Annotated Bibliography for Albert Camus

Annotated Bibliography for Albert Cam Us

The Stranger Essay

Nataly Inoa.doc the Stranger 1

Camus’ The Stranger explication, 2

Nataly Inoa

Ryan Gallagher

English Cp Per.1

6 December 2010

Camus’ The Stranger explication, 2

            In chapter 3, part 2 of Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Camus uses the imagery of the sun to show Meursault’s persona changing completely due to the sun, from am emotionless character to one who is able to feel emotion. Camus is trying to show that the sun is the significance of freedom.

            A point in the chapter when Meursault references towards the sun is when he gets to his trail, and the room is “hot”, Meursault states “ The trail opened with the sun glaring outside” (82). Him stating this, that when he goes in for his trail all he notices is the sun glaring and how its hot and dark once he gets in side. For example light and dark can also reference to life and death, especially in the situation he’s in. In the second paragraph of the passage Meursault speaks about when he’s at his trail and the first couple of steps it took to finally get in side the courtroom. To me I found it  interesting that he keeps going back to light and dark, and that basically is  what his trail consist of him going from light to dark, or in other words life or death. In that courtroom is where people will finally decide for him what he’s going to do for the rest of his life. Meursault describes the policemen taking him “into a room that smelled of darkness” (n)(82).  This is very important because it shows that there’s a consistency of him going to a different surrounding, at first “the sun was glaring outside” (n), then the policemen take him “into a room that smelled of darkness” (n), describing how his life is going to be.

                        Another reference Meursault has with the sun is when he’s finally inside the courtroom and the first thing he notices is the blinds. Meursault states “Despite the blinds, the sun filtered through in places and the air was already stifling” (83).

            The idea that the passage proposes is an important one because it shows how the significance of a simple object can determine how a person’s life can change drastically. In Meursaults case it shows how his life was turned up side down  in a matter of seconds, and now where he stands.