Setting in The Stranger Essay

The four oclock sun wasnt too hot, but the water was warm and rippled with long, lazy waves. Pg 37. The setting, both time and place are important to understand one vital piece of the background information about The Stranger. It contributes to the meaning or significance of the novel as a whole.

When one is first introduced to Meursault, Camus wants to show his way of thinking and of being, since at the beginning of the story Camus starts by telling of Meursault mothers death and showing how he take this new. The beach represents an important setting, because after his mothers burial Meursault went to it with Marie, giving a lack of importance to the funeral; or it could be that its his way of being. The beach is where Camus shows that Meursault focuses on physical pleasures, as is apparent at Massons beach with the pleasure he gets from Marie. I could just make out the slight fullness of her breasts 93. Camus defines Meursault as an indifferent man because maybe his physical desires and environment are affecting him. The sun was starting to burn my cheeks, and I could feel drops of sweat gathering in my eyebrows. pg. 58. The sun is affecting him in every ways. So he could be changing his mind, his way of being or even giving importance to things he dont have to just because of the sun. Depending on the setting, on the environment, people may change, because the environment affects humans as well as living things either directly or indirectly.

The murder of the Arab takes place at the beach. Camus uses the heat and excess of sun or light in order to heighten the tension when Meursault decides to pull the trigger. It was hard to breath in the dry heat rising from the ground. Pg. 54. Readers can infer that Camus is continually making a reference to the sun and heat until Meursault finally pulls out the trigger due to his discomfort. But he is making this reference trough out the entire book, even at the court and at the end. Fumbling a little with my words and realizing how ridiculous I sounded, I blurted out that it was because of the sun. So in my opinion, Meursault was being misjudged because he was really tired, the heat of the sun didnt help him and at the time of the homicide the knife reflects because of the sun didnt help either. The sun was the same as it had been the day Id buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under the stein. Pg. 59 it was that hot, that he didnt even know what to do, or to differ the good from the bad, maybe.

The beach with its sun and heat helps with the development of the novels meaning as a whole. In synthesis without the setting the novel could have changed a lot, since it is what describes it and instructs the reader with the meaning of the novel. Also because if there wasnt any sun or heat, Meursault wouldnt have killed the Arab.