The Use of Dark and Light Imagery free essay sample

The use of dark and light imagery in â€Å"The Outsider† and Woman at Point Zero† to convey change in mood and pace The use of dark and light imagery in â€Å"The Outsider† and Woman at Point Zero† to convey change in mood and pace In analyzing these two novels; ‘The Outsider’ and ‘Woman at Point Zero’, there is an obvious similarity. Both Albert Camus and Nawal El Saadawi, the authors of these two narratives, use dark and light imagery to change the mood and pace of their text. In ‘The outsider’, Mersault is notified of his mothers death. He attends her funeral, yet expresses none of the emotion typical and expected in such a circumstance. In the next few days, his neighbor, Raymond Sintes, along with Mersault’s girlfriend Marie, are invited to spend the day at a chalet, just outside their town. When Raymond, Mersault and Mason went for a walk along the beach, they were confronted by some Arabs who were seeking revenge of the fact that Raymond had hurt one of the Arab’s sister. We will write a custom essay sample on The Use of Dark and Light Imagery or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They confront Raymond and wound him with a knife. Later, walking on the beach alone, Mersault, now armed with a pistol, encounters the Arab friend and shoots him dead; the shooting is partly influenced by the suns glare. This is one of many examples that Albert Camus uses this kind of imagery when describing Mersault’s situation. Similarly, Nawal El Saadawi is a psychologist trying to learn the story of Firdaus while she is in prison awaiting execution. Firdaus then narrates the story of her life. She takes readers through her disorderly childhood, from being abused and witnessing the abuse of her mother by her father, to her mysterious female circumcision as a young woman. We are told that she is molested by her uncle, and the one person she loved, betrayed her. She is then exploited by pimps, and then the most cruel- the persistent taunting of men, women, and law enforcement- as she struggles to live an adult life she has been given no tools to live. Firdaus however, has a tendency to be observant of people’s eyes and focus on the black and white rings. Both these books use the different colors of dark and light, under different context, to bring about a certain pace and mood to the passage. At Mersaults’ mothers’ funeral, he describes the things he sees there as very bright and shiny. â€Å"It was a very bright room with whitewashed walls and a glass roof. [1] Also, â€Å"The lid was on, but a row of shiny screws, which hadn’t yet been tightened down, stood out against the walnut-stained wood. Near the coffin there was an Arab nurse in a white overall, with a brightly colored scarf on her head. †[2] These are both long sentences. This shows that the character is rambling and taking note of every little t hing in the room he is in. The fact that he doesn’t really relate to his mother’s death shows his type of character. He is very relaxed and nonchalant about the whole situation. At this moment, the pace is quick. He is only taking the necessary time he needs to make an observation about something and tell us about it. In a situation where everyone else is showing their emotional affectedness at the funeral, â€Å"she was crying regularly, in little sobs: I thought she was never going to stop. The others didn’t seem to notice,†[3] Mersault gets annoyed at the fact that other people are letting out their emotions. He starts to wonder why they start to cry and look at him. This shows that they are judging him because he doesn’t show emotion. However, Mersault does not seem to let this affect him. Instead he pays attention to another observation he makes, â€Å"What struck me the most about heir faces was that I couldn’t see their eyes, but only a faint glimmer among a nest of wrinkles. †[4] Again, reference to bright objects is made but this time he describes their faces. He does this hear to show how they feel about the scenario. The fact that they have a ‘faint glimmer’ shows that they are not happy. There is no ‘shine’ or ‘glow’ in their faces as a person would do if they were expressing some sort of joy. Later on, Mersault uses a different type of imagery which changes the pace. I understood mother. The evenings here must come as a kind of melancholy truce. But today, with the whole landscape flooded in sunshine and shimmering in the heat, it was inhospitable and depressing. †[5] This sentence fits the scene for a funeral. Reference to the sun, is a symbol of Meursaults repressed emotions. Further along, he begins , â€Å" all around me there was still the same luminous, sun drenched country side. †[6] He goes on to say, â€Å"The sun had burst open the tar. Our feet sank into it, leaving its shiny pulp exposed. † [7] in saying this, we see the powerfulness of the sun. This is noted because later on in the novel, more references to the sun is made which shows its affect on not only the outside world, in this case the tar, but to Mersault’s actions. He continues, â€Å"I felt a bit lost, which the blue and white sky overhead and these monotonous colors all around me- the sticky black tar, the dull black clothes and the shiny black hearse. And what with the sun and the smell of leather and horse-dung from the hearse, and the smell of varnish and incense and the sleepless night . I’d had, I was so tired that I could hardly see or think straight any more. [8] A pace is established through the chain of negative imagery used here. He feels very uncomfortable and ‘a bit lost’. Our emotions are moved by the pace