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No Exit – Sartre.
What would the world be like if no other people existed? The world without other people.
By having other people in the world, that can lead to things like judgment, self hatred, and comparing yourself to other people. If no other people existed, in some ways you could say that could be a good thin, because ultimately you would never have to feel bad about yourself. You would never have to feel low self-esteem in comparison to other people. You would never have to make a negative comparison. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? You would never have to feel bad ever again.
On the other hand though, your life would loose a tremendous amount of meaning. You would loose a lot of the contexts in which you make meaning out of your life. You would loose social relationships, you would loose so much. It is a sort of pros and cons thing. But if no one else existed that would be absolutely absurd.
One theme of No Exit is identity. Identity is your concept of who you are. According to Sartre your concept of who you are is largely constructed based on social feedback, and the opinions of others.
Garcin is at the mercy of Inez’s judgment of who he is. Moreover, Inez says she will be a ‘mirror’ for Estelle.
At one point in the play the door of their room opens, and Garcin as the opportunity to leave. Garcin has the chance to remove himself from the judgment of others, and become independent. If he left he would no longer be defined by what Estelle or Inez think of him. Garcin does not take the opportunity and he stays. The heat wafting from outside the door scares Garcin. Who is he in the absence of the definition other people give him? Garcin is too afraid to find out. He decides to stay and convince Inez that he is not a coward. If Inez would say he was not a coward then he could accept that he is not. Garcin was free to leave if he wanted, but the fright of who he really is was more terrifying then staying in the room. Without Inez he would have to fully accept himself, which he can’t. Moreover, who are you without your relation to others?
If others create a context for meaning are we trapped? Are we at the mercy of what others think of us? And if others do not exist are we lost in an abyss without meaning?
Michael Pavan
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