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Then comes the pivot. On a blindingly hot beach, Meursault encounters Raymond’s mistress’s brother—an unnamed Arab—armed with a knife. Blinded by the sun, feeling the “cymbals” of heat crashing against his skull, Meursault fires a revolver. He shoots the Arab dead. Then, in a moment of absurdity that defines the philosophy of , he pauses and fires four more bullets into the motionless body.

In the pivotal scene on the beach, Meursault kills an Arab man. There is no grand motive, no deep-seated hatred. He blames it on "the sun." This moment highlights the terrifying randomness of existence. To the legal system that later tries him, this lack of motive is incomprehensible. The prosecutors don't just put him on trial for murder; they put him on trial for not weeping at his mother’s funeral. He is condemned because he is a stranger to the "moral" fabric of society. Why "The Outsider" Still Resonates The Stranger -The Outsider-