No Exit Questions

1.       Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day

-          Hell for me would a room that is pitch dark. Being alone in a dark room will make me go crazy because I would be alone with my thoughts and things would start to take shape in the darkness. The state of mind isn’t directly related to your environment. This is evident in “No Exit” where Garcin is in a nice room but is still in hell due to those around him. To be at peace in one’s hellish environment requires tolerance and acceptance. Being stuck with people I hate night and day will make me feel suffocated.

2.       Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

-          Too much of anything is basically hell. It becomes unpleasant to have too much because you eventually get sick and tired of it. For me I can’t eat hot dogs for the rest of my life even though I love hot dogs. I love hot dogs because I eat it only from time to time making the experience more pleasant.

3.       How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

-          Sartre at the beginning uses Garcin’s question to the Valet to give the reader a sense of the setting. Being stuck in a lighted room with no hopes of leaving would make me feel claustrophobic and bored out of my mind. It would force me to reflect on myself and my actions that would eventually lead to regrets. Garcin is in denial mostly throughout the play. In the end he wants confirmation that he is not a coward. To make my daily activities hell would require me to eat the same meal everyday and for everything to be planned.