Throughout The Stranger, many people are quick to judge Meursault for who he is. Most people are quick to judge him as crazy when in reality his thought process and ideologies make complete sense. In Camus’ The Stranger, Camus utilizes juxtaposition reoccurring symbolism, and terse syntax of being an NPC makes him the main character.
The extent to which Meursault makes himself seem crazy through contradicting himself. Towards the beginning of the novel Meursault’s inner thoughts state: “I was embarrassed because I felt I shouldn’t have said that.” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 6). Meursault does not care for the feeling of others yet he cares what others think about him. In wanting to become a background character, NPC, he cares deeply for what others think about him. This shows Meursault Meursault’s self centeredness as he as he caters for what he deems is important. This is further proven as he “had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much as these people hated me .” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 90). Meursault did not cry to the death of his own mother yet he is more inclined to cry when he realizes that people hate him. He centered his life around what he felt was important which was himself.
Camus then utilizes reoccurring symbols of the sun and heat to show how Meursault’s actions, that are his physical attempts at becoming an NPC, are irrational and only bring more eyes to him. A key moment in the novel that purposefully has the symbol of the sun is murder of the Arab, “[t]he scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes … my whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave;” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 59). The sun acts as a spotlight on Meursault, it makes him feel like the center of attention. So his attempt to get rid of this spotlight is to act, act irrationally that is. To him these actions were normal and they would help to push him out of the light yet they did the opposite, as the murder of the Arab made him the center of attention for a lot people. Many people came to show support for man who had died, but many more people came to call out the irrational actions of Meursault. Even the way he acted at his own mother’s funeral and burial is accompanied by his feelings towards the sun and the heat, “[a]ll around me there was still the same glowing countryside flooded with sunlight. The glare from the sky was unbearable.” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 16). He had no feelings towards the death of his mother but he could think about how he physically felt; this ties back to his self centeredness.
Finally, Camus utilizes terse syntax to showcase how Meursault is quick to dismiss what he does not want to hear. Meursault is quick to shut his boss down as he does not want a promotion which to him is a change in normalcy and monotonicity: “I said yes but that really it was the same to me.” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 41). This was the opportunity of a lifetime to have a promotion and to be moved to Paris for that promotion, yet Meursault turns that down. This makes his boss boss definitely think something is wrong with him as who would not want to live and work in Paris especially considering if you’re from a small country like Algiers? This same terse syntax is used on the priest to get him to shut up, “I made it appear as if I agreed.” (Camus, The Stranger, pg 69). He could not stand to hear the priest talk any longer so he agreed so he would not have to argue with him anymore. In the end, Meursault wants to be an NPC yet his self-centeredness contradicts that and makes himself the main character.
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