The Stranger Albert Camus Character Analysis

Have you ever been pointed at with a flashlight in your eyes, and are immediately irritated and hope it would end. Well that’s how Albert Camus's main character Meursault feels in his novel the Stranger. Meursault, a detached and emotionless man living in french occupied Algeria, shows no care towards his mother's death, his “girlfriend”, and an Arab that he murders. While performing his careless everyday routines, the only emotion he shows is his feelings towards the sun. Even though he shows negatives feeling towards it, it does reveal his personality and thoughts, which illustrate his indifference to society. Albert Camus uses the sun in his novel to symbolize Meursault’s amoral actions and emotional detachment to life itself.

The first time the sun becomes a problem is when Meursault is at his mother's funeral. Before the funeral begins, Meursault calls the sun "inhuman and oppressive."(15) Instead of showing any emotion towards his mother’s death, Meursault directs all his internal tension at the sun. the sun is an influence on all his senses, making it hard for him to “see and think straight.”(17) Meursault constantly thinks about the sun when one …show more content…
He says the sun “ shattered into little pieces on the sand and water."(58) While Meursault is going to get a drink , an Arab uses a knife to shine the sunlight in Meursault's face. Knowing he could just turn around and walk away, Meursault’s emotions-not shown externally and reserved-takes over and makes him do the opposite. All Meursault could feel were the “cymbals of sunlight” crashing on his forehead.(58) Meursault again only shows emotion towards the sun’s annoyance on him, and not the Arab trying to kill him. The strong imagery of the sun forces Meursault to kill the Arab with a revolver. To dissipate the sun for good, Meursault shoots “four more times at the motionless