The Stranger Character Analysis

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?

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the murder committed by Meursault is questionably done with no reason. Although the entirety of the second part is spent in society’s attempts to find a cause, Meursault has a durable existential mentality that proves that even he knows that there is no true reason for the crime. Through the use of light and heat imagery and diction in The Stranger, Albert Camus comments on the duality of society trying to find a cause for the murder and Meursault defying this because of his existential mentality. These elements heighten Meursault’s negative outlook on life by

Meursault is a psychologically detached man on trial for murder. However, it is ultimately his psychological detachment, not the murder of another man, that proves to be most damaging to his reputation and judicial case. Deemed a monster by society for his lack of emotion and general indifference, Meursault is sentenced to public execution by guillotine. The Stranger, a philosophical novel by Albert Camus, explores the concept of alienation as a result of failing to adhere to society’s accepted moral standards. Camus begins with the idea of extreme indifference in a world that expects deep human emotions and feelings, continues with the murder of the Arab man, and ends with the concept of human life ultimately having no grand meaning or importance

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.

The sweat blinding Meursault enables him from thinking clearly and reflects how powerful the sun is to throw him off of his usual train of thought. All Meursault can think about is the sunlight affecting his body and mood. All he can feel is “cymbals of sunlight crashing on [his] forehead” (59). Camus specifically describes where the particles of sun encounter his main character and how severely it bothers him. Still on the beach, his attention is on the “warm thick film” in his eyes (59). The sun throws off Meursaults’ focus on more than one occasion.

In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, becomes drawn into a “senseless” murder that has to face the absurdity of life and because of his actions, Meursault is presented as a danger due to his lack of “morality” to society. Meursault who is not able to take control of his life but respond to what life offers him believes in the simplicity of life. He tries to understand the living through logic and objectivity, which ultimately turns futile, as he himself cannot maintain proper control over his thoughts and emotions. From the interactions between Marie, to the murder of the Arab, and the meeting with the Chaplain, Meursault overcomes his indifferent views to form an opinion about what life really means. The central theme presented by Camus is how the threat of mortality becomes a catalyst for understanding the significance of life.

This easy-going, pleasant hedonism is interrupted permanently by Meursault's murder of the Arab on the beach. Not only is he incarcerated, but also he must examine the reality behind the illusion of his trial and, ultimately, of his life. Introspection has not been his metier. It takes him a while to realize that the judge, the jury, the journalists, even his own lawyer, do not wish him well. Meursault finally realizes that he is going to be convicted, not because he killed an Arab but because he did not mourn his mother's death.

Throughout the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault is tortured and motivated by the presence of the sun. The sun symbolizes life in the sense that it embodies the inescapable fact of life, known as death. The sun crops up over and over again throughout the novel from Maman’s funeral to the Arab on the beach, and eventually to Meursault in the courtroom. This reinforces the notion that the sun mirrors life as well as society, as it is always present. The sun mirrors society based on the fact that it is constantly oppressing Meursault, just as society seems to in regards to his unorthodox actions and emotions. From beginning to end, Meursault is significantly affected by the heat of the sun both physically and mentally.

Albert Camus employs Thomas Perez as a foil to emphasize Meursault’s disinterest for his mother in order to justify the court’s opinions of him. During Maman’s funeral procession, Thomas Perez’s care for Maman and his struggle to walk foils Meursault’s disinterest in his mother’s death. Compared to Perez, Meursault’s indifference towards Maman is stressed by Perez’s struggle to walk and to keep up with the funeral, “going as fast as he could,” while Meursault complains about the sun. Perez foils Meursault by fainting at the funeral of Maman, who he loved, which contrasts to Merusault as he briefly narrates the event and feels “joy when the bus entered” so that he may leave his mother. Thomas’s weakness and love, accentuate Meursault’s indifference

Prior to the murder of the Arab, the intense heat from the sun coerces Meursault’s physical needs to transcend his mental state. Meursault appears to be afraid of the Arab, and he doesn’t seem to want any trouble. However, as Meursault walks toward the Arab, the heat surpasses the Arab as Meursault’s center of attention. Meursault’s violent imagery of the heat scorching and pounding against him proves this to be true. Though he is fearful of what may come of walking towards the Arab, “the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on [his] back” and forced Meursault to find physical relief (58). More than anything else Meursault just wanted a physical and emotional release from nature’s brutality. In this case, the relief is away from the heat, towards towards the Arab, and ultimately pulling the trigger. As Meursault contemplates what to do under the scorching heat of sun, he realizes that “to stay, or to go—it amounted to the same thing” (57). Once again, the heat has no discretion or selectivity; it will affect anyone at anytime. Meursault can do nothing but accept its fate as it’s meaningless reasons induce meaningless actions.

