Narrative Technique and Language in Albert Camus The Stranger Essay

Narrative Technique and Language in Albert Camus The Stranger - judge ExampleCamus reflected his thoughts on moral ambiguity and the societal treatment of murderers and terrorists in m each of his works including this one. The reader is presented with a murderer protagonist who is devoid of motive, dry land or logic for the crime he has committed (Dissanayake 1). Camus uses the language of the narrator and the voice of the narrator, as a device through which the reader may date the perspective of Meursault, and as a way to reflect aspects in the development of the story. Meursault as a character is utterly remarkable, in that he is quite terrestrial in every possible way (Day 84). He appears to have no unusual or outrageous attributes, opinions, qualities or flaws when the reader is initially introduced to him. He does zilch special, holds no special job, is not living under any unusual circumstances, does not discuss any extreme or ideaal personal opinions and is far from orga nism emotionally distinctive. Meursault leads an existence in which days are added to days without rhyme or reason and his life is an interminable and monotonous addition (Camus 16). However, it is this lack of special traits and in use(p) interaction in society and life that makes the character, paradoxically, very remarkable and unusual. As the reader unveils the protagonists inner thoughts and plot development of the story, it becomes clear that this character is remarkably devoid from society in every way. Furthermore, not only is he detached from society, he is detached from life itself including family and relationships. He displays an unsettling degree of amorality and total lack of judgement of other peoples actions, thoughts and behaviours. Indeed, his detachment goes even further as we realise that he is also detached from his own emotions and self-identity to the extent that he appears to be lacking in both. From the very beginning of the story, Meursaults language ver y effectively allows the reader insight into his way of thinking. His sentences are consistently brief and concise in force(p) from the start, Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday. I cant be sure (Camus 1). His lack of elaboration or explanation is indicative of his amoral and overwhelmingly lawful attitude and personality. At the beginning of the story in particular, he does not offer much in the way of descriptions, imagery, expression of feelings or emotions or any forms of elaboration. Meursault gets to the point, saying as little as possible in order to communicate his message without overstating or offering unnecessary details of any kind. This serves to induce him as a highly logical, unfeeling character. In his grammar, he rarely uses verbs or adjectives that convey feelings such as felt, but rather uses descriptors such as decided and thought to describe his actions and ideas. We begin to see a change in language used when Meursault recounts the day of the murder. His language here is observably more descriptive, vivid, imaginative and elaborate, unlike earlier in the story, for example the heat was beginning to scorch my cheeks beads of sweat were gathering in my eyebrows. It was just the said(prenominal) sort of heat as at my mothers funeral, and I had the same disagreeable sensationsespecially in my forehead, where all the veins seemed to be bursting through the flake (Camus 38). Such a vivid and detailed description is unusual for the character thus far, which highlights the fact that this event or recollection, has more meaning even