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The Stranger (view source)

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'''Short version:''' An emotionally detached young man learns that his mother's dead, gets engaged to his girlfriend for no particular reason, shoots a man for ''[[Rule of Symbolism|getting the sun]] [[Disproportionate Retribution|into his eye at that time]]'', has a bunch of philosophical existential internal monologues and conversations in prison, and is convicted and executed mostly for being a Jerkass.
 
'''Long version:''' The narrator is one M. Meursault ([[Last -Name Basis|we never get his first name]]), a man who lives in French-colonized Algeria sometime between the two World Wars. The book opens with the news of his mother's death. He visits her nursing home, muses on the life she led there, then attends her funeral, most of which he finds quite boring. He goes on about his daily life: working in a nondescript office, spending time with his girlfriend, observing his neighbors. One of those neighbors, Raymond, enlists Meursault's help in getting revenge on his girlfriend, an Arab woman, who he thinks was cheating on him. Later on, Meursault and Raymond encounter the brother of Raymond's ex. Meursault, somewhat drunk and dazzled by the sunlight, ends up shooting the man with Raymond's revolver, for no particular reason. Thus ends Part One.
 
Part Two details Meursault's time in prison, and gets much more abstract. The judge who talks to Meursault doesn't seem to care much about the murder of the Arab, but takes offense at Meursault's atheism. Meursault sits in his cell, wishes he had cigarettes, and ponders the meaninglessness of life. The prosecution at his trial uses his lack of grief at his mother's death as evidence against him; he doesn't deny anything. A priest visits Meursault and is, like the judge, appalled at his atheism; Meursault ends up assaulting him. The book ends with Meursault about to be executed, hoping people will watch.
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* [[Absurdism]]: An early specimen and one of the best known non-theatre examples.
* [[Arc Words]]: "But I got used to it."
* [[Anti -Hero]]: On the [[Sliding Scale of Anti -Heroes]], Meursault is a Type V, one of the two types of [[Anti -Hero]] in an existentialist novel.
* [[Beige Prose]]: The narrator's tendency to give equal weight to everything - from his mother's death to how he feels about someone at any point in time - leads to this.
* [[Beware the Honest Ones]]
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* [[Incriminating Indifference]]: The prosecution's argument against Meursault is, essentially, "He didn't cry at his mother's funeral, therefore he's psychotic, therefore he's a [[Complete Monster]] who deserves to die." Of course, it doesn't help that Meursault admits his guilt from the get-go.
* [[Jerkass]]: Raymond beats his girlfriend up and has a neighbor write a threatening letter to her, gets in a fight with the girl's brother, and when the neighbor and friend he got into this mess kills him, leaves him for dead. Salamano literally [[Kick the Dog|kicks his dog]], among other abuses. And the case can be made either way for Meursault.
* [[Last -Name Basis]]: Meursault.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Meursault mentions the sun being particularly bright on the day of his mother's funeral, and when he shoots the Arab. Light and heat is a reoccuring motif throughout the book, for example: when waiting for the bus, the wake, the burial, and the afformentioned beach. Meursault thinks of all of those examples negatively. [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Whether this means something is up to your interpretation.]]
* [[Loners Are Freaks]]
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** Arguably Salamano. He spends most of his introduction being a grumpy old man who hates and abuses his dog. After the dog runs away, he becomes grumpier and more hateful. When he realizes the dog isn't coming back, he begins to cry.
* [[Purple Prose]]: Invoked in the prosecutor's angry tirades against Meursault. Especially [[Egregious]] when he is expounding upon the perceived emptiness of Meursault's soul.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Raymond and Meursault.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: Meursault, possibly.
* [[The Stoic]]: Meursault, of course. He feels emotions, but not for the same reasons as most people, and he doesn't really show it.
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* [[Uncatty Resemblance]]: Lampshaded with Salamano. He's acquired his dog's scabs and sores, and the dog has acquired his stooped, neck-straining look.
* [[Verbal Tic]]: Everything Masson says contains the phrase "and I'd even say."
* [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?]]: The shooting. Very long description. Justifiable, since it [[Incredibly Lame Pun|triggers]] the whole second half of the book.
 
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