Free College Essays - Stylistic Devices in The Stranger by Albert Camus :: The Stranger The Outsider

Use of Stylistic Devices in The Stranger In his novel The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the stylistic devices of vision and diction to develop the intensity of the natural action and to illustrate the lack of emotion in the last separate of Part I.Imagery of all kinds is abundant in this passage as Meursault, the main character, pays great attention to and describes in detail the beach milieu that surrounds him. Visual imagery is present as he conveys the intense incite by telling how it seemed as though the sky had cracked circularise and was raining flame, and by personifying the ocean, recounting how it breathed blistering hot convey onto the beach. Auditory imagery is employed when Meursault speaks of the cymbals of the sun clashing and describes the four shots shoot as four quick knocks on the door of unhappiness. Imagery of a tactile nature is used in Meursaults depicting the set up of the light reflecting off of the Arabs knife on him, its searing his eyelashes and go uging his eyeballs. All of this imagery works together to create the feeling of intense pressure in the actions being carried out by both Meursault and the Arab on the beach. All of it describes what is chance in the physical world, yet none of it deals with how Meursault feels in that situation (whether apprehensive, frightened, or angry) or what he is thinking. Since the imagery of the passage deals only with action and non the emotion, Camus creates the impression that there is no emotion.The diction used by Camus in the paragraph further develops the intensity of the action and the lack of emotion. Words such as pulsing, scorch, bursting, clashing, searing, and gouging are used in context with the heat on the beach, the veins in Meursaults forehead, the sun, and the light reflecting off the Arabs knife. All of these words carry a violent and rather drastic connotation which augments the tightness in the activity of the passage.