because of the fact that it slows down. Mersault takes the time and effort to give every object at least two adjectives to describe them, both of them being negative. The sun is generally thought to be a positive thing. People tend to think of a bright, warm, sunny day as something good and positive. However, Mersault’s reference to the sun is the opposite. It brings about a negative effect on him. This could link to the fact that he is not like the general society as we have seen before. While others may relate heat and warmth to a feeling of security and peace, he sees it as an annoyance. At the chalet, while the Mersault was walking, this time alone, on the beach and he sees the Arab, Mersault bombards us with a vast amount of imagery. â€Å"But the whole beach was reverberating in the sun and pressing against me from behind. †[9] We can immediately note here that Mersaults makes reference to the sun so we can assume, something negative is going to happen. â€Å"The sun was beginning to burn my cheeks and I felt drops of sweat gathering my eyebrows. It was the same sun as on the day of mother’s funeral and again my forehead was hurting me most and all the veins were throbbing at once beneath the skin. And because I couldn’t stand this burning feeling any longer, I moved forward. I knew it was stupid and I wouldn’t get out of the sun with one step forward. And this time, without sitting up, the Arab drew his knife and held it out towards me in the sun. †[10] This is a key passage in which Albert Camus makes us go through emotions. The pace quickens as tension builds up. We see Mersaults’ feelings of pressure and emotional chaos. This strong imagery forces Mersault to fire and kill the Arab with a gun. What makes it worse is that he fires four more times to make sure the sun is dispelled for good. Once in jail, Mersault changes his views on both the sun, and on his view of life, which are similar. Mersault realizes that the sun and his life are both warm and do not have as negative of an effect on his life as he thought. He discovers that you assign meaning to your own life and that the sun does not need to be the one to blame for his emotions or his actions. He says, I moved closer to the window, and in the last light of day I gazed at my reflection one more time. The sun symbolized his emotions and inner-self. He would not have admired his own reflection earlier in the novel. In the book â€Å"Woman at Point Zero†, Firdaus takes great notice of people’s eyes. She uses the same phrases to describe their eyes. When she realizes that her mother has changed and was not the same person who used to help her when she needed it, she says â€Å"But when I used to look into her eyes I could feel she was not my mother. They were not eyes that held me up each time I was on the point of falling. †[11] She then takes note of the colors, â€Å"They were not the eyes that held me up each time I was on the point of falling. They were not two rings of pure white surrounding two circles of intense black, where the white would become even whiter, and the black even blacker every time I looked into them, as though the light of the sun or the moon kept flowing through them. †[12] In reading this passage we know that this person is her mother but her mother’s spirit was the one who had changed. It is as if it was broken and Firdaus did not feel love in her eyes. Another instance where she uses this is when she was sitting in the playground of her school all alone and her teacher Miss. Iqbal sat next to her and Firdaus says â€Å"I could see her black eyes wandering into the night, and the tears welling up in them with a glistening light. She tightened her lips and swallowed hard and suddenly the light in her eyes went out. Again and again they started to shine after a moment went out, like flames snuffed out in the night. †[13] Here, Firdaus gets a sense of unity and possibly love. The teacher had given Firdaus freedom to express herself before. After she says this about her teacher she repeats what she had said about her mothers’ eyes; â€Å"two rings of pure white, surrounding two circles of intense lack that looked out at me†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [14] Miss. Iqbal reminds Firdaus of her mothers’ eyes that used to show love for her. This is the first time she exchanges tenderness with another woman. We can conclude that Firdaus loves her on a spiritual level. The relationship she has is the most intimate because they are seen as equals even though on e is a student and the other a teacher. A third time she repeats this description is when she speaks to Ibrahim who was one of the employees who worked where Firdaus did. When they were alone together in the courtyard, she tells us â€Å"the sky above was enveloped in darkness with not a ray of light from sun or moon. My face turned towards his face, and my eyes looked into his. I could see two rings of pure white†¦ â€Å"[15] Since this account is talking about a male for a change, it illustrates that this is the first time Firdaus is experiencing love. Nawal El Saadawi creates a whole language of the eyes, which foreshadows some events, in this case love, which Firdaus experiences in different forms. When Firdaus mentions the black and white rings in peoples eyes it reveals that there is a different level of feeling for them. She uses the colors black and white, dark and light, to portray the changes of emotions that Firdaus goes through. Likewise, in the book ‘The outsider’ the descriptions of dark and light given to us by Albert Camus also revealed when there was a change of emotion in the protagonist.