The affect of the weather on the protagonist in THe Outsider and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Essay by i3High School, 12th grade September 2004

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Camus and Solzhenitsyn both utilize weather to not only create a picture of mood, tone and atmosphere but also symbolically as a means of constricting the protagonist as well as a method of revealing subtleties about the protagonist in their novels The Outsider and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Both authors differ in literary style, however the common theme prevalent in both novels is exercised in much the same manner. As weather is an aspect of life that is universal to any individual regardless of country of inhabitance or era, the use of it to present the personality of a character proves inimitable. All people react differently to their environment and this reaction can present insightful information about the particular person. This is exactly what Camus and Solzehnistyn rendered in the novels. The purpose of this paper is to outline how weather is used as a form of constraint on both protagonists and what exactly is revealed about them through the use of weather as a form of symbolism.

The character Meursault is the protagonist in The Outsider. At the beginning of the novel, one learns of the death of his mother. At the funeral of his mother's, Meursault is shaped emotionally not by her passing, but rather the weather. This attitude was nonchalant as opposed to the more mournful state which one would come to expect. "But today, with the whole landscape flooded in sunshine and shimmering in the heat, it was inhospitable and depressing." The reader is put on a personal level with the protagonist as Camus wrote the novel in the first person. Ironically, by looking into Meursault's thoughts, the reader realizes that Meursault's dispirited mood is a product of the weather, despite the current action of traveling to the funeral...