Camus has the ability to present thoughts and ideas that the rest of us are unable to word, intertwining them into a perfectly formed piece of writing that would ordinarily only be long enough to describe a morning routine! Upturning perceptions of justice and virtue until they are unrecognizable allows us to question how we really feel. In a disturbingly intrusive way Camus attacks and brings to light thoughts that people are sure to have but would rather keep suppressed. In this liberation, human nature is called upon to justify itself, all within a one sided conversation at night in Amsterdam.
This work holds society versus the individual at its core, the attack of one on the other is both compelling and frightening. As with The Outsider, another misfit is presented who can be mistrusted, and even hated whilst being recognizable as the ’hero’ of the story.
In Camu’s fascination with such ironies the idiocies of life are highlighted, in this strange light there is a great deal of comfort.