made him an outsider. Other uses of irony can be shown through Meursault's interactions with the chaplain, and the authority involved in his criminal case played out later on in the

Flat characters play a significant role in all novels. For instance, the brother of Raymond’s mistress is a key flat character. The Arab never grows throughout the novel; rather, he remains a stalker, stalking his prey, tempting a fight. Without the role of the Arab, Meursault, would never have gone to prison, and never be tried for murder.

In literature, lack of sight also typically comes with wisdom. Characters who are blind often see more and are more knowledgeable.

In The Stranger, author Albert Camus involves the sun throughout the novel in order to display mans vulnerability. He presents the sun as a powerful, unfortunate influence on main character, Meursault and describes him as a simple minded, easily influenced, mellow individual. The Main influence in Meursaults’ life is the sun. Meursault is bothered by it however he does not make much of an attempt to stop or ignore it. He simply permits the suns heat, accepting it and affirms his personality. Becoming vulnerable is basic however with a more vigorous charisma, persuasion can be avoided. However an able source such as the sun, Camus establishes is a little more difficult to avoid.

Although Meursault is the title character and narrator of Albert Camus’ short novel The Stranger, he is also a somewhat flat character. His apparent indifferent demeanor may be a convenience to Camus, who mainly wanted to display his ideas of absurdism. And as a flat character, Meursault is not fully delineated: he lacks deep thought and significant change. His purpose is that of a first-person narrator whose actions embody the absurd, even before he has any awareness of the fact. Since Meursault is embodied absurdism, it is not necessary that he be hyperaware of his thoughts and intentions. His truth has already been built into his character by the

Symbols and irony are efficient literary devices that suggest the meaning of a story without explicitly stating it. In “The Guest”, Albert Camus uses particular symbols and irony to show how negative consequences arise from the choice to remain passive for the sake of neutrality. By offering the Arab a choice of whether or not to submit himself to prison, Daru’s attempt to not be accountable inevitably result in the consequence of losing his own neutrality. Furthermore, the symbolic location of Daru’s home and its reflection of Daru’s desire to remain neutral plays a major role in helping the readers understand the theme of the story. Lastly, Daru’s treatment towards the prisoner and the irony in the title contributes to the theme of the

The boy took him by the collar of his blouse and shook him, And at the same time he made an effort to move the big, iron-soled shoe which was placed his treasure” (35). In that scene Jean Valjean stole Petit Gervais forty-sous piece, and Valjean would not return it, to the owner Gervais. However, since Valjean was a prisoner for 19 years, in his mind he was still a bad guy because, he was considered a dangerous man, not only in his mind but he had a piece of paper that stated he was a dangerous man, After stealing from the Bishop and getting kicked out of many inns he must have convinced himself because, the brain is easy to trick so that is what happened to him. But, soon after he realized that stealing was bad, he thought about it as a little