1. Your title (come up with this last, after you’ve written your piece)
2. Your introduction of your issue/theme and a proper introduction of the play, No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, and your thesis statement or an initial statement to begin your discussion of how the play addresses your chosen theme/issue.
3. Two or three body paragraphs where you use some combination of quotes, paraphrase, and summary to analyze the way you see the play addressing your chosen theme and why it’s significant. Make sure you cite paraphrases and quotes with parenthetical citations.
4. A conclusion where you tie all of your points together and drive home the implications of your argument about how the play treats/addresses your chosen theme and why it’s significant.
5. Your in-depth response to the above four elements in at least one of your classmates’ posts.
NO EXIT
AND
THREE OTHER PLAYS
BY
JEAN PAUL SARTRE
NO EXIT (Huis Clos)
THE FLIES (Les Mouches) translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert DIRTY HANDS (Les Mains sales)
THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE (La Putain respectueuse) translated from the French by Lionel Abel
NO EXIT (Huis Clos) A PLAY IN ONE ACT
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
VALET
GARCIN
ESTELLE
INEZ
Huis Clos (No Exit) was presented for the first time at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier, Paris, in May 1944.
SCENE
A drawing-room in Second Empire style. A massive bronze ornament stands on the mantelpiece.
GARCIN [enters, accompanied by the ROOM-VALET, and glances around him]: Hm! So here we are? Comment by Heather Waddle: In this first part of the play I start to get a feeling that the room isn’t as it seems. Also, the main character Gracin seems to really make point to examine and judge the room within minutes of seeing it. Gracin even mentions that “he didn’t expect this,” which leads me to believe that he had some knowledge of this place and had his own idea of what it was going to be like. I believe this is where the play starts to show a theme of “you cant judge a book by its cover cause you never know what you are going to get.” Comment by Cristina Dahl: Do you think this is the most important point of the play for you? Might there also be a theme here about the characters’ expectations, and how those expectations are based on the ways they see themselves and others and how that then informs their behavior? I’m just wondering if you’d want to pursue a more substantial point made by the play–one that isn’t already a cliche or common saying–since most people already accept that as a truism. Comment by Heather Waddle: Hello Professor, Good point! I do feel like it is cliche however I also feel that its important because of the different perspectives it shows. For example, the perspective of the room form Gracin, then the analyizing of other characters in the room and then realization of the truth of oneself (judgement of self vs reality). Also I want to note the progression of the theme and how it starts with the basic judging of enviroment, then leading to others, then finally the most important the self. Does this make sense?
VALET: Yes, Mr. Garcin.
GARCIN: And this is what it looks like?
VALET. Yes.
GARCIN: Second Empire furniture, I observe. . . Well, well, I dare say one gets used to it in time. Comment by Haruka Hattori: When the valet explains Garcin what his existence will be like in hell, he hides his true form. He tries to get used to live in his room without knowing it has been designed to torment him. Moreover, he is surprised and does not expected hell to be furnished with the lavish style of a Second Empire drawing-room. I assume his reaction shows most human have the wrong deluded notion of what it is like in the afterlife. In this passage, I learned it is important for me to be honest to live happy life with people I love because some bad things would happen to me after if I lie and do not admit what I do. Comment by Cristina Dahl: Do you think the valet is being dishonest about anything? I think the valet’s responses to Garcin’s expectations are really telling–but they reveal more about Garcin than they do about the valet.
VALET. Some do. Some don’t.
GARCIN Are all the other rooms like this one?
VALET. How could they be? We cater for all sorts: Chinamen and Indians, for instance. What use would they have for a Second Empire chair?
GARCIN: And what use do you suppose I have for one? Do you know who I was?. . . Oh, well, it’s no great matter. And, to tell the truth, I had quite a habit of living among furniture that I didn’t relish, and in false positions. I’d even come to like it. A false position in a LOUIS-Philippe dining-roomyou know the style?well, that had its points, you know. Bogus in bogus, so to speak. Comment by Maria Ruvalcaba: Garcin is being introduce to his room where is going to spend the rest of his life. Its pretty much an empty room which is his Hell. They go over the things that are in the room and he asks for his toothbrush because i believe that when you are alive you always want to take care of your body so thats why he wants a tooth brush and in hell you dont need that because you are died. He doesnt relize that he is going to be in that empty room for the rest of his life. He is not used to the loneliness. Comment by Cristina Dahl: Its actually furnished with really gaudy furniture. Thats the second empire style. You can Google it to see what i looks like, and why would that be an element of his or the others hell? Comment by Maria Ruvalcaba: That would be an element to his or others hell because it is not comfortable at all and that is where they had to sit of lay. It is like a piece of wood with nothing else Comment by Cristina Dahl: Yeah, the whole “some do [get used to it] and some don’t” line is very telling and supports your analysis–the furniture there does seem to be part of the more subtle, nagging, annoyances, like the heat, that Sartre seems to be suggesting is really the worse kind of torture, but then why is that? What’s it tell us about human psychology, maybe?
VALET: And you’ll find that living in a Second Empire drawing-room has its points.
GARCIN: Really? . . . Yes, yes, I dare say. . . . [He takes another look around.] Still, I certainly didn’t expectthis! You know what they tell us down there?
VALET: What about?
GARCIN: About [makes a sweeping gesture] thiserresidence.
VALET: Really, sir, how could you believe such cock-and-bull stories? Told by people who’d never set foot here. For, of course, if they had
GARCIN. Quite so. [Both laugh. Abruptly the laugh dies from GAR-CIN’S face.] But, I say, where are the instruments of torture?
VALET: The what?
GARCIN: The racks and red-hot pincers and all the other paraphernalia? VALET Ah, you must have your little joke, sir!
GARCIN, My little joke? Oh, I see. No, I wasn’t joking. [A short silence. He strolls round the room.] No mirrors, I notice. No windows. Only to be expected. And nothing breakable. [Bursts out angrily.] But, damn it all, they might have left me my toothbrush!
VALET. That’s good! So you haven’t yet got over yourwhat-do-you-call-it?–sense of human dignity? Excuse me smiling.
GARCIN [thumping ragefully
