Themes of this play...

I have covered some of it, but let's recap the major themes of No Exit. Please have on mind that this is completely my opinion, it is my perspective and you may not find those themes in this play or you may find other themes - and it is absolutely fine. Actually I believe that this is the beauty of art...

The purpose of life: we see that those 3 characters had bad lives, full of sins, conflicts etc. After their death they are left in a room with other people like themselves forever. This makes me think about something. What should have they done differently not to end up in hell? Maybe you will say: do not commit sins in order to go to heaven instead of hell. Yeah, that makes sense... but... actually I love doing wrong things, they are things that shape my future. Every time I make something bad I say "I cannot regret I did it because it was a great experience and I learnt a lot from doing so, but I will not do it again". I believe that people who learn from doing things like that would not say that doing only "good" is the way. Those people learn from their mistakes from the past so that their decisions in the presence are better-based on practical knowledge. So... what is the solution for having a "good" life and not to end up in hell (btw. what is the definition of good and bad, isn't it subjective?)? ... now think...

Lives full of poo: we can see that those 3 characters had miserable lives full of stupid values. They die and go to hell and care about not having mirrors or windows there. Let me write here my note I made during the reading (sorry for the language) "You are dead and you care about mirrors and your look bitch?!". Those people are dead and are in hell... well, wouldn't that be the evidence of the existence of the god or something? Or, wouldn't that be the best time to realize that I was lame? It seems that mirrors are more important than the purpose of life... Moreover, isn't this play a message for us, to change something before we end up in that situation? ...now think...

The Theme: Now Think!

I believe that this is the most important theme in this play. As I said in previous entries everybody can see different things/meanings in art - depends on your perspective (I wïll not repeat those things, read previous entries) so I would say that the most important theme here is to force us to think about those things. If this was not lit.class I would just write: "Themes of this play: thinking". And I am sorry that I did not write any answers, but I do not know them ... yet. How about you? Think a little bit, believe me, it will not kill you...

cheers

chris

Recap...

I believe that some of those entries that we are supposed to do are because of the fact that some plays are very difficult or those stories are pretty complex and long ... but in my play, there is no need to have Task number 4 (already covered those issue)... so I will just recap some information.


"Story":
As we know from previous entries this play No Exit is a one-act play for 4 actors where everything happens in just 1 room. The play begins when Valet enters the room  (hell, hell is described as a series of "rooms and passages"). There are no windows or mirrors and just 1 door that is all the time locked. After a while Garcin is joined by Inez and after that by another woman Estelle. After they are all in this room (hell) Valet leaves them there, leaves and locks the door. Soon they all realize that they are all in hell, for this reason they expect to be tortured, but when no torturer appears they start to think that this is not how it works in hell. The real torture is the fact that they are left to "torture" each other by examining their sins, lusts or bad memories. This means it is hell where demons and devils are other people like you. Another small story or things that happen in this play is that in the beginning those 3 characters are seeing events that are happening on Earth, but eventually they are left in this hell with only their own thoughts and their torturers - other sinners. In the end of the play Garcin wants to be let out. When he says so the door opens. However, nobody left the room. Why? There are more aspects that influence this situation: fear of the unknown or Garcin's desire to hear that he is not a coward from Inez.


What do you expect to happen next? Nothing because that is the whole story...


How do the character interactions help move the play forward? See the blog entry no.2.

As long as I have nothing else to write here, let me talk about films that were filmed according to this plays:
- Huis clos (1954), directed by Jacqueline Audry
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047099/combined 7,3/10 (rating)
- No Exit (1962), directed by Tad Danielewski
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056282/combined 6,1/10
- No Exit (2006), directed by Etienne Kallos
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0819700/combined 5/10

Thinking and thinking... going beyond what is written!

Hi folks, today let's discuss 2 major issues concerning art in general. The first thing is the time in which some piece was written and set in and secondly if the play is still relevant in modern age.

Everybody knows that the situation around you affects you, your perceptions and basically everything that happens in your life. Therefore it is important to remember that many (maybe majority) of art (books, plays, films etc.) were very often influenced by the situations during which they were written so that they are reflections of that times or they are reactions to those situations. Most important factors that influenced everything are for example economical, political or religious changes. Some examples of literature like this (that was trying to describe some time period in some certain place) would be for example Of Mice and Man by John Steinbeck and many many others. I believe that those people who are going to read this blog understand my point here so let's move on...

