Final Thoughts on The Stranger

In my last two blogs, I talked about how Camus’ random and confusing style of writing caught my attention in the first five chapters of The Stranger. After now having finished the novel, I understand Camus’ style of writing better, and I am able to form an opinion on the piece as a whole.

The Stranger is one of the only novels that I have read that has caused me to ask so many questions. There were several instances throughout the book that made me think “why did he say that?” or “why did he do that?” For example, on page 35 in chapter 4, Mersault states that Marie asks him if he loves her. He says “I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” This moment was a “why did he say that?” moment. Mersault went out with Marie, kissed her, and did other things that would make it seem like he loved her. For him to say he didn’t think he loved her, and that he didn’t know for sure confused me.

A moment in the novel where I thought “why did he do that?” occurred in chapter 6 (of part 1). In this chapter, the magistrate is questioning Mersault so that he can create his defense for the trial. Much to his dismay, however, the magistrate does not get all of the answers he is searching for. As a result, he pulls out a silver crucifix, and begins to question Mersault’s faith. This moment confused me because it seemed so random. The magistrate practically threatens Mersault with the crucifix just because he is not responding to questions. This seems like a very rash and radical decision, and makes me view the magistrate as crazy. It also makes me view this part of the novel as a section that only catches our attention because of how unprecedented it is.

This section also brings up another theme in the story that confuses me. Even though this moment, for me, was memorable for its extremity, it did not appear to affect the plot much. After this moment, you never really hear about it again. I have noticed this theme in most of the novel. You read a section, and then it ends up having no affect on how the story turns out, or never is mentioned again. This theme bothers me because I believe that memorable moments in a book should have some significance to how the story ends or reaches a climax.

Based on the points I have made, I think it is obvious that this novel generally confused me, and left me asking questions. Despite all of the confusion, however, I liked the novel because it kept me thinking, and the random moments did capture my attention. My final thoughts on this novel are that I probably will not read it again any time soon, but I will definitely remember it and I would suggest it for people who would like to read something a bit different.