The Stranger demanded of Camus the creation of a style at once literary and profoundly popular, an artistic sleight of hand that would make the complexities of a man's life appear simple. Despite appearances, though, neither Camus nor Meursault ever tried to make things simple for themselves. Indeed, in the mind of a moralist, simplification is tantamount to immorality, and Meursault and Camus are each moralists in their own way.
What little Meursault says or feels sor do or does resonates with all he does not say, all he does not feel, all he does not do. The "simplicity" of the text is merely apparent and every- where paradoxical.