In The Stranger by Albert Camus, there was the theme of absurdism, a belief that life was meaningless. Throughout the novel, Camus used this as the basis to argue the inevitability of death. He wanted to showcase this idea because in the end, all humans would meet death therefore life was meaningless. He implemented this idea through Meursault who was the protagonist of the story. The idea is not conveyed through Meursault right away, but rather throughout the course of the novel. The events and the experiences that Meursault faced had him come to this realization.
While the novel contained many absurdist themes, one of the most important themes revolved around the weather and how it affected Meursault. The weather played a significant role manipulating Meursault’s emotions and it was significant in that to Meursault, it justified the actions that he committed along the way which can be shown at his mother’s funeral, the Arab murder scene, and at his own trial. The type of weather that exemplified the absurdist Meursault was was whenever he felt the heat. Whenever he came across the heat, his words were dull and detached as if he was hypnotized.
Every time he encountered the heat he became frustrated, but even so he was always captivated by it, tuning out everything else, and focusing on the heat as if it was the most important thing in his life. His first experience with the heat in the novel that built up his absurdism belief can be the way he acted at his mother’s funeral. Rather than focusing on his mother, he focused on the bright lights which made him miserable causing him to want to go home as he was “almost blinded by the glare of light” (Camus 7). When he says “.. flooded with sunlight.
The glare from the sky was unbearable.. ” (Camus 4) it showed how his mind was somewhere else when it should not have been. Whenever he spoke at the presence of his mother’s funeral, it mostly consisted of the heat and the light. The heat affected him in that it prevented him from paying his respects to his mother. He did not show even the slightest bit of emotion. The heat also had him come to the first step of terms to the idea of absurdism because his mother’s death was not a surprise to him, connecting to why all human beings would have to face death sooner or later.
Moreover, this scene was important in that it set the stage for the climax which was the urder of the Arab. Consequently, the theme of absurdism through the weather was especially seen at the beach when Meursault murdered the Arab due to the intense heat from the burning sun. Even before the murder happened, his constant comments about the heat foreshadowed that something horrific would happen. For instance, when he says “the sun looked red to him now” (Camus 60), the significant part of that saying is the word red.
The color red symbolizes the evil and anger that would come ahead to create the horrific event. Furthermore, in the quote “the day, already bright with sun, hit im like a slap in the face (Camus 60),” it shows how it further contributes to the dominant role of the weather and its controlling effect on Meursault. “My head was spinning with heat and astonishment I never intended to kill the Arab.. blurted out it was because of the sun” (Camus 103). Of all things, he blames that the intense heat from the sun was the instigator to his crime.
Meursault reacts differently from the heat than how most people do. It usually affects people emotionally, but he is affected physically which led him to murder. The Arab did no harm, but because of the sun it controlled his judgement. In cases like this, if one were to kill someone, they would think it over and lay out the consequences, Meursault however does not think about what he did and does whatever he wants. He would not have murdered the Arab, but because of the sun it made him move forward.
Meursault was the type of person that did not let people control him. No matter how hard anyone tried to persuade him such as when the chaplain tried to convert him to christianity in prison, he remained at a strong stance to his initial opinion. “. he wanted to talk to me about God again, but I went up to him and made one last attempt to xplain to him that I had only a little time left and I didn’t want it on God” (Camus 114). When he says this, it meant that human justice was nothing and that divine justice was everything.
This basically showed his view on life as a whole and on God as well. The absurdity is shown when he also states “well, so I’m going to die” (Camus 114). However, even though he does not let people control him, he let’s the sun control him. The sun can symbolize how isolated he feels from the rest of society because whenever the sun is present his thoughts and feelings begin to be manipulated. The sun is the only time he is able to cope and accept his feelings whereas he does not with the rest of society, hence showing “the stranger” he is.
Near the end of the chapter, readers begin to see that he has come to the conclusion that there was a similarity between the sun and life. When he came to realization of “the gentle indifference of the world” (Camus 122), it can be assumed that he concludes that the sun was not evil despite how it manipulated his actions. It was rather warm and friendly. Additionally, he takes interest in the heat and examines it again at his own trial.
When he says “.. t went on much longer than when he was talking about my crime so long, in fact, that finally I was aware of how hot a morning it was” (Camus 100), it displays his apatheticness because instead of trying to prove himself innocent like most people would he was startled by the heat. Throughout the trial, he only payed attention to the different aspects of heat: “Here the prosecutor wiped his face, which was glistening with sweat” (Camus 102), “That afternoon the big fans were still churning the thick air in the courtroom… ” (Camus 103).
Because of his mind set only on he heat, it caused him to lack paying attention, therefore it prohibited him from concentrating on the questions he was being asked. Towards the end of the novel, Meursault says “. that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 123). This was significant in that this truly showed the absurdist he was. Meursault wanted to show how pathetic death was. All of the death scenes that occurred in the book and the mentions of any other character mourning over it is connected and wrapped up in the ending.
When he wanted people to greet him ith cries of hate, it showed his full acceptance of the absurdist ideas because he could no longer avoid his death. Overall, the weather played an important role to reveal the absurdist themed in The Stranger. From his mother’s funeral, to killing the Arab, and at the courtroom, he remained at a firm stance to his viewpoint on life: that it was simply absurd and that death was bound to happen sooner or later. Therefore, the manipulation of the weather and the heat aided him in coming to terms of what he believed in which contributed to his final outlook on life as a whole.