Ethan Dotson’s Reviews > The Stranger > Status Update

Felt that the protagonist was sociopathic by the end of part one. Obviously him hanging out with abusers had been weird before that, but I guess I assumed it could have been the times - a sexist society. I had initially just assumed he was distant with his mom, and I maintained that feeling, and he certainly could have had sociopathic tendencies and still been affected after the service; he certainly was affected somehow, saying that he felt guilty and assumed that everyone feels guilty. It seems he had to give up on himself (his studies) for some reason in the past and had gotten used to there not being change to look forward to or dreams to chase beyond his (admittedly lovely despite the overwhelming control of his boss and his job in his life) day to day.

My assumption is that Marie was interested in him because he was attractive and because he was aloof and didn't need her. That aloofness, mysteriousness, may have come not from confidence but from sociopathy.

He has seemed not to be emotionally intelligent or to be processing things at all. But that at one point seemed as if it could have been a tactic to avoid grieving. His claim later that "everyone has wished their loved ones dead at some point" made things more explicit. It seems as if he's always been a little out of step with the rest of society's displays of emotional interconnection.

All of this is moot if it's not a crime to be a sociopath. Society wants to put him in a box, and does so. He's not mentally well, especially given the timing, and he gets pushed into things because he's young, doesn't know better, and it has helped him adapt to a society that is different from him.

I find it relevant that he defends himself, seems interested in being considered "like everybody else," being "understood," and does seem to genuinely believe that he IS like everyone else not for the reasons of legal survivability (because he clearly isn't aware his life is in jeopardy during the investigation). I don't know where Camus is going with this, very curious.