There's an age old question when it comes to Star Wars is whether Han Solo shot first, and this can be applied to our dear friend Meusault. The real question is who shot first Meusault or the man on beach. Yes, this may be confusing because the man on the beach did not happen to have a gun but he could have shot first. Before Meusault shot his gun 5 times (which is a bit excessive). The reason he shot first was because he took out his knife which reflected the suns rays into Meursault's eyes. Causing him feel the sensation of being shot and releases trigger a few times.
Who is the real culprit here? Meursalt, the guy, or the sun. Before you start rioting let me explain myself. Have you evver been blinded by the sun when trying to to a simple task? Have you ever been driving and the visor on the top of the car doesn't quite shade your eyes? Have you ever looked into a body of water during the day and instead got a big eyeful of sun? If you said yes to any of this you may understand the point. Statistically speaking the sun kills over 60,000 people a year (according to BBC News). Why should this be any different? The glare from the sun has caused hundreds of car crashes a year, yet would you blame the driver for the accidents? Yes you can, but you can't say the sun didn't have a significant part to it. When Meursault was on the beach he was blinded by the sun, and in that moment of heat and sweat a shot went off. After a pause and silence another 4 went off. While the sun might not be to blame for the second round of shooting the whole reason it started was the sun.
Do you have any ideas? Does my argument make a feasible point? Let me know in the comments below.
Wow, I thought the sun could have been an excuse or the reason behind the murder, but I never imagined the sun as the first attack of the Arab. I think that the argument is feasible because there's page of description of the sun's "attack" before the murder is committed. I wonder if he had described the attack in this manner if the court would have let him go because the Arab "struck" first.
ReplyDeleteCar crashes are slightly different from firing a gun. You can kill someone in a car crash without any intention whatsoever, and have it be a complete accident, but if you are already holding a gun in your hand when they have a knife, it is less innocent. It is interesting, though that there are ways to look at this scene that completely ignore the whole "unfeeling" aspect and that he shot five times.
ReplyDeleteHmm... I like this argument. Maybe it comes down to a question of intention, because that's often how we assess guilt. I don't think the Arab intends to reflect the light off the knife and blind Meursault, the sun obviously doesn't intend to do anything, but I don't know about Meursault. It's really unclear as to whether he has any murderous intention leading up to the moment he pulls the trigger.
ReplyDeleteInteresting argument. I would argue that Meursault knew about the sun and its terrible affects on him before the last encounter with the Arab. Yet he still went out yet again with a gun and pulled it on the man laying down.
ReplyDelete