The End

"For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate" (123). This line left such a flexible interpretation for the author to take advantage of.

Personally, it infuriated me. I pitied Meursault for this last thought. I believe he meant the generated emotional response from the crowd at his execution would justify his life having meaning. A rousing cheer of hateful cries from the spectators would have confirmed for Meursault that society ponders on the borderline of his same philological attitude. Although this goes against Camus' belief that everything is equal because nothing has meaning, I believe Meursault thought himself superior to everyone when facing the crisis of execution. I wonder if he thought himself a hero, because the expectation of anyone else in his position would have been to freak out, but Meursault faced the execution with a sort of humor. He wished that people would greet him with cries of hate. That is because he would have gained satisfaction from them since those cries of hate would have confirmed for him he went about life correctly. By giving nothing meaning, he lived a "successful" life, which in the end makes him superior. Everyone else who lived life with meaning, and those who would attend his execution to cry cheers of hate, are distracted by the emotional, unworthy events of life.

Meursault's wish for alienation in the face of death is something I found quite remarkable, and frankly is so bizarre to me just like the rest of the Stranger, but his wish truly clinches the ending to demonstrate one last time how detached he is from the norms of society.