Camus gives the reader no background or details as to why Meursault shoots the Arab, let alone why he shoots him four times. As the reader, it is hard to analyze the situation because of how natural the occurrence seems. There was no premeditation to his actions and it seems that it was only a coincidence that Meursault had the gun in the first place. When looking at the text it appears that Meursault is shooting at the blade of light reflecting off of the Arab’s knife into his eyes, “the Arab drew his knife and held it up to me in the sun. The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead”(Camus 59). The first shot fired by Meursault was simply a reaction to the situation. Prior to shooting the Arab,