The Stranger Symbolism Essay

In the novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Camus introduces and symbolizes his philosophy of the Absurd. The novel is introduced with a personal account of Meursault who receives the news of the death of his mother, Maman, leading up from this event he is eventually executed for the murder of an Arab. The philosophy of the Absurd, which takes a great role in the overall theme of The Stranger, influences Meursault’s actions and further progresses his consciousness throughout the novel. The overall fact of death and the pursuit to find the meaning of life is presented in numerous symbols. Camus demonstrates the basic fundamentals of the Absurd in The Stranger by using key symbols such as the sun, religion and social conformity, racism and sexism, and Meursault’s indifferent behavior.
Camus utilizes the sun as a symbol of the Absurd truth and the inevitability of death. After Maman’s death, Thomas Perez’s struggle to continue on to Maman’s funeral …show more content…
Despite his indifferent attitude, Meursault “[feels] the blood pounding in [his] temples” under the hot sun (Camus 17). As Meursault later confronts the Arab on the beach, he describes the sun as “the same as it had been the day [he’d bury] Maman. This violent sun would both link its significance in both Maman’s death and the Arab’s death. The overbearing “truth of the Absurd”, from the sun, would weigh Meursault down and make him struggle physically and spiritually, just like how Perez struggled with his futility at Maman’s funeral (Blankschaen 86). This truth would eventually lead to Meursault killing the Arab because of the immense, overbearing power of the Absurd. Camus’s philosophy of the Absurd is shown through the overwhelming effect the sun has over the characters in the novel, this is evident from the overwhelming frustration of Thomas Perez’s struggle to walk and Meursault’s frustration taken out of shooting the Arab multiple