Questions on "No Exit"

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:

-          I believe my hell would be ordinary and plain. Well, I would prefer hell to be bourgeois like Sartre’s room rather than torture like Dante’s Inferno. I think anywhere can be hell, an endless everlasting garden to a pitch black room. The only way to find peace is to sleep, or knock out. Other than that, I would probably day dream to make things better than it seems. If I was in Sartre’s space, I think I would be better off because it seems similar to an asylum than hell. Some people say being in an asylum is hell, but anything is better than being beaten or tortured.

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?

-          Hell is anywhere that is a sense of prison, isolation, and asylum. Sartre’s hell is a different version from most versions. It’s a simple drawing room. The characters in the story do not realize they are in hell, because the images we have of hell is the like Dante’s inferno. Torture devices and flames are what represent hell in our minds.

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 creates indirect characterizations in the dialogue for the audience to understand the emotions and personality through what the characters have to say. I can imagine to stay awake, I honestly like the light than the dark. There’s no hope, but at least I can still think about all my memories in the past. Garcin doesn’t really realize he is in hell until he confesses his sins. I will find something to do every day. Talking to people is a good time killer. I think Garcin, Estelle, and Inez is lucky to have each other, although they fight. Since, you are in hell, there’s a freedom of not doing anything forever. You may be bored on some days, but other days might be interesting in hell.