The Outsider

When we first meet Bill Samuels, Ralph describes him as youthful—a “child prodigy.” The cowlick at the back of his head makes people think of Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. That childish feature symbolizes his immaturity. His repeated smoothing of the cowlick suggests self-consciousness underlying his superficial confidence. That insecurity leads him to compensate by acting precipitously in Terry’s arrest and sticking doggedly to his guns for fear of losing face.

In the end, Samuels learns his limitations. Moving forward he will take a more mature and less reckless attitude. When Ralph meets with him after Terry’s exoneration, Samuels has gotten his hair cut, and the cowlick is gone, signifying that he has grown up.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson” is a story about a man (Wilson) haunted by his doppelgänger, who gradually takes over Wilson’s life. In desperation, Wilson finally attacks the doppelgänger, only to find that he has fatally wounded himself. The story has no conclusive ending in that the reader never learns whether the double was real, supernatural, or a delusion (or some combination).

In The Outsider, the characters’ interpretations of this story evolve based on the information they have about Terry and his apparent doppelgänger.