The Outsider

Novel | Albert Camus

What does the sun symbolize in “The Outsider?”

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What does the sun symbolize in The Outsider NU Albert Camus in The Outsider shows the power of nature The sun is not only heat or light It controls Meursault s actions It makes him restless It blinds him It finally pushes him toward murder The Sun at the Funeral At Marengo Meursault goes to his mother s funeral The heat of the sun disturbs him more than the death itself He feels sleepy on the way During the funeral Thomas P rez almost faints under the burning sun Meursault thinks only of the sweat the glare and the heaviness He says I went out the sun was up and the sky mottled red He shows no tears only the pain of the heat Here the sun symbolizes the indifference of nature to human grief The Sun on the Beach At Masson s beach house Meursault Marie Cardona and Raymond

Sint s go swimming Later Meursault walks alone The Arab waits near the rock The heat burns him He says The sun was scorching hot The sun presses on his body His forehead sweats His eyes fill with light He cannot think clearly Here the sun symbolizes pressure confusion and the blind force of nature The Sun and the Murder The Arab shows his knife The sun reflects on the blade Meursault fires once then four more times The reason he gives is simple He says It was because of the sun Here the sun becomes the symbol of absurd power It shows how meaningless forces control human action The sun in The Outsider is more than weather It disturbs Meursault at Marengo It blinds him at Masson s beach It pushes him to kill the Arab The sun finally becomes the symbol of absurdity and fate

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