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A presentation was given about women’s lives in France. Under the Napoleonic code, women had to obey their husbands and had no social status outside of marriage. This gives an insight into Marie’s character and why she is so desperate to marry Meursault who himself is not sure about getting married. In addition, Marie had a se xual relationship with Meursault outside of marriage which was at that time considered wrong and therefore explains why she was humiliated at the trial. By getting married and raising children, women would obtain the highest social status they could. This explains why Marie is not respected and clarifies why Meursault was seen so negatively for not crying at his mother’s funeral as he broke a vital social stereotype.
France had a blockade on Algeria from 1830 up to 1962 where the French controlled population movement. During that period Muslims had no rights and were governed by the French minority which had taken over their country. This gives an understanding of why no Arab witnesses were present at the trial as well as in the courtroom. In addition, it explains the lack of respect for Raymond’s mistress who is beaten and has no rights. Camus’ membership of the Communist-Algerian Party, which was against colonialism, gave me an insight into why he seems to have such a negative attitude towards the French community.
Absurdist philosophy is present throughout the book and Avi made Camus’ ideas clearer. Meursault can be seen as representing Camus’ philosophy because he believes that nothing is more important than anything else and that there is no meaning to life. This also involves rejection of religion which helped me see Meursault’s atheistic views and how they would shock the people of the time. Logically, when life has no meaning, a person should not be afraid of death. However, Meursault is scared of dying until he reconciles with his values at the end of the book.
How does Albert Camus use the Natural elements to portray Meursault’s character?
The Outsider is a novel written by the French author Albert Camus, who was the son of an African Colonist. Born in Algeria, the author had firsthand experience of the environment which he uses to characterize his protagonist, Meursault, as an outsider who is not adapted to the climate which causes him discomfort. Heat is used not only literally but also metaphorically to indicate impending disasters in Meursault’s life. In this setting, the sun is a central element that can have both positive and negative connotations, and at some points is even a transition between the two. On the other hand, water and its association with Marie is essentially a positive element, and, in the end, the author uses the night sky to evoke Meursault’s sense of peace.
Throughout the book, the sun is portrayed as a potential enemy of Meursault. The protagonist is frequently described as suffering from the heat and at the end of Part One, it causes him to shoot a man without motive. Camus uses violent imagery of weapons such as a “blade of light”, a “long flashing sword” and a “dazzling spear” to vividly personify the sun as an enemy intending to harm the protagonist without mercy. This intense imagery evokes weapons falling from the sky in a vision of the Apocalypse. The expression “beating down” emphasizes the aspect of the sun as an enemy that fights against the protagonist and his two friends at the beach, as it has “Pinned” the three men “to the ground” depicting it as another fighter or wrestler. The author can represent the hostility of the sun by using violent vocabulary and at the beginning of Chapter Six, which will end in the murder, the sun’s aggressive qualities are expressed through the simile the “sunshine hit [him] like a slap in the face” foreshadowing the personification of its later hostility. The metaphor is sustained throughout the whole chapter as the intensity of the attack increases to the climax of the shooting. All this emphasizes the fact that Meursault is an outsider to the environment and stands in contrast to the locals who are not affected by the intense heat.
In Part Two, when he is going to court, the elements are seen to foreshadow that something disastrous is about to happen to Meursault. At the entry to the courthouse, there is “blazing sunshine” which is both literal and metaphorical as it could imply that things might be ‘heating up’ for Meursault since his trial is the beginning of the end for him. Because we associate heat with crime, Camus influences the readers into thinking that Meursault’s freedom is over and that something negative will happen. During the trial, when interrogated about why he committed murder, Meursault remembers “the red beach […] and felt the burning sun” hurting his head. When he states that it was because of the sun, the people in the court find this answer ridiculous whereas the readers with their knowledge of Part One understand that it is the truth.
On the other hand, Camus also describes the sun as having a positive effect on Meursault. The “broad daylight [made] a beautiful day” for him makes an unexpected contrast to the intense heat from which he suffers. Positive descriptions of the sun tend to accompany and reflect Meursault’s positive emotions. Initially, in the company of Marie, the sky is “all blue and gold” revealing Meursault’s happiness. The blue of the sky attenuates the impact of the sun which is referred to by color and not by heat. Again in Chapter Four, when Meursault and Marie are at the beach, “the four o’clock sun wasn’t too hot” because the association with pleasure and the sea makes the heat more bearable. Furthermore, when he arrives at Mason’s house, Meursault says that the “sun [was] doing [him] good”. Camus shows that when Meursault is with Marie he feels better as the sun has gone from being the enemy, which “hit [him] like a slap in the face”, to being friendly. This is used to create a contrasting sense of pleasure which makes the following events seem much worse.
The sudden transitions between the negative and positive effects of the sun on the protagonist make the reader wonder whether Meursault is a complete outsider to the local community. In the first chapter, during the morning of his mother’s funeral, he describes the sky being “full of red streaks” and that it will be “a beautiful day” which emphasizes his appreciation of the sun as he is not aggressed by it. However, soon after, when walking across the countryside during his mother’s funeral, Meursault finds the landscape “inhospitable and depressing” because of the sun and “the glare from the sky was unbearable” which shows a quick change in Meursault’s reactions. The sun here is personified, it had “burst open the tar” as if it is deliberately doing this to prevent Meursault from being happy. This personification of the sun as an antagonist foreshadows the role it will play at the end of Part One.
Water is the element where Camus has Meursault find pleasure and relief in the novel. Every time he feels aggressed by the sun, he goes to protect himself in the sea, which cools him down from the constant and unbearable heat. When Meursault feels happy and at ease, he is always near Marie and the sea. The writer’s descriptions of Marie at the beach make her resemble a water goddess. “She was glistening all over with salty water and holding her hair back off her face”. The association of sun, water, and Marie, is the sum of Meursault’s pleasure. When he swims with her at the beginning, we can identify a use of pathetic fallacy in the description of the sky as “blue and gold” reflecting his joyful mood. At the end of Part One, however, even the water “gasped for breath” under the antagonistic sun. When in prison, Meursault’s only hope was to “go swimming again” with Marie to feel at ease and comfortable. He can see the sea in the distance through a little window in his cell and this represents the distance between him and his freedom. This association of water and freedom is stated clearly when Meursault says “the sensation of water flowing over my body and the feeling of freedom this brought me”. However, these thoughts about water are put on one side as thinking like a free man, and in the end, Meursault finds his escape somewhere else.
Camus uses the night sky which is the absence of the sun and a contrast to the heat, to show that at the end Meursault feels at peace. He uses a paradox in speaking about the “benign indifference of the world” however, this makes sense if the reader understands it from an absurdist point of view. Meursault is now convinced of the truth of his convictions that there is no personal God which makes the night sky pleasant for him because it doesn’t need either interpretation or obedience. Camus draws a parallel between Meursault being indifferent to the community around him and him being indifferent to the universe itself.
In conclusion, Camus uses the context of the elements to give the reader an insight into Meursault’s character and they also serve to foreshadow the development of the narrative. The sun is mainly used to emphasize Meursault’s situation as an outsider as he is unsuited to the climate, however, it also serves to show that he can find it pleasant as it has a positive effect on his life. In this way, the sun is a cause of unpleasant emotions and also a reflection of his happier state. The role of water and the night sky, apart from giving a natural setting, is to give the protagonist a more relatable and balanced character since he can finally attain peace of mind.
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