Reader Response Review of Camus's The Stranger (The Stranger)In The Stranger (The Stranger), Albert Camus anticipates an active reader who will respond to its text. He wants the reader to form a changing and dynamic opinion of Meursault. The reader can create a conscience for Meursault from the facts reported by Meursault. By using vague and ambiguous language, Camus encourages the reader to explore all possibilities of meaning. Camus also intends to shock the reader by pushing him to reread passages. By discussing the narrative structure, opening lines, the role of pity, resentment towards Meursault's judges, and the relationship between murder and innocence, I will prove that Camus' aim is to lead the reader into introspection about their own relationship with society. narrative structure, Camus invites the reader to create and become the conscience of Meursault. David Anderson, a professor at Utah State University, notes that "Meursault takes the position of simply reporting these impressions, without attempting to create a coherent story about them." Indeed, in the first part, what Meursault reports are exclusively facts. Micheline Tisson-Braun comments that Meursault “records the facts, but not their meaning; ...is purely instantaneous; it lacks the principle of unity and continuity which characterizes man” (49). Through generalization, the reader connects the details of Meursault's life. The reader thus creates their own meaning in Meursault's actions. Meursault, without memory or imagination, refuses to spend time connecting events and contemplating essences. The reader does this for Meursault. Thus, the reader creates for Meursault a consciousness of his own. This represents exactly Meursau...... middle of paper ......der to experience the trial in Meursault's place. Perhaps Camus wrote the entire first part to place the reader in a situation where he must reevaluate his relationship with society. Whatever the reader's emotional reaction, Camus puts him in a position to experience the ordeal, the absurd. In anticipation of a responsive reader, Camus communicates the essence of the absurd. Works Cited Camus, Albert. The stranger. France: Éditions Gallimond, 1942. Camus, Albert. The Stranger, trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Random House, Inc., 1988. Girard, René. “Camus’ The Stranger Tried Again.” “to double business” Essays on literature, mimesis and anthropology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978. Tisson-Braun, Micheline. “The silence and the desert: the flickering vision. » Critical essays on Albert Camus, ed. Bettina L. Knapp. Boston: GK Hall & Co., 1988.