How 'The Stranger' addresses individual freedom and oppression

"I felt a little lost between the blue and white of the sky and the monotony of the colors around me - the sticky black of the tar, the dull black of all the clothes, and the shiny black of the hearse. All of it - the sun, the smell of leather and horse dung from the hearse, the smell of varnish and incense, and my fatigue after a night without sleep - was making it hard for me to see or think straight... the nurse spoke to me. She had a remarkable voice which didn't go with her face at all, a melodious, quavering voice. She said, 'If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But it you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.' She was right. There was no way out" (17).


This passage emphasizes the significance of contrast in Meursault's life. The most obvious contrast is between the open, free sky and the 'monotony' of the Meursault's mother's funeral. The contrast signifies how Meursault feels trapped between the sky's mocking freedom and the constraint of society's expectations of how Meursault should mourn. When Camus describes the funeral he uses short, abrupt, unattached sentences creating a droning tone. The tone matches the tempo of Meursault seemingly uninterested pace as he walks in the funeral procession. Later in the text Camus clearly demonstrates Meursault's lack of emotions by contrasting them with Perez, who finishes the procession with "big tears of frustration and exhaustion... leaving a watery film over his ruined face" (18). It is obvious by the end of the passage that Meursault is inconvenienced by the death of his mother and how is pressured to react to it.

Despite Meursault's obvious preference of the freedom the sky and the sun offers in comparison to the oppressive funeral, the nurse warns Meursault about the sun. She explains that if you move too fast there is a risk of catching a chill, but if you move too slow there is a risk of getting sunstroke, meaning no matter what you are risking something by going out in the sun. This directly parallels how you make risks when you use freedom. If you use too much freedom, like Meursault when he writes the letter to Raymond's mistress, you risk angering someone who could hurt you in some way. However if you use too little freedom you risk having the freedom taken away, like Raymond's mistress who becomes so accustomed to having her needs met and relying on Raymond, that when she finally wants to leave the relationship she cannot.

DQ: How does the sun parallel a greater struggle in Meursault's life?