Saturday, May 2, 2015

no exit from No Exit

Hey, so I'm just gonna list a few little things that struck me about No Exit.

Themes:
   Isolation - kind of a big one since Garcin, Inez, and Estelle are all in a room together physically but are disconnected mentally and idealistically.
   Confinement - kind of goes along with the last theme, the characters are in Hell, the ultimate prison, also they are mentally confined by each other
   Suffering - remember that the torture in No Exit is unique, each person tortures one another
   Existence - this is a big one, remember that there are no mirrors in this Hell, they are unable to believe their own existence and must rely on the other characters to make their consciousness credible (to themselves)

Quotes:

GARCIN: Yes.

ESTELLE: I ask no more. (412-16)
GARCIN: I'll give you what I can. It doesn't amount to much. I shan't love you; I know you too well. 
ESTELLE: Do you want me, anyhow?


GARCIN: Inez, they've laid their snare damned cunningly – like a cobweb. If you make any movement, if you raise your hand to fan yourself, Estelle and I feel a little tug. Alone, none of us save himself or herself; we're linked together inextricably. So you can take your choice. (351)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I think another important point about No Exit is that in it Hell mirrors life, and that their biggest torture was each other.