IndexIntroductionWhat does the sun represent in The Stranger?ConclusionIntroductionAlbert Camus in his novel "The Stranger" uses the relentless Algerian sun as a metaphor for the awareness of reality that pursues his main character , Meursault, throughout the novel. The plot revolves around three deaths: those of Meursault's mother, the Arab, and Meursault himself. In each of these key points of the novel, the sun, a symbol of awareness, presses on Meursault. The purpose of the sun, it seems, is to make Meursault realize the absurdity of his existence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay What does the sun represent in The Stranger? First, the book's setting in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, highlights the thematic importance of the sun. The Algerian climate is typically hot, dry and relentlessly sunny. As the critic Jean-Paul Sartre writes, "Camus loves bright mornings, clear evenings and relentless afternoons. His favorite season is the eternal summer of Algiers. The night has almost no place in his universe." Thus, Meursault confronts the sun at every turn. Sometimes he basks in the sun; other times he runs away from it. His world is made of black and white, light and darkness. In this world, the sun serves as a metaphor for Meursault's self-awareness. He is repeatedly confronted with the presence of life, the inevitability of death, and the absurdity of existence; but, repeatedly, attempts to avoid these strands of awareness. Metaphor and consonance “beach throbbing in the sun” intensifies the idea of ​​the pressure of the sun. “The sun burns the cheeks” and “drops of sweat” connect to the first chapter, which showed the feeling of discomfort caused by the sun, and makes the reader remember the nurse's sentence from the first chapter “if you walk too fast, then you will sweat and then you get cold, but if you walk too slowly, the sun will warm you” The end of the last chapter of the first part takes us to the beginning of the book. The first part of the book begins with death and ends with death again. Before killing the Arab Meursault mentions that “the sun was the same as the day I buried Maman” this gives the reader the right impression that something not pleasant might happen soon. This sentence tells the reader that these two deaths are somehow connected. In reality the two events are connected to the importance of the Sun. In both cases, the sun oppresses the main character in a very negative way. Meursault's internal conflict is represented not only by his struggle with the sun, but also by his reaction to heat, bright light, and the color white. For example, the book opens with a telegram indicating the death of Meursault's mother. At first glance, it appears that Meursault is untouched by his mother's death as he prepares for the nightly vigil beside her coffin. But then Meursault explains, “The caretaker lit the lamps, and I was almost blinded by the glare of the light” (Camus 9). The lights replace the sun in the role of persevering truth, with all the “symbolic and metaphorical associations that exist between light and consciousness” (Manly 89). Meursault believes he feels uncomfortable because of the lights, even though he is actually uncomfortable about his mother's death. He is not fully aware of the consequences of death and does not wish to be. Meursault asks the caretaker if it is possible to turn off some lights, but it is not possible. The lights must be all on or all off. This polarity "suggests that we live in the light or in the dark; that is, we either grasp the reality of death or we don't, we either live in the moment of the perceptual now or we don't: there is no in-between." " (McGuire). In Camus' world, in other words, there must beknowledge or ignorance. It is significant that, rather than face his mother's death, Meursault closes his eyes to the deathlight and falls asleep, symbolizing the blissful unconsciousness in which he lives his life. Likewise, during the funeral procession, Meursault tries to hide what is happening around him, but is continually brought back to reality by the scorching sun. Later, while attending his mother's funeral, Meursault sees a nurse with a colorful scarf around her head. . Until it is pointed out to him, he does not notice that the nurse has a large bandage covering most of her face; he is dying of cancer. In fact "almost nothing could be seen of his face except that stripe of white". The blindfold is white, a color «traditionally linked to knowledge, and here represents the knowledge of death that human beings cannot face» (McCarthy). Therefore, Meursault ignores the surrounding death until he is forced to see it, whether by whiteness, bright lights, or the sun. Meursault's continued denial of life's difficulties leads him to approach his life as if he were a child. For example, it shows awareness only of sensory experiences. As one critic writes, “wiping your hands on a clean towel at noon is as important as getting promoted to a better job” (Thody 2). His life is centered on insignificant details and he seeks only his personal comfort. He cannot understand emotions such as love or hate, nor understand how they enter into his daily life. When Marie asks him if he loves her, he replies that the question means "nothing or almost nothing to him". Likewise, he fails to make simple connections between events and his emotions. When he hears his elderly neighbor Salamo cry over his lost dog, he thinks of his mother "for some reason...I don't know what." Thus, he proves incapable of making the logical leap between another man's sense of loss and his own. His inability is particularly evident when Meursault is on the beach, before killing the Arab. Again, it is symbolized by the sun. He feels overwhelmed by the scorching sunlight and seeks refuge, but can find none. Meursault describes the light as a “thump in his head” (Camus, 72). The implication, of course, is that he isn't simply fighting the outside; he is also fighting, within himself, for his own version of reality. As he writes: "I clenched my fists in my trouser pockets and strained all my nerves to push back the sun and the dark bewilderment it was pouring into me. Every time a blade of bright light darted upward from a piece of shell or broken glass lying on the sand, my jaws were set. I did not want to be beaten and I walked with sure step" (Camus, 73). Thus, Meursault refuses to be beaten. But beaten by what? In reality he is not struggling with the sun, but with the awareness of death and the absurdity of life that threatens to destroy his world. Later in court, he tells the judge that he killed the Arab "because of the sun" (Camus, 130). Mistaking the Arab for his supposed enemy, the sun, he fires the gun. The shot “marks the end of the primordial ordinariness that was the basis of his seemingly simple happiness” (Gay-Croisier, 89). As Manly writes, "the suggestion that a symbolic awakening to consciousness is in question in this crucial scene is strengthened by the descriptive details of the actual shooting. Troubled by the sun and without full control, Meursault shoots the Arab five times." Meursault feels that something has changed. He began his journey towards the light. He knows he has "shattered the balance of the day, the spacious calm of the beach on which he had been happy." Then he fires four more shots into the Arab's corpse, "and every shot,.