Painterly empty wooden courtroom bench with a small gavel beneath a spotlight.

Original artwork, not a still

Meursault in The Stranger

Albert Camus

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.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker imagines an execution attended by a large, openly hostile crowd and wishes for that response. The desire reverses the more familiar hope for sympathy. Its unsettling force comes from seeking hatred at the very moment when comfort or reconciliation might be expected.

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