Sun as Judgement

The sun during the first half of the novel seems to represent some sort of judgement, perhaps divine, that is barreling down on Meursault. During the funeral, we see the sun beating down on him as the funeral procession proceeds across the plain: "All around me there was still the same glowing countryside flooded with sunshine. The glare from the sky was unbearable". The sun's light is ever present and permeating, and also gives Meursault a feeling that is similar to that of someone confronted with their wrongdoing, qualities often associated with judgement. Then, later, when Meursault is flirting with a girl immediately after his mother is dies, he develops a tan, almost as if the sun is marking him for having no respect for his mother.

When he comes near the man who slashed Raymond near the spring, there are also images of the judgment. Firstly, when Meursault receives the gun from Raymond, he mentions that "The sun glinted off Raymond's gun", almost as if it giving him a warning of what is to come. Then, when walking towards the spring, Meursault and the man are contrasted, with Meursault feeling that "The whole beach, throbbing under the sun, was pressing on my back" and "The sea gasped for air with each swallow...I could feel my forehead swelling under the sun". Meanwhile, however, the other man "With his hand behind his head, his forehead in the shade of the rock", showing that the man laying down seemed to free of judgement's grasp (literally hidden from the sun) while Meursault took the full blunt of it. Then the sun also seems to push Meursualt to the edge, almost testing him before making a decision, with Meursault claiming that "The sun was the same as it had been the day I'd buried Maman...It was this burning...that made me move forward". Then in the climax of the first half of the book, the sun seems to make a decision: "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...the dazzling spear flying up from the spear in front of me...it seemed to me as if the sky split open from one end to the other to rain down fire". The reference to the sky splitting open to rain fire seems to be biblical, and in that case, the dead man is a messenger from God, sending his judgement off the knife and into Meursault's eyes. Throughout the first section of The Stranger, the sun seems to be God's judgement raining down on Meursault for being so remorseless.

DQ: How does the role of the sun change in the second half of the novel