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The Stranger Literary Analysis

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The Stranger: Symbolism Through Structure

Symbolism is often used by authors to express important themes within their story. In the case of The Stranger by Albert Camus, this fact holds no exception. Camus, an Algerian philosopher, uses symbolism throughout his novel as Meursault, the main character’s, life is followed. Meursault experienced many encounters involving death throughout the novel, starting with the death of his mother --Maman, following with murder of an Arab man committed by Meursault, and ending with Meursault’s execution in jail for his crime. Through it all, Campus maintains the topic of Meursault continually noticing his surroundings, especially the light created by none other than the sun. The recognition by the reader …show more content…

Even surrounded by death, Meursault finds the beauty in the light surrounding him. He thinks to himself, “The room was filled with beautiful late-afternoon sunlight.” (Camus 7). In the presence of death, one would expect a man who just lost his mother to recognize the bad in his surroundings, to depict a gloomy scene. Such instances are part of a constant theme in the book, Meursault being comforted or finding content in the sun. The fact that Camus uses this quote here is to introduce this theme that will be present in the rest of the book. Camus’ ample descriptive style involving the sun in contrast to the short sentences surrounding the quote in this paragraph clearly display the importance of the sun and light in the story. By him even describing the light as beautiful and late-afternoon, the reader gets a feeling for Camus’ purpose here. The highly descriptive words used to depict the light created by the sun in the room create a warmth of sorts in the reader’s mind, a warmth that mirrors Meursault’s comfort, even in a situation where many would not be. The showing of the importance of light in the beginning of the book sets up the rest of the book to follow this theme as well as how important a symbol light will …show more content…

It is what brings a sort of higher interest to a piece. The moment a reader notices a symbol, it is as if everything makes sense. Reading The Stranger it is almost immediately that the reader has the chance to notice a symbol that will be evident through the rest of the book -- light. It is awe-inspiring that a small detail such the light in one’s environment can portray such meaning as it does in the case of Meursault -- the feeling of constancy that needs and has provided to him by the sun. It is a wonder how many readers of the book have had similar experiences and similar connections, where everything they have experiences is unstable other than the one stability with no escape from it -- the sun that rises and sets each and every

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