The Stranger: Personification 1 key example

The personification of the stones of the cell makes the cell itself akin to a suffering person on death row, equating Meursault with the cell he inhabits. This both objectifies Meursault and personifies the prison, confusing the restrained Meursault with that which contains him. For the priest, the prison itself is as worthy of sympathy as Meursault, as both are without religious faith in God. The priest also understands Meursault as in a sense shackling himself through refusing to have faith in God, as it is through religious faith that Meursault can be made free after death.

Moreover, Meursault is often in the dark both literally and figuratively, lacking the understanding that others require of him. This interaction with the priest is no different, with the priest asking Meursault to find a "divine face" in the darkness or to emerge from his lack of understanding with a religious faith. Finding a divine face in the personified stones becomes a form of finding faith when forced to confront the situation one is in, i.e. being sentenced to death. This conflict between Meursault and the priest, or between the atheists and the religious, represent two solutions to the absurd: one can give up hope and embrace death, or one can retain hope for a life after death due to God. For Camus, and for Meursault, religious faith is not the correct response to the absurd nature of human existence. Thus, while the priest desires Meursault to find connection with the divine during this dark moment in his life, Meursault will not do so.