The Stranger by Albert Camus

1. The stranger is about a man, Mersault, whose mother dies.  After going to her funeral, he goes on a date with his coworker, and they decide to get married.  He later goes on vacation with a few of his friends, where they run into two arab men.  One of the arab men attacked his friend, so the protagonist decides to kill one of these men.  He is forced to go to court where he admits he doesn't believe in god.  They sentence him to death because he wont admit that god exists.  He decides before he dies that life doesn't matter.
2. The theme of the book is life has no meaning, so be happy.  This is made apparent after the main character is sentenced to death and he is contemplating his own life.
3. The authors tone is that of the protagonist.  The book is nonchalant and the protagonist often doesn't care about many thing.  For example, when he gets engaged, he isn't excited, he only agrees because  that's is what Marie wants from him.  Mersault also doesn't care that he is going to be executed, and actually accepts his death as joyous.
4. The literary elements the author uses is diction, syntax, characterization, tone, and symbolism to convey his theme and tone of the book.  The diction and syntax used by the author makes me want to read each word as if it were said with a melancholic, monotonic voice.  The author uses indirect characterization for Mersault, which is shown through is indifference to everything happening to him in his life.  The tone helps to identify the theme of the book.  Since Mersault doesn't care about anything, life shouldn't matter and is, therefore, meaningless.