Existentialism In Albert Camus The Stranger

Albert Camus is widely recognized as one of the most influential writers in the field of existentialism. Despite his personal distaste for being labeled as such, many of his literary works contain elements that strongly resemble the ideas held by the existentialist school of thought. In Camus’ novel The Stranger, the main character, Meursault, kills an Arab on the beach due to the perceived notion that the Arab was an agent of the sun sent to harm him; the author conveys this absurdity by employing strong literary devices throughout the passage. When Meursault is alone on the beach, the sun is described as a blinding and emotionally charged entity that harbors ill intent towards him. The sun’s presence is immediately established on the first line of the passage, which says “There was the same dazzling red glare” (57). By using specific diction such as “dazzling”, it …show more content…
Meursault’s “whole body tensed and [he] squeezed [his] hand around the revolver”. In this situation Meursault has two options, either to retaliate against the sun or to retreat from it. Commonly called the flight-or-flight response, it is a psychological reaction that occurs in response to perceived harmful events. Since it was impossible for Meursault to stop the sun from emitting sunlight and he did not want to run away even though “it occurred to [him] that all [he] had to do was turn around”, Meursault would opt to shoot the Arab as a means of retaliation against the sun (58). Camus creates this situation because it gives the opportunity for Meursault to “overcome the sun” by proxy though killing the Arab, a perceived agent of the sun. Meursault’s relief is evidenced after killing the Arab as he would “[shake] off the sweat and sun” (59). The absurdity of the situation is presented here because while he would no longer feel threatened by the sun, Meursault would now be faced with the issue of being a