Part Two of The Stranger shifts from the beach to the courtroom, and many teachers find the essays here the most interesting. The trial is less about the killing than about the kind of man Meursault appears to be. Students who notice this can write sharp arguments about society and judgment.

The prosecutor spends surprising time on Meursault's behavior at his mother's funeral. He points to the coffee he drank, the cigarette he smoked, and his lack of visible grief. The court treats these details as evidence of a cold character.

That focus raises a question students love: is Meursault on trial for what he did or for who he is? Essays that take a position on this can be excellent. Those that only describe the trial tend to stay flat.

The grading challenge is separating strong interpretation from summary of courtroom events. A student who recounts the testimony has shown reading, but not analysis. The rubric should make the difference clear.

Look for Rhetorical Analysis

The trial is full of persuasion. The prosecutor builds a story, the defense struggles to respond, and the crowd reacts. Strong essays examine how language is used to shape the jury's view.

• Identifies how the prosecution connects funeral behavior to guilt
• Analyzes the language of speeches and testimony, not only their content
• Considers the role of the crowd, the jury, and the press
• Examines Meursault's own reactions to being spoken about in the third person
• Connects the trial to the novel's larger ideas about meaning and judgment

Watch for Modern Assumptions

Students sometimes judge the trial by contemporary legal standards or the norms of their own time. That can be useful for comparison, but it needs to be acknowledged. An essay that says the trial would never happen today should also explain what that means for the book.

Encourage students to think about the setting. The novel takes place in French Algeria, with its own social hierarchies and expectations. Context does not excuse a weak argument, but it can strengthen a strong one.

Give Feedback on Structure and Emphasis

Many essays on the trial are packed with plot. Comments should push students to choose two or three key moments and go deeper. Depth beats coverage every time.

Ask students to explain why they chose each moment, and how it advances the argument. A note like "Why this testimony and not the others?" leads them to be more selective. That selectivity is a sign of growing skill.

Keep Grading Consistent Across Interpretations

The trial invites strongly held views, and graders can be swayed by them. A clear rubric, applied in the same way to every essay, protects against that. Rubric-based tools such as GraideMind can help maintain that consistency across a full class.

Whatever approach you use, remind yourself to grade the reasoning, not the conclusion. Students notice when a grader has a favorite reading. Fairness builds the trust that makes revision possible.