How does Albert Camus use the symbols of light and the senses to explore the themes of existentialism and the absurd in “The Outsider?’’

This research paper seeks to find out how Albert Camus uses the symbols of light and the senses to explore the themes of existentialism and the absurd in “The Outsider”. Camus uses a lot of symbolism in his novel, “The Outsider”. In a context where the main character dissociates himself from the normal functions of the society, symbolism becomes the ideal style of advancing the themes in the book. Light is a symbol which has been used recurrently in this novel. It has not been used in the traditional sense of something good, but it has been used as something that comes to disorient a person, in this case Meursault. The author of this novel also uses other senses in an attempt to advance his theme of existentialism. The sense of sight becomes the key through which Meursault is able to live in some kind of detachment from the rest of the society. He assumes an observatory role in life and acts like just a passive person who has no capacity to control what happens to him. One significant detachment from even himself is that he is unable to talk to his lawyer because he feels bored. He does also not concern himself with what happens to other people and does not act even things obviously happen to others. The conclusion found in this research paper is that existentialistic views do not provide the ideal solutions to human life. This is because people with existentialistic viewpoints tend to disregard the whole society, and they are likely suffered for their detachment, just as Meursault suffers in the end