" No Exit "

Jean Paul Sartre

Thinking Outside the Box

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?

- In my mind hell is full of flames and mountain high volcanoes filled with lava waiting to erupt on all the people who are stuck in hell. It does not appear torturous in having the style of instruments that are twisting and disturbing that will cause the people so much pain. I believe yes the mind can be a hell in a beautiful place. People in fact live lives that way everyday. A person can be living here on earth surrounded be their loved ones and by the beauty of life but inside they are sickly twisted and hold onto evil thoughts about life, friends, family members, ever day people, just anything ocurring in their life. A person can be in the middle of living a dark muggish life while the rest of the world is living life a little more happily compared to the other person. Peace can be found in a hellish environment, it just takes accepting of your wrong doings and be able to learn from it so you can move on with life and be able to grow as a person.



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?

- Having life throw at you twist here and there prepares to grow as a person in order to enhance your knowledge of living. By adding change in someones life then we will have to learn to adjust to what has been thrown at us. This way we do not become accustomed with the familiar. We have to learn how to live with a healthy balance of everything that is around us. To much anything can always be harmful whether it be spiritually, mentally, physically, or emotionally. Being able to live a happy balanced life style is what we should strive for.


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?

- The characters strongly express their emotions about the surroundings. Garcin is curious to where the paraphernalia is located. In the eyes of the characters they appear to be over thinking things. Basically letting their minds play tricks on them and are slowly but surely becoming crazy in such a small confined room with other humans. I would have to take way all dance / music related things because with out then I would in fact go crazy rather then staying sane with myself.


4 Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.
- In my opinion it is up to the individual to determine how they take in and let information be processed. It is the individual who controls themselves. If they allow others to influence in a good or bad way well that is up to the individual. We can choose to learn from others or let others to make decisions for us.