The Stranger

For this AP English novel assignment thing, I chose to read The Stranger by Albert Camus. I have finished the novel and I am now considering several pieces of literary criticism to use in my essay.
While I enjoyed the novel, I am still pondering some of its subtle meanings. The characterization of Mersault is most perplexing; although Camus' ideas are fascinating, the full existential implications of his main character's personality, descriptions, and speech are complicated and difficult to interpret.
Camus said that this novel is about the nakedness of man when faced with the absurd (or something like that...). Indeed, the notion of a man being tried for an unwitting and unintentional murder and being convicted for essentially lacking the morals that his peers expect him to have is ridiculous, yet at the same time fully plausible and frightening. The jury should not have the power to judge a man's lifestyle, yet Mersault's 'nakedness,' the nakedness of man when faced with life, allows them to do so.
Also, I noticed that Camus' descriptions are purely physical and seem to center around light and dark, heat and cold. Mersault frequently tells the reader how stiflingly warm it is and how he is blinded by the intense light outside; in Mersault's apparently existential view of life those repressive sensations, along with the desire to 'go back to his place' with his girlfriend, is perhaps all that matters.