The Stranger by Albert Camus follows the story of a man named Meursault, who received notice that his mother had passed away. Meursault was not emotionally connected to his mother, and his reaction is not what the reader would expect, as he did not seem to care at all. Therefore, the day after attending his mother’s funeral, Meursault goes to the beach and meets up with his girlfriend, Marie. After the beach, Meursault and Marie go to a movie and spend the night together. When he returns home from work the next day, Meursault runs into his neighbor, Raymond, who beats his mistress. Later in the story, Meursault, Marie, and Raymond go to a beach house, which is owned by Raymond’s friend, Masson. At the beach, Masson, Raymond, and Meursault

In the beach scene with Meursault, Masson and Raymond, and their fight with the Arabs, Camus’ motif of heat represents tension and foreshadows conflict between the two groups to show that tension leads to conflict and to build suspense. During this scene, the motif of heat specifically symbolizes cultural tension as well as foreshadowing physical conflict. When walking with Masson and Raymond in the beach scene, Meursault noticed that the “the sand was starting to get hot underfoot” (Camus 50) and it was “hard to breathe in the rocky heat rising from the ground” (Camus 50, 52). Camus uses the diction of underfoot to show that the heat is not there yet, but it is about to come. Furthermore, the diction of "rocky heat rising off the ground" shows that the heat is no longer under them, but now something that they are in. By using this kind of diction, Camus shows a transition in the state of heat which parallels the growth in tension in the Pied-Noir of the approaching Arabs. Due to its placement previous to conflict, it shows that tension leads to conflict. Another example of this theme is the inclusion of “the blazing sand looked red to me now” right before Raymond and Masson attack the Arabs with

In Meursault’s first encounter with Raymond he is asked to aid the pimp in luring back a lover who had fled his abuse, Camus writes: “One with a punch… to make her sorry for what she’s done...if i’d mind doing it right then I said no.”(32) Through this Camus portrays this other aspect of Meursault's indifference, his susceptibility to influence. Camus states:”he’d spit in her face, then throw her out”(32) revealing Raymond’s true intentions to Meursault, yet Meursault still agrees to assist him in luring back his mistress in order to please Raymond since he had “no reason not to please him” (32) Again Camus has characterized Meursault as indifferent, conveying this through the ease by which Meursault is able to agree to assist Raymond in a task considered to be immoral because he had no reason not to. However Meursault's susceptibility to influence was not limited to only that of human origin. On a later excursion with Raymond, Camus again reveals this “flaw” in Meursault's character, stating: “It occurred to me that all i had to do was turn around but the whole beach throbbing in the sun was pressing on my back...All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead...That's when everything began to reel.(59) Through this Camus reveals the true

Camus made strong connection between heat and sunlight throughout the novella. The heat and sunlight depict human behavior in the story. It shows how with the changing weather man’s perspective or behaviors also changes. The heat and sunlight is a symbol of feelings and emotions, that Meursault cannot deal with. Meursault's everyday life is distraction because the heat and sunlight and he does not seem to handle it well.

Camus shows many non-physical aspects to express many emotions that drives Meursault through everyday tasks. Similar to the sun, society is generally thought to be a positive figure. People usually regard a good strong society that firmly establishes its members with a strong, unified code of morals as something to be desired. These morals are what drives every single person each day through difficult and challenging tasks. Morals of a society are what makes it stand out. In the same way, people tend to think of a bright, warm, sunny day as something good and positive as in for a vacation or a time to relax. However, both the force of society and the force of the sun can become overpowering. When the sun becomes overpowering it beats down on the people, suffocating