What is the significance of the sun in the stranger

His life centers on meaningless details, and he seeks only his personal comfort. He cannot comprehend emotions such as love or hate, or understand how they enter into his daily life. Similarly, he cannot make simple connections between events and his emotions. His inability is particularly apparent when Meursault is on the beach, before he murders the Arab. Again, it is symbolized by the sun.

He feels overwhelmed by the scorching sunlight and seeks refuge from it, but can find none. The implication, of course, is that he is not simply fighting the external; he also is fighting, within himself, for his own version of reality.

As he writes, I clenched my fists in my trouser pockets and keyed up every nerve to fend off the sun and the dark befuddlement it was pouring into me.

Whenever a blade of vivid light shot upward from a bit of shell or broken glass lying on the sand, my jaws set hard. Thus, Meursault refuses to be beaten. But beaten by what? He is not actually in combat with the sun, but with the awareness of death and the absurdity of life that threatens to destroy his world. Mistaking the Arab for his assumed enemy, the sun, he fires the gun. Meursault senses that something has changed. He has begun his journey into the light. Eventually, he realizes that this absurdity exists not only in the courtroom, but everywhere in life, as individuals attempt to make sense out of random, meaningless events.

During the trial, he spends endless days and nights in his jail cell trying to occupy himself. After the guilty verdict is reached, he uses this time to obsess about his impending execution. The sun "[makes him] move forward" toward the spring and therefore, toward the Arab. What kind of guy lets the weather dictate his actions? In this book, green is usually associated with happy moments, which we know from the vague and undecipherable line: "The sky was green; I felt good. Intrigued by her machine-like qualities, he tries to figure her out by studying her at the diner and then following her afterwards.

Later, seeing her stare in court at him without emotion, Meursault is unnerved. In many senses, she symbolizes the mechanisms that define Meursault. She operates on the same basic principles, but the outcome is very different for her than our protagonist — she blends in as a spectator at the trial. The obvious symbolism here is Christianity, but the crucifix is more than that in this novel. In stark contrast to the Absurdist that is Meursault and Camus , the crucifix also represents everything that Meursault does not believe in.

Rejecting it twice once from the magistrate judge and the second time from the chaplain , Meursault detests the notion that his life must have any rational explanation or significance. Meursault defies the game society plays in a futile attempt in search of meaning — something larger and grander. He does not believe in it, and is content without it. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.

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He pours with sweat, symbolizing the flow of emotions. Meursault constantly thinks about the sun when one would expect him to be mourning his dead mother. He says, "I could feel the blood pounding in my temples," which is strong imagery.

At the beach with Raymond, the sun provokes Meursault to commit a crime. He says, " the sun shattered into little pieces on the sand and water. Meursault knew that all he had to do was turn around and walk away. His emotions again not shown externally and reserved took over. Camus states, "All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, instinctively, the dazzling spear flying up from the knife in front of me.

The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes. What makes it worse, he fires four more times to make sure the sun is dissipated for good. In prison, Meursault changes his views on both the sun, and on his view of life, which are similar. Get Access. Satisfactory Essays. Defining Events in The Stranger. Read More. Better Essays. Fahrenheit by Ray Bradbury Words 2 Pages.