Setting In Camus's The Stranger
In Camus’ novel, The Stranger, translated by Matthew Ward, Camus uses the elements of setting to demonstrate the differences between the emotional status of the psychological world and the real word of a human being. Camus uses Meursault, the main character from the novel, to tell about how surroundings can manipulate a person. For example, the sun at Maman’s funeral that makes Meursault hard to think correctly. The heat that forces him to commit murder. Also, the light in the courtroom that makes him feel tired. The weather and the surroundings in the novel control Meursault’s emotions, making him angry, sleepy, tire, annoy, and happy. By the uses of setting and elements of setting, such as the sun and the heat, Camus illustrates that the surroundings is slowly taking over the inner feelings of individuals by influencing their actions and emotions. We are introduced to the novel by the death of Maman. Camus shows that the sun, as an element of setting can manage one’s behavior and actions. Camus characterizes Meursault as a careless person and did not seem sad while attending to Maman’s funeral. At the funeral, Meursault focuses on the weather and how hot he was feeling. The influence of the weather occurs, as “the sun was climbing in the sky,” making the weather hot (Camus 16). Camus describes the hot weather as “making it hard for [him] to see or think straight” (Camus 17). Camus reminds us that it is the weather that makes him feel lost and not the death of Maman.
Meursault Color Red Quotes
675 Words | 3 PagesThe heat is also very important in this novel. Both times that death was in front of Meursault, the heat was unbearable for him; his mother’s funeral and the murder of the Arab. The heat is very uncomfortable for him, because he mentions it many times. Sometimes it is so bad, he becomes dizzy and is unable to think properly. When he is in court, every time he is questioned about the murder, he alway relates back to how hot the scene was.
Albert Camus The Stranger
1353 Words | 6 PagesAlthough she is buried in the beginning of the book, it does not stop Meursault and others around him to remember her. During part two of the book, Meursault 's relationship with his mother is scrutinized by the those against him midst his trial. The first chapters of the book introduce Meursault 's mother through those who were able to spend time with her before she died. The first lines of this book, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.”
Nihilism In Holden Caulfield
2595 Words | 11 PagesMeursault has an absurdist attitude toward his world inside of his mental and physical world. Meursault blames his rash actions on the world and environment. At Meursault’s trial, after he killed the Arab, he defended himself by saying, “it was because of the sun.” (Camus, 103) Meursault actually believed that the sun made him kill the Arab man. In The Stranger, the sun is the main antagonist.
Diction In The Stranger
932 Words | 4 PagesAs Meursault perceives life contains no meaning, he is a hollow man who can not see the reality of life. He is much ignorant and lives in the present. “whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhumane and oppressive”(Camus 15).The sun represents the intimidating power of the natural worlds over human action. The sun is not repeated once, but many times during the funeral, which distracts Meursault’s attention and prevails the emotions, Meursault is unable to deal with himself. The sun is also the driving force, which makes Meursault murder the Arab man at the beach.
Life Matter In The Stranger
747 Words | 3 PagesIn the novel, a majority of Meursault 's actions are based upon his attitude that his presence ultimately does not “matter”. “‘But,’ I reminded myself, ‘it’s common knowledge that life isn’t worth living, anyhow.’ And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten—since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before,” (Camus 70-71). The aforestated quote captures the quintessence of Meursault’s character and illustrates the reason for his disinterest with the injustices around him. With purely factual considerations, it is true that each human life is proportionally negligible.
The Stranger Rhetorical Analysis
731 Words | 3 PagesTaylor Smith Mrs. Fowler IB Language Arts 17 May, 2016 The Stranger: The Epiphany The Stranger is a novel written by Albert Camus and was published in 1942. It follows the story of Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian, and his actions leading to his eventual death. Camus, a French philosopher, author, and journalist most notably renowned for his philosophy of absurdism, distributes a recurring theme of existentialism and absurdism throughout the novel, and heavily does so in passages that serve the most significance to the story.
Meursault's Journey Essay
695 Words | 3 PagesFinally, the major turning point for Meursault happens at the shooting of the Arab on the beach. From this point on his reflection of himself and human nature in trial and prison give the most substance to the themes of the book. We see some of his social and moral development at this time as he tries to understand the magistrate and his religious points of view. Meursault takes the steps to try to empathize with the man, yet he agrees with the man because the argument and long standing conflict starts to make him uncomfortable. This shows improvement in his moral dilemma and allows his experiences to aid him.
The Stranger Research Paper
1075 Words | 5 PagesThe juxtaposition between the constant sun and the life-changing event of burying his mother emphasizes Meursault's disengagement from the typical emotional reactions connected to death. And also foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. Regarding the sun present in the courtroom, it transforms into an all-seeing being, emphasizing the power imbalances in the courtroom. By giving the sun a human form, Camus not only amplifies its
How Is Meursault A Bad Person
998 Words | 4 PagesMeursault shows his lack of emotional attachment to people: "I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings"( page 41). Meursault shows the regrets of his nature but also, at the same time, explains that it’s not going to change. Rather than focusing on finding someone to spend his life with, Meursault would rather find someone who can always keep him pampered. Meursault again shows his regret for his actions when he says, "I wanted to try to explain to him that it was because of the sun, the sea, the light, in fact, everything, that I had simply loved him with no personal motive" (Page 68). Meursault shows his lack of care for those whom he loved, but at the same time shows that Meursault might not be able to fully control what he does, but rather does everything out of impulse, therefore making him regret his actions in some situations.
Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
724 Words | 3 PagesCamus 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.
The Stranger Diction
399 Words | 2 PagesDuring my first read through The Stranger, I paid little attention to how the novel was written, focusing more on content and plotline. I mainly noticed that the sentence structure employed was very limited, the majority of the sentences were short, and the figurative language was restricted. The interactive oral on translational effects introduced me to the importance of the syntax and diction used and its significance with respect to Meursault’s character. In the discussion, we examined the first line of the novel of Ward’s version, which is “Maman died today” (Camus 3).
Meursault Quotes
671 Words | 3 PagesThe battle for existence is what drives Meursault to connect more to the physical world. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, there’s a young, detached man named Meursault living in French Algiers. At the beginning of the novel, Meursault receives a telegram, which informs him of his mother’s death. He acts calm during and after the funeral and frolics around with his girlfriend, Marie. While on the beach with his friends, they are suddenly confronted by Arabs and get into a fight.
Social Norms In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
1196 Words | 5 Pages(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.
Existentialism And Absurdism In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
1021 Words | 5 PagesIn his novel The Stranger, Albert Camus creates an emotionally incapable, narcissistic, and, at times, sociopathic character named Meursault to explore and expose his philosophies of Existentialism and Absurdism. Throughout the story Meursault follows a philosophical arc that, while somewhat extreme - from unemotional and passive to detached and reckless to self-reflective - both criticizes the dependent nature of human existence and shows the journey through the absurd that is our world. In the onset of The Stranger, following his mother’s death, Meursault acts with close to utter indifference and detachment. While the rest of “maman’s”(9) loved ones express their overwhelming grief, Meursault remains unphased and, at times, annoyed at their
The Themes Of Death In Meursault's The Stranger
1232 Words | 5 PagesThe themes of death explored using absurdism in The Stranger is shown with a general disregard for death by Meursault and the strange way he sees life based on these existentialist views. The Stranger is a perfect example of an existentialist novel that was written for that time period, as during this time around the area of France and Europe there was an existentialist movement that Albert Camus, the author, was involved in.
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