My take on the 6th bullet in Camus - The Stranger

By Orchid89

Hey everyone, I’ve been thinking about something after rereading Camus’ *The Stranger / The Outsider* (it’s like 100 pages, so if you haven’t done it yet, you really don’t have much to lose). I’d love to hear other takes on it. This whole idea came from a clip from *The Gambler* with Mark Wahlberg (link here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG4sdzB3KcU So, my take on the “last bullet” thing: I don’t buy that the 6th bullet is meant for himself. I think it’s more deliberate irony. The Wahlberg character (and Camus’ guy) seems like he’s looking for something real, and it feels like the movie character just kind of projects his own suicidal stuff onto the book character. Also, I don’t think he “holds back” that final shot because saving it changes anything. I think it’s more about what it would mean if he emptied the revolver completely. If he kept shooting until it clicked empty, that reads less like a messy moment and more like a crime of passion—like it carries a huge statement. In the book, the first shot is enough to kill the guy, so the extra shots feel like they come from the pressure he’s dealing with (not really hate or some clear emotion toward the man—at least that’s how it reads to me). And that matters because of the whole trial/death sentence setup: the way the crime looks, his “immoral” behavior, is a big part of why he gets sentenced. If it was just passion or a clean kind of execution, it would probably feel different, and the impact of the decision would weaken. Anyway, that’s where my head is at—what do you think about the 6th bullet?