The Stranger By Albert Camus: Literary Analysis

In literature violence rarely exists without a purpose behind it. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, there were many acts of violence that developed the plot, create character development, and also highlights important personality traits.
The main act of violence that added depth to the plot was when Meursault killed the Arab on the beach. The author meant for this act of violence to have a deeper meaning: that If it was not for the killing on the beach the rest of the story would not have happened. Everything leading up to the trial, the trial itself and after Meursault was sentenced to death would all have been nonexistent. The story itself would have been irrelevant because there would have been no climax and no one would want to read this novel because it would be uninteresting. When readers find out that he killed the Arab on …show more content…
Meursault lives for the day to day and never really thinks about his future. He worries about his needs mostly,like how he was worried about his boss being upset more than he was concerned about his mother's funeral. However, he also considers others. When Marie wants to get married he agrees because he knows that is what she wants but he does not think about it any farther. When Raymond asks him to write a letter for him to give to the girl he thought was cheating on him, Meursault just agreed and did not think why he was doing it. He never thought about his actions all the way through. He shot a man because the sun was too hot and did not even stop to think of the consequences that would follow. Because of this living in the moment thinking, some readers can really relate to him,while others think that he is insensitive. The author highlights this personality trait throughout the novel, but with this act of violence it really becomes evident that Meursault truly believes that life is meaningless and therefore he has no need to worry about his