Because of this, once his emotions are mysteriously aroused by the Arab wielding the knife at the end of Part I, his emotions react by rushing out from his body in the form of five bullets to the chest of the Arab. The Arab is the first person in the novel to reveal the "stranger" within themselves to Mersault. This leads to Mersault exposing his "stranger" by murdering the Arab. In the words of Billy Joel "You may never understand how the stranger is inspired but he isn't always evil and he isn't always wrong though you drown in good intentions you will never quench the fire you"ll give in to your desire when the stranger comes along" (53-65). This quote applies perfectly to Mersault in that it depicts the lack of good intentions in his murder but also explains what caused his actions. His transformation from a stoic drifter to a wanton killer is captured by Camus at the end of Part I, "The sun was starting to burn my cheeks, and I could feel drops of sweat gathering in my eyebrows.my forehead especially was hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under the skin. It was this burning.that made me move forward. I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn't get the sun off me by stepping forward. But I took a step, one step, forward." (Camus 58-59). It almost seems that Mersault cannot control his sudden feelings. From this it is obvious that Mersault cannot "quench his fire" and that he "gives into his desire".
I can also relate to Billy Joel's lyrics in the same way Mersault does. Although I have not committed murder or anything else that extreme, I do share similar feelings with Mersault and I understand what Joel is saying in "The Stranger". Whenever someone shares a secret with me that no one else knows, I almost feel a sense of guilt because either I do not have anything to tell them or I lack the courage to tell them an embarrassing secret. I feel safer revealing something personal to another person when they have already revealed something personal to me because then a sense of trust is established between both of us.
The beginning chapter sets up the problems of the entire novel with great efficiency. It tells us what is going on at present with Obi's trial and backtracks to the past in order to reveal what kind of man Obi is: an educated man, a young man who is Nigerian but who has studied in England. Most sign...
