It is sunny and hot: to what extent does heat and sun imagery shape Meursault’s action
In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, weather imagery plays an important role. Some of the most important imagery is heat and sun imagery. The main character, Meursault, is always aggravated when the sun is present. Sun and heat are shown to control his emotions. The intensity of the heat and the sum are the main controlling factors of his emotions. Heat and sun can be interpreted as the relationship between the universe and god towards human life. This is significant because Camus is known for writing against religion in general and this novel makes it clear how religion is viewed as useless according to Meursault towards the end of the novel. The connection …show more content…
Meursault goes out to the beach with Marie and Raymond to enjoy his time. There is tension because Raymon already notices the Arab he had a problem with. Meursault already notices how hot it is and compares it to the funeral. “The water was cold and I was glad to be swimming” (50) Meursault is escaping the hot weather by getting in the cold water. This is significant because meursault is not swimming to enjoy his time rather to escape the hot weather. Later, Raymond gets in a fight with the Arab and gets injured. During the whole interaction and trouble going on, Meursault mentions how the weather is very hot. “The blazing sand looked red to me now” (53). This shows how Meursault is noticing how hot is during the trouble they are experiencing. After they fight, the go back again and meursault describes the situation as “ the whole time there was nothing but the sun and the silence”. This description emphasizes the idea that Meursault is taking into account the heat and sun during all of the events. When Meursault leaves, he says “But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back.” this is significant because it shows how the sun appears to be as a factor that caused him to head back to the creek to meet the Arab. “ the arab drew his knife and held it up to me in the sun. the light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead” (59).Meursault meets the Arab and gets provoked by the heat and the sun being reflected into his eyes off the Arab’s knife and ends up shooting him 5 times. The murder is the climax because it happened because Meursault felt that it was hot and that the sun was in his eyes. The importance of the murder being mostly motivated by the sun is to reinforce the idea that nature in this case is the source of the problem. The significance of this scene is to show how sun and heat are the main controlling factors of
In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, weather imagery plays an important role. Some of the most important imagery is heat and sun imagery. The main character, Meursault, is always aggravated when the sun is present. Sun and heat are shown to control his emotions. The intensity of the heat and the sum are the main controlling factors of his emotions. Heat and sun can be interpreted as the relationship between the universe and god towards human life. This is significant because Camus is known for writing against religion in general and this novel makes it clear how religion is viewed as useless according to Meursault towards the end of the novel. The connection …show more content…
Meursault goes out to the beach with Marie and Raymond to enjoy his time. There is tension because Raymon already notices the Arab he had a problem with. Meursault already notices how hot it is and compares it to the funeral. “The water was cold and I was glad to be swimming” (50) Meursault is escaping the hot weather by getting in the cold water. This is significant because meursault is not swimming to enjoy his time rather to escape the hot weather. Later, Raymond gets in a fight with the Arab and gets injured. During the whole interaction and trouble going on, Meursault mentions how the weather is very hot. “The blazing sand looked red to me now” (53). This shows how Meursault is noticing how hot is during the trouble they are experiencing. After they fight, the go back again and meursault describes the situation as “ the whole time there was nothing but the sun and the silence”. This description emphasizes the idea that Meursault is taking into account the heat and sun during all of the events. When Meursault leaves, he says “But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back.” this is significant because it shows how the sun appears to be as a factor that caused him to head back to the creek to meet the Arab. “ the arab drew his knife and held it up to me in the sun. the light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead” (59).Meursault meets the Arab and gets provoked by the heat and the sun being reflected into his eyes off the Arab’s knife and ends up shooting him 5 times. The murder is the climax because it happened because Meursault felt that it was hot and that the sun was in his eyes. The importance of the murder being mostly motivated by the sun is to reinforce the idea that nature in this case is the source of the problem. The significance of this scene is to show how sun and heat are the main controlling factors of