Describe Camus's use of imagery at the climactic moment? This question is at the end of chapter 6 of part one. It is refering to the...

In Part II of The Stranger, Camus
uses a mix of visual and auditory imagery that is connected violently to nature and the
body in order to show the gun shoots itself instead of Meursault consciously pulling the
trigger.

Meursault narrates (imagery in
bold):

At the
same instant the sweat in my eyebrows dripped down over my
eyelids all at once and covered them with a warm, thick
film. My eyes were blinded behind the curtain of
tears and salt. All I could
feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead
and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear flying up from the
knife in front of me. The scorching
blade slashed at my eyelashes
and stabbed at my stinging eyes. That’s when everything
began to reel. The sea carried up a thick,
fiery breath. It seemed to me as if the
sky split open from one end to the other to
rain down fire. 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 all started. I shook off the sweat and sun. I
knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the
exceptional silence of a beach
where I’d been happy. Then I fired four more times at the motionless
body where the bullets lodged
without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four
quick times on the door of
unhappiness.

The
scene contrasts heavily with the earlier beach scene in Part I in which Meursault and
Marie frolicked and flirted.  Here, the natural elements (sun, sea) have almost
conspired against Meursault, stinging and covering his eyes, blinding him.  This is the
imagery of an absurd universe: one day it is inviting and free and the next day it is
violent and cruel.

Earlier, the sun, sea, and sand were
symbols of freedom, but hear they are connected to violence and unhappiness.  The
unbearable heat for Meursault in Part II here is much like the unbearable heat for Perez
during the funeral procession in Part I.  Both men were victims of determinism; they
lacked freedom because they attached themselves to death.  Meursault gets involved in
Raymond's revenge plan and takes his gun; Perez forces himself to mourn another's death
out of an over-developed sense of grieving.  In both cases, the universe punishes them
dearly, nearly killing Perez and leading to Meursault's
execution.