Throughout The Stranger, Albert Camus makes use of setting to help show the destructive and antihuman qualities of Mersault. Through use of setting the author is able to show us that no matter where Mersault is he doesn't have control of himself or anything else and that he is spiraling out of control only to crash into misery. Mersault undergoes a journey from a blissful life towards knowledge of a wasted lifetime which ends in his own demise.

The presence of brightness and high temperatures in as part of the setting help exemplify Mersault's lawlessness and lack of control. In the courtroom scene Mersault has a vivid sense of people judging him. The hot and sticky nature or the room helps represent the feeling of unrest and uneasiness he is feeling. Mersault knows he is on trial, but his sense of being judged is heightened by the courtroom...