The Stranger: Metaphorical Language and the Sun Anonymous 11th Grade

Thinking about the sun will likely produce similar thoughts in any person: heat, energy, light, life. Albert Camus though, in his novel The Stranger, utilizes the sun to serve a much more abstract purpose. Meursault, the narrator, naturally finds it difficult to connect with others, but through the extended metaphor established between the physical heat of the sun and his withheld emotions, Meursault’s genuine detachment from society and life is revealed even further.

Meursault is initially affected by the heat during his mother's funeral service as he walks across the sun-drenched countryside. This situation is clearly uncomfortable for Meursault; his mother has just passed away, and although he feels no remorse whatsoever, he is almost being forced to interact with sympathetic service-goers whom he cannot relate to. Lacking the capability “of analysing [sic] his own feelings” (Gnanasekaran 83), the best way for Meursault to express the detachment he feels from the situation is by addressing the heat. He states that the glare of the sun is “unbearable… [It makes] it hard for [him] to see or think straight” (Camus 16-17). This “unbearable” heat further reveals how separated Meursault feels from the rest of society. Those who...