"Every stone here sweats with suffering, I know that. I have never looked at them without a feeling of anguish. But deep in my heart I know that the most wretched among you have seen a divine face emerge from their darkness. That is the face you are asked to see" (Camus 118).
The chaplain is finally able to come through to Meursault when he shows him this. This brings him the closest to happiness that he has felt in a long time. Throughout the novel he had been very alone and disconnected from his life. In the walls he searches for the face of Marie - his greatest desire. Meursault shows real emotions following this statement from the chaplain. The emotions fade as they always do after he soon decides that searching for a face in the stones is pointless.
The image represents the jail cell Meursault had been in, surrounded by the same stones from summer to summer, unable to have any changes in scenery.
1 comment:
The wall/jail cell is a wonderful metaphor for Mersault's state of mind.
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