A couple interesting things I noticed while reading Adolphe...
In the introduction of this book, the author notes a few qualities that he says are typical of French Modernity writing. Among these are 'clear self knowledge,' and an ending of death because 'the stark facts of human nature cannot be logically worked out.'
These qualities were also main themes in Goeth's 'The Sorrows of Young Werther." 'Adolphe' began the same as 'Werther,' with a lover who was hopelessly infatuated with a woman, the object of his desire. Both narrators were incredibly self-aware. An example of the 'clear self knowledge' in Adolphe is page 50, where he says, "My long drawn out battle against my own character, the irritation I felt at not having been able to overcome it, and my doubts about my chances of success all combined to tinge my letter with an emotional colour scarcely distinguishable from love."
Knowing that Adolphe would end with death (the intro was the spoiler), I expected the Adolphe to parallel Werther and take his own life in the end. As the story progressed, I was very suprised to see the way his mindset shifted. The story was extremely effective because the narrator was very clear about his own feelings throughout the entire work. The ending sentiment on page 121, "I was free, truly, for I was no longer loved," was not at all what I expected, but it did maintain my interest because of the extreme shift.

Another thing I found interesting in Adolphe was the frequent use of the word 'pity' as the force driving the narrator's actions. This Rousseau 'buzz word' made me view Adolphe as if he was in an intermediary stage between the state of nature and civilized man. Viewing him in this way helped me to contextualize his character, and strangely made me sympathize with him as a pawn of forces that were beyond his control.