Literary Analysis #5

1. For my last literary analysis I chose No Exit. The piece is about a group of people who are sent down to hell for eternity and forced to live in a room together due to there bad decisions while they were alive. Against popular demand the three characters were no tortured or hurt but forced to endure each others company. The three characters Inez, Estelle, and Garcin for a majority of the play fail to understand the severity of their actions and deny why they are really there until finally they explain their mistakes to one another.
2.The message behind the story is to be careful what you do while your alive because in the end you can never take it back.
3.The authors tone in the story is both cynical and didactic. Through out different scenes in the play it is apparently that many of the characters opinions and speeches are influenced by Sartre, in particular with Inez's numerous lessons and snarky remarks.
"There...you know the way the catch larks - with a mirror? I'm your lark-mirror,my dear, and you can't escape me...There isn't any pimple, not a trace of one. So what about it? Suppose the mirror started telling lies? Or suppose I covered my eyes - as he is doing - and refused to look at you, all that loveliness of yours would be wasted on the desert air. No, don't be afraid, I can't help looking at you. I shan't turn my eyes away. And I'll be nice to you, ever so nice. Only you must be nice to me too.”
"Prove it. Prove it was no dream. It’s what one does, and nothing else, that shows the stuff one's made of."
"One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else.”
4. There are a number of literary devices that Sartre takes advantage of in order to establish a central meaning and overall tone within the writing some are, allegory, simile, symbolism, imagery, diction, syntax, theme, tone, setting, characterization.
"I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
“Hell is—other people!”
“So this is hell. I'd never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the "burning marl." Old wives' tales!There's no need for red-hot pokers. HELL IS--OTHER PEOPLE!”
“As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.”
"You are -- your life, and nothing else.”
“So it comes to this; one doesn’t need rest. Why bother about sleep if one isn’t sleepy? That stands to reason, doesn’t it? Wait a minute, there’s a snag somewhere; something disagreeable. Why, now, should it be disagreeable? …Ah, I see; it’s life without a break.”
“Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough.”
"I feel so queer. Don't you ever get taken that way? When I can't see myself I begin to wonder if I really and truly exist. I pat myself just to make sure, but it doesn't help much.”
“Remember you're not alone; you've no right to inflict the sight of your fear on me.”
“Your scare me rather. My reflection in the glass never did that; of course, I knew it so well. Like something I had tamed...I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
“There were days when you peered into yourself, into the secret places of your heart, and what you saw there made you faint with horror. And then, next day, you didn't know what to make of it,you couldn't interpret the horror you had glimpsed the day before. Yes, you know what evil costs.”
“Oh, what a nuisance you are! I'm giving you my mouth, my arms, my whole body - and everything could be so simple...My trust! I haven't any to give, I'm afraid, and you're making me terribly embarrassed. You must have something pretty ghastly on your conscience to make such a fuss about my trusting you.”

Characterization
1. A good example of indirect characterization in No Exit is the way the room is depicted with out much detail but that we come upon viewing it as ugly and cruel due to the characters reactions and feelings towards it. Another example would be the way Sartre uses the three characters to help characterize each other through thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Sartre also uses direct characterization in some cases for instance when the characters have their confessions or when the characters express their emotions through body language.
2. The authors diction definitely changes among characters. Inez speaks with a very critical and cruel context whereas Estelle speaks with a soft innocence in attempts to appear good hearted and finally Garcin's tone is very unsure and questionably.
3. The characters in the play appear to be flat and static characters, they never really change who they are throughout the play in fact even after they confess their sins they don't seem even the slightest remorseful.
4. After reading the play I don't feel as if I've met actual people and I think this is because of the length and large amounts of indirect characterization with in the plot. However after performing the play the analyzing the characters and their choices I believe now it does feel as if I've met these characters.