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Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

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The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, It follows the story of our tragic hero, Meursault, shortly after his mother dies through the events that lead to him being sentenced to death. Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions. The Stranger shows how even when a person does not explicitly express emotion they are shown in some way. How emotions are expressed is a window to a person's personality. I will first discuss how Meursault appears emotionless, than how Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions for him and lastly what impact this makes.
Meursault is not an emotional person. Meursault often seems not to react to major events that happen to him. For example when his mom dies, he says, “Really, nothing had changed”(24). There is an obvious emotional disconnect. Either he was not close to his mother or her death had little to no effect on him. This relates back to the idea that he’s an emotionless person. Another example is the way he responds when his girlfriend proposes to him. Meursault responds to her by saying, “It didn’t make any difference to mean that we could if she wanted to”(41). He is agreeing to mary Marie despite his lack of emotional attachment to her. An example of …show more content…

Camus uses the motif of weather, most commonly sun and heat, to express Meursault’s emotions. Meursault often describes the weather and how it ‘affects’ him. This can symbolize his actual feelings he tries to hide. An example can be found when Meursault is walking to his mother’s funeral. On the outside he is calm and even seems a little annoyed. Meursault describes the heat as, “inhuman and oppressive”(15). If you look at how this could reflect his feeling at the moment, you could infer the sadness and grief of losing his mother was too much for him. it was ‘overbearing’. This language is very strong and harsh. The harshness creates a tone of

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