Despite the fact, that literature (art in general too) was very often reflection or reaction to some situation in the past there are still exceptions that were meant to deliver different messages (uhuhuh I love this kind of art - thanks Mr.Healy for recomending me No Exit). Well so let's have a look on No Exit... This play was written in the end of the WW II and is not connected at all with war or that times situation in the world - so we can clearly see that this play is not reflecting past situations or reacting to them.

Regarding the time period in which the piece is set - it is irrelevant as well. In that majority of art where some book is reflection or reaction, as I mentioned before, we need to know background information about that period and situation in order to understand the message completely. But not in this case (hell yeah!).

This play is not set it any time period. It is the image of the afterlife and it examines the psychological and behavioural aspects of human characters. For all these reason I would say that this play is very universal - and for wide range of audience. You do not have to know anything about some historical periods in order to understand the genuine meaning of this play. All you need to do in order to understand truly is to read/watch carefully and take time to think about the situation that is displayed in this play. This play is not much of a action story, not much happens during the play. The play is more about dialogue and thinking beyond what is written - it is all about us (people) doing silly things, moaning all the time and living empty lives full of our own mistakes...and then moaning again after you die (hehe).

In conclusion I believe that this play is really meant for everybody, because all you have to do is to think. You do not need to have some amazing knowledge in order to understand this play. All you need to do, is to think... now it depends if you can do that, but that is a different story...

Now I hope that I encouraged you even more to read this play, because you do not have to study any background information in order to get the message of this play - I like this type of literature.

All you need to do to understand No Exit is to watch/read it and THINK...

cheers

chris

It is time for another blog entry... Hurray!

Today let´s discuss these topics
(topics are going to be separated so that if you are looking for some particular information it is going to be easier for you):

• Who are the main characters?  What are they like?

As we know from the previous entry in this play there are only 4 characters and the whole story is set in "Second Empire drawing-room". Let's imagine that the room of their afterlife looks something like this one:

Remember that there are no things to entertain you (windows, mirrors, books etc.).

Garcin: (Joseph Garcin) his is a coward and heartless person, he deserted the army during World War II and he was cheating on his wife a lot during his life - she died because of sadness -  (no surprise that he is in "hell"). Inez understands his flaws, therefore he does not like her in the beginning and he somehow needs Estelle because if she treats him as a man he will become more manly.

Estelle: (Estelle Rigault) is a woman from high-society - snobbish, she married some old man because of his money and of course was cheating on him with another young man. This young man was in love with her and they had a baby, however, Estelle drowned the child. For this reason her young lover committed suicide (no surprise that she is in "hell").

Inez: (Inez Serrano) the second woman in this play, she is a postal clerk and lesbian, her sin is that she was manipulating a wife against her husband, she manipulated her that much that the woman changed the perception about her husband completely and she killed him eventually. Interesting about this character is that she is the only honest character there that is aware of bad things they all have done. She is also aware of the fact that she is a cruel person as she call herself once "a damned bitch" (no surprise that she is in "hell").

Valet: is the second man in this play, his role is to enter the room with each character. We know very little about this character because his only big dialogue is in the beginning with Garcia. From the dialogue we know that his uncle is the head valet in that place. I think that this character is very interesting, because there are not many information about him, so that the reader is forced to think "who is that guy? what is he doing there?". It is not that crucial to interpret his role in this play so I will leave that to you so that you can read it and think on your own ;).

• How do they help define and create the events that happen within the play? Where does the majority of the tension lie? What, in general, is the play about?

As we understand from the description of the play, this play hasn't got complicated story with dozens of side plots. It is simply about 3 (without Valet) absolutely different people that have to stay together in one room. Therefore we can deduce that the play has psychological plot, it is more about thinking "why" rather than watching some lame story. Those 3 characters are developing a dialogue and we can observe their conversation. 

What about the tension in this play? Well, we have to realize that those 3 characters, I dare say (because it is my blog and I have never used any rude word in any assignments at school and I was saying this all the time when I was reading the play) they all had fucked up lives so they cannot be surprised that their afterlife is even worse. However, the hell in this play is the situation that a person that had a bad life ends up with people like himself. We can see that all of them are totally different and that they are not going to be able to cope with each other.  All 3 characters expect to be tortured, but instead of physical torture they are left there for ever. After a while they realize that this is their punishment: they are each other's torturers. Can you even imagine more tension?

