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Meursault's Motives In The Stranger

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An Examination of Meursault’s Motive in The Stranger

Many people who read The Stranger conclude that Meursault’s murder of the Arab was not deliberate because of his passive and apathetic personality within the novel, especially exhibiting emotional indifference to the people around him. His murder of the Arab at first seems to be completely thoughtless and impulsive. It is reasonable to assume that because of his personality, he would not have or develop a motive. However, that could not be further from the truth. The novel presents many motivations for Meursault throughout the novel. Leigh Segars, author of the long-standing legal encyclopedia Nolo, defines deliberate as the defendant contemplating the act and its consequences, then following …show more content…

His motivation against the sun can be shown many times, including when he was retreating from Maman’s funeral when he felt “blood pounding in his temples” (Camus, Stranger 17). In Patrick McCarthy’s The Stranger book length analysis, he discusses how Meursault feels threatened by the sun in the novel, especially during the funeral (18). So, during the heatwave when he was approaching the Arab, he felt the same emotions of being threatened and feeling unable to escape the sun. John P. Collins writes a similar view in his character analysis of Meursault. He states that Meursault was physically exhausted and burned out by the sun and tries to seek the shade guarded by the Arab, as well as the cool water (Two Antiheroes 118). Meursault says to the jury that the reason for his murder was because of the sun, Meursault felt that he needed to escape it. The sun is a common theme throughout the book. During Maman’s funeral, it represents all of Meursault’s negative emotions, so that negativity is perpetuated during the murder. Meursault’s simplistic reasoning aligns with the theming of his character, that he does not lie nor indulge in human societal norms. Adrian Van Den Hoven in The Quest for a Motive in Camus’ The Stranger talks about Meursault’s character like this. He says his human needs do not go beyond food, drinking, sex, safety, and the beach (Hoven 213). This solidifies his simplistic motive for a simplistic man, and this is the most reasonable motivation considering Meursault’s personality. Lastly, it is important to remember that the Arab was “brandishing a knife,” (Scherr 200) which ties back into the Stranger when Meursault said that if the Arab drew his knife, he would shoot. Not only did he draw the knife, but the knife shone onto his forehead, the light reflected off the knife, and caused sweat to get into Meursault’s eyes (Camus, Stranger 59). Due to his limited vision, the

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Meursault is eventually convicted and sentenced to death because of his inability to conform to the societal expectations of French Algeria in the 1940’s. 3. Characters: Meursault- the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Meursault is a young shipping clerk who has detached himself from the world around him. He is indifferent

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During the beginning of the novel, Meursault goes to his neighbor Raymond’s house. The visit results into a physical fight due to insults made towards Meursault. Relating to aspects on violence, this scene was made to show simple

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The heat is also very important in this novel. Both times that death was in front of Meursault, the heat was unbearable for him; his mother’s funeral and the murder of the Arab. The heat is very uncomfortable for him, because he mentions it many times. Sometimes it is so bad, he becomes dizzy and is unable to think properly. When he is in court, every time he is questioned about the murder, he alway relates back to how hot the scene was.

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Meursault shows his lack of emotional attachment to people: "I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings"( page 41). Meursault shows the regrets of his nature but also, at the same time, explains that it’s not going to change. Rather than focusing on finding someone to spend his life with, Meursault would rather find someone who can always keep him pampered. Meursault again shows his regret for his actions when he says, "I wanted to try to explain to him that it was because of the sun, the sea, the light, in fact, everything, that I had simply loved him with no personal motive" (Page 68). Meursault shows his lack of care for those whom he loved, but at the same time shows that Meursault might not be able to fully control what he does, but rather does everything out of impulse, therefore making him regret his actions in some situations.

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Camus uses the motif of weather, most commonly sun and heat, to express Meursault’s emotions. Meursault often describes the weather and how it ‘affects’ him. This can symbolize his actual feelings he tries to hide. An example can be found when Meursault is walking to his mother’s funeral. On the outside he is calm and even seems a little annoyed.

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Forthwith, the sun’s treachery shows the immoral role of Meursault’s idiocrasy in killing the Arab. The sun tormented, pained, compelled, stressed, tensed and mercilessly drove him in jail. The sun then symbolizes the leading stick in this inherent absurdity of

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As Meursault perceives life contains no meaning, he is a hollow man who can not see the reality of life. He is much ignorant and lives in the present. “whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhumane and oppressive”(Camus 15).The sun represents the intimidating power of the natural worlds over human action. The sun is not repeated once, but many times during the funeral, which distracts Meursault’s attention and prevails the emotions, Meursault is unable to deal with himself. The sun is also the driving force, which makes Meursault murder the Arab man at the beach.

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(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.

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In the story The Stranger by Albert Camus, through first person we see Meursault the protagonist’s unfortunate life. The book is titled The Stranger, because Meursault is different from society. At the beginning of the novel we see Meursault explain the exterior life. Meursault says things like, “I caught the two o’clock bus. It was very hot.

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Instead, through his point of view, Meursault focuses on the physical aspects of the world. With such a primary emphasis on such characteristics, it reflects on Meursault’s ideology on death, a mundane occurrence that is inescapable, and life, a meaningless existence with no higher meaning. During the funeral march, he is unfazed by

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Meursault shows how he is existential throughout the novel by emphasizing how heats symbolizes the indifference of the universe towards human. Meursault can be metaphorically connected to the sun, the sun generally disregards the human life-meaningless natural world for humanity, on page 18 the nurse states,”If you go too slowly there’s the risk of a heatstroke. But if you go too fast, you perspire, and the cold air in the church gives you a chill.” Meursault then says,”I saw her point:either way one was in for it. ”(Camus, page 18).

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Meursault is a stranger in his own society on how he feels about the world. He lacks emotions that normal humans have like depression, or joy. When his mother had died, he lacked sympathy for her passing as her son. This shows how little he acknowledge emotions that usually occur in a passing of family or friends.

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Meursault notices that during the trial, “there was a lot said about [him], maybe more about [him] than about [his] crime” (98). By having Meursault 's personality be the focal point of the courtroom 's dialogue, Camus implies that Meursault 's persona plays a crucial role in his trial. Instead of focusing on the murder of the Arab, the prosecutor repeatedly mentions Meursault 's "dubious liaison"(94), his "insensitivity" (99) during Maman’s funeral, and his friendship with Raymond, who is a man "of doubtful morality" (99). Through the emphasis on Meursault 's -according to society- 'immoral ' ways, the prosecutor eliminates any sort of sympathy the jury has for Meursault. Following Marie 's testimony, the prosecutor once again exhibits his confidence that bias against Meursault will stem from hearing about his behaviour.

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The philosophical theory of absurdism aids Meursault in The Stranger to grow as a character and develop meaning in his absurd life, specifically Meursault’s decision to shoot the Arab and the relationship he has with his mother. After Meursault’s realization that life is absurd due to the inevitability of death, he decides to shoot the Arab, to create meaning in his life. When Meursault was introduced in The Stranger, he thought like a nihilist and believed “all alike would be condemned to die one day…since it all came to the same thing in the end” (Camus 75). He views the world as meaningless because he repeats the same routine every

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A motif in the novel is death. Meursault doesn’t show any emotion towards his mother dying, but everyone around him believes

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