Free College Essays - The Motif of the Sun in The Stranger by Albert Camus :: The Stranger The Outsider

The Motif of the Sun in The Stranger In Camus novel The Stranger the predominate motif of the cheerfulness has been variously interpreted by many critics as a type of Meursaults repressed emotions.This is an interpretation I simply cannot accept, for I have incessantly regarded the sun as symbolic of the superego - the draw of society within Meursault. comparable the sun, society is generally thought to be a positive thing. bulk usually regard a good strong society that instills its members with a strong, unified code of morals as something to be desired. In the like way, people tend to think of a bright, warm, sunny day as something good and positive. How ever, both the force of society and theforce of the sun can survive over posting. They beat down on people, smothering and suffocating them, just as the sun beats down upon Meursault throughout the novel. The sun is present whenever the force of society is strong within Meursault. At the funeral the sun bears down on Meursa ult as society smothers him with expectations that he will grieve his mothers death in a typical manner. At the beach when he kills the Arab the sun is ever present and overpowering, making Meursault disoriented and confused. In the same way the power of society suffocates and confuses Meursault as it bears down on him with its views on morality. The sun is to a fault present at the trial, just as is the force of society which claims to ingest the right to judge people. The force of society is absent in the prison, to a fault the sun is absent from Meursaults dark cell, and because the overpowering force of society has been removed, Meursault is in the long run able to open himself to the gentle indifference of the world.At one point Meursault leans from the window in an attempt to feel the suns last