When I was reading I realized that those people there had really bad lives so after their death they could not "live in" their memories, because they were too bad. Moreover they do not want to share that much those bad stories with other strangers so that the situation cannot be possibly worse, when they are there forever. When I was reading I understood Dalai Lama's sentence "Spend some time alone every day" (great-inspirational-quotes) because as Sartre said "Hell is other people" (brainyquote)... I love plays like this one, it makes you think and every individual is going to interpret it in his own way so that everybody can learn something from this play. I will hold back my other theories and interpretations until I finish the whole play... 

...so when you see a T-shirt like this, don't think that the person is being rude to all people around....

For the next time everybody please try to imagine this situation on your own, so that we can understand the plot more. Choose people you hate or simply dislike when you are with them more than certain amount of time... then imagine you are with them FOREVER - enjoy.

cheers

chris

--> "Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BookRags Media Network , n. d. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jeanpaul_sartre.html>
--> "Dalai Lama Quotes." Great-Inspirational-Quotes. BookRags Media Network , n. d. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. <http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/dalai-lama-quotes.htmll>

Who are the main characters?  What are they like? 
... 
Find out in my next blog entry - COMING SOON!

Intro...

If we want to understand the genuine meaning of some artistic work (it can be any poem, movie, play or book) it is indispensable to know something about the author (his believes, life, religion, background etc.), about the cultural movement that influenced that certain work and other things around some particular work in order to understand it completely. Therefore let me start with those things before we start reading so that we are going to be prepared!

# Author himself... J.P.Sartre (1905-1980):

 "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." (BrainyQuote)

He was French existentialist philosopher, columnist and writer that refused the Nobel Prize in 1964 and he explained that action by saying that it would be the end of his freedom. According to Sartre all human beings are given the ability of freedom and without any actions our existence is absurd. That means that to be free means to act - if our life should have some essence then we should act (Vladimír Prokop).

# Existentialist philosopher... but what is existentialism?
We were doing this cultural movement not so long time ago in Czech literature so I I will try to explain the essence of this movement. This philosophy deals with existence of individual in this crazy world, existentialists see all humans being abandoned by God so individuals like this are unable to communicate with others and live happily in world like this one. In existentialistic books and plays main characters are given freedom, but they are not aware of this freedom that is why there is a lot of despair and fear in those works.

TIP: if you are bored reading the theory check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnKuS-d4waU (pretty girl in bikini explains existentialism) =) ...

I think we have some strong fundamental information about the author now. Therefore lets find out some general information about the play No Exit so that we can start reading!

# This play was written in the year 1944. The original French name of this play is Huis Clos which literally means "in camera". The author named this play like this because the whole play is some kind of an examination of a  private conversation behind closed door. This existentialistic play is showing us the afterlife in which three dead characters are punished by being locked in a room together for ever. If we imagine situation like this I think it is very easy to understand Sartre's famous quotation "Hell is other people" (BrainyQuote). Moreover as I go through some pages of this book there are just 4 characters and the play is going to be set in one single room. Therefore I believe that we are not going to see too much action or humour in this play. I think (and I hope too) that this play is going to make us think deeply about some very interesting things rather than entertain us...neat!

I think it is enough for the introduction and I think that after this intro everybody cannot wait to start reading the book.... So next time we start folks!

cheers!

chris

--> "Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BookRags Media Network , n. d. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jeanpaul_sartre.html>
--> Prokop, Vladimír. Přehled světové literatury 20. století. 2. upravené vydání. Karlovy Vary: O.K - Soft, 2008. 36. Print.

Hi folks!
Let me introduce to you this brand new blog (my first one ever - and I believe my last one too) about the play No Exit by French playwriter and philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte. How can this blog be useful to you? Well I will step by step analyse the author, book, some cool ideas, main characters and all other bunch of stuff that might be really useful to you in case you want to know something about this book or author.

I hope that you will enjoy this tiny blog of mine and I am looking forward to your own opinions and comments.

"Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is." J.P.Sartre (brainyquote)

Looks like we are going to have fun with this guy:) ...

No Exit - J.P.Sartre (e-book): http://www.scribd.com/doc/2925864/No-Exit-by-Jean-Paul-Sartre

WELCOME & ENJOY !!!

chris

"Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BookRags Media Network , n. d. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jeanpaul_sartre.html>