No Exit
So I thought it'd be fun to a Lit Analysis on this story, since I enjoyed it quite a bit. :)
General
1. This play started with three people being brought to a single room by a valet. They are surprised that there are no torture devices, it was just the three of them stuck in a room together. They come to be irritated more and more by each other, and soon can't stand each other. They bicker and argue and fight even after they reveal why they were condemned, and even then they couldn't be agreeable. Garcin finally realizes that "hell is other people."
2. The theme of this novel was probably best summarized by the sentence "Hell is other people." True hell can sometimes be summarized as something as simple as that. It was pure torture for Garcin, Inez, and Estelle to be in the same room as each other; that alone was making them suffer
3. Play's are told mainly through the dialogue of the characters. The three characters in the play were sometimes angry, sometimes panicky, and sometimes very solemn.
4. Sarte uses indirect characterization, allegory, imagery, symbolism, and many others. Allegory is particulary important, since the room really wasn't just a room, but a symbol for hell, and how incredibly simple torture and hell can truly be for people.
Characterization
1. Indirect Characterization - "INEZ: Suppose I try to be your glass? Come and pay me a visit, dear. Here's a place for you on my sofa." pg. 18; "ESTELLE: Pneumonia. It's over now, they're leaving the cemetery. Good-by. Good-by.Quite a crowd they are. My husband's stayed at home. Prostrated with grief, poor man.How about you?" pg. 9 The author uses indirect characterization in the dialogue, it not only shows who the characters are, but also what the other two characters think of him/her.
2. The author's diction and syntax don't change majorly with each character. Garcin, Inez, and Estelle sound just a bit different when speaking. Although, I would have to say Inez stands out a bit more than the other two. Garcin and Estelle are more in common, looking with fondness on their old loved ones and sharing a common crime. Inez on the other hand looks at them with a bit of disdain, saying they should just forget about their old lives. I would say she is just a bit more cold and accepting of hell than they are.
3. All three of them are static characters, but also round characters. Throughout the play, they remain the same condemned souls stuck in the same room together. Nothing about them changes, only their feelings of hatred toward each other growing stronger and stronger. But they are also characters that reveal personal and deep things about themselves. We learn about how each of them were condemned to enter hell, and we see their feelings clearly.
4. At the end, I felt like I had just read a story, and didn't really meet the characters, Honestly, I'm kind of glad I don't meet people like Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. Well, I'm sure I have, but I don't think I have spent a lot of time with them. To me, reading this story was kind of like looking at this room from above, observing each reaction from each character while eating some popcorn. It was kind of like I was God, or maybe even the Devil, and just delighting in these people suffering so much. :) Hehe.
