the symbol of the sun in the stranger

Many artists, authors, and composers have put the beauty and warmth of the sun in their work. The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh created landscapes that expressed his joy with bright sunshine. The American poet Emily Dickinson wrote a poem called "The Sun," in which she described the rising and setting of the sun. The Russian composer Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov included a beautiful song, "Hymn to the Sun," in his opera The Golden Cockerel. Uniquely, Camus' …

…reflection one more time." The sun symbolized his emotions and inner-self, and he knows this. He would not have admired his own reflection earlier in the novel. Although most creative thinkers have used the sun as a positive being, Camus' existentialist approach sees the sun as a barrier to Meursault's emotions. It is not until Meursault can comprehend this and grasp that there is "gentle indifference to the world," that the sun motif is consummated.