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Secular Elation · 07-19-2003, 10:07 PM

I have just finished reading The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Wow. What a bleak, terrifying short story, and a good meditation on death. I'd have to say that it is my new favorite short story. No other piece of writing has left me with reverberating thoughts in my head like this one.

It feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Three characters are sentenced to execution, and they sit in their cell overnight, awaiting their fate. During this time, they ponder and feel numb about their unfortunate situation--facing imminent death.

Sartre addresses many aspects of death that have disturbed me for the longest time.

Take this exerpt: The narrator, Pablo, has the following epiphany.

Quote:

At that moment I felt that I had my whole life in front of me and I thought, "It's a damned lie." It was worth nothing because it was finished. I wondered how I'd been able to walk, to laugh with the girls: I wouldn't have moved so much as my little finger if I had only imagined I would die like this. My life was in front of me, shut, closed, like a bag and yet everything inside of it was unfinished. For an instant I tried to judge it. I wanted to tell myself, this is a beautiful life. But I couldn't pass judgment on it; it was only a sketch; I had spent my time counterfeiting eternity, I had understood nothing. I missed nothing: there were so many things I could have missed, the taste of manzanilla or the baths I took in summer in a little creek near Cadiz; but death had disenchanted everything.

The same thing has troubled me endlessly. At times, everything in life feels worthless--because, as with Pablo, death has disenchanted everything. Sure, they are many things good about life--but death seems to render it all irrelevant. Because once death comes, my life--regardless of how good or bad it was--will be made irrelevent for all eternity.

Here is another: One of the doomed, Tom, tried to visualize his dead self.

Quote:

It's like a nightmare," Tom was saying. "You want to think something, you always have the impression that it's all right, that you're going to understand and then it slips, it escapes you and fades away. I tell myself there will be nothing afterwards. But I don't understand what it means. Sometimes I almost can.... and then it fades away and I start thinking about the pains again, bullets, explosions. I'm a materialist, I swear it to you; I'm not going crazy. But something's the matter. I see my corpse; that's not hard but I'm the one who sees it, with my eyes. I've got to think... think that I won't see anything anymore and the world will go on for the others. We aren't made to think that, Pablo. Believe me: I've already stayed up a whole night waiting for something. But this isn't the same: this will creep up behind us, Pablo, and we won't be able to prepare for it."

Tom imagines his dead self--he sees his dead, lifeless body. But it is a third-person view. It is difficult to imagine actually being that. From a first-person view. It's difficult to imagine what it is like actually being dead. I have the exact same troubles.

It is paragraphs like this, found throughout the story, that causes the reader to think about these issues on their own. The short story addresses things that every individual in the world must ultimately cope with.

And I love how Pablo tries to belittle his own imminent death by considering how the people holding him captive will also die, too:

Quote:

These men dolled up with their riding crops and boots were still going to die. A little later than I, but not too much.

As a bonus, this short story even has a sort of twist ending.

If you haven't read Sartre's story yet, click on the link now.

The Stranger · 07-20-2003, 11:02 AM

I'll post later. But this post is to remind me to post later.

exnihilo · 07-20-2003, 04:17 PM

Secular Elation,

Yes, Sartre's short stories and dramatic works are excellent, far superior to his novels except for Nausea.
If you haven't read Camus' the Fall you should definately do so. It deals with many of the same themes, such as death, judement and penitence and is also a masterpiece of dramatic monologue.
As I recall, the stories Intimacy and the Childhood of a Leader are also excellent stories accompanying the Wall.
Camus' essay reflections on the Guillotine in Resistence, Rebellion and Death as well as De Sade's Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man are also excellent, as is the Stranger of course.
Thanks, I am off to read that one again...

ebolamonger · 07-20-2003, 05:14 PM

yes, The Wall is excellent. i read it some time ago. i just read The Plague by Camus and i'm still digesting it. *brain gurgles*

07-20-2003, 04:17 PM	#3
exnihilo Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: in the Desert (not really) Tucson Posts: 335	great reminder Secular Elation, Yes, Sartre's short stories and dramatic works are excellent, far superior to his novels except for Nausea. If you haven't read Camus' the Fall you should definately do so. It deals with many of the same themes, such as death, judement and penitence and is also a masterpiece of dramatic monologue. As I recall, the stories Intimacy and the Childhood of a Leader are also excellent stories accompanying the Wall. Camus' essay reflections on the Guillotine in Resistence, Rebellion and Death as well as De Sade's Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man are also excellent, as is the Stranger of course. Thanks, I am off to read that one again...

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07-20-2003, 11:02 AM	#2
The Stranger Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: St. Louis Posts: 141	I'll post later. But this post is to remind me to post later.

07-20-2003, 05:14 PM	#4
ebolamonger Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA Posts: 685	yes, The Wall is excellent. i read it some time ago. i just read The Plague by Camus and i'm still digesting it. brain gurgles

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