Comparing Violence as a Motif in Stranger and Sailor Who...

Violence as a Motif in The Stranger and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea In The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima, violence is an important motif. This paper will attempt to show how comparisons exists in these books which aids the violence motif. Violence is concluded with murder or multiple murders in the above books. In The Stranger, Meursault, an absurd hero, shoots the Arab five times on the beach. He accounts for the scenario by telling the reader: My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there, in that noise, sharp and deafening at the same time, is where it†¦show more content†¦Mishima goes on by stating: â€Å"Noboru swung the kitten high above his head and slammed it at the log. The warm soft thing hurtled through the air in marvelous flight. But the sensation of down between his fingers lingered† (Mishma 58). The kitten did not die on the first attempt and the Chief ordered Noboru to pick up the kitten and throw it against the log one more time. Mishima adds to the detail of the scene by telling the reader â€Å"What Noboru lifted between two fingers now was no longer a kitten† (Mishima 58). On the second impact the defenseless kitten met its fate and died. The victim of the second murder that takes place in the book is Ryuji. Ryuji like Meursault is an absurd hero. His murder occurs near the sea. He is lured to t he murder scene by Noboru. His death was well planed by the Chief and the Gang and occurs when he takes a sip of tea laced with sleeping pills. Comparison of place setting where violence occurs exists in The Stranger and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea. Meursault kills the Arab on an Algerian beach. For him the beach represented pleasure. He went swimming with Marie the day after his mother’s funeral. Ironically the sea also becomes the backdrop for the murder. He recalls before the murder occurs that â€Å"The sea carried up a thick, fiery breath† (Camus 59). The setting for The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea is the port city of Yokohama, Japan. Ryuji’s murder takes place on an