William Davis
English IV AP
Rebeske 2A
18 May 2011
The Cake is a Lie
2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre devised the existential theory that freedom is inherently transcendent to all confines; only “bad faith”, or false limitations, can define the bounds of freedom. One of his main arguments is that individuals tend to allow the past to control the future, putting false boundaries, thus, on themselves. In No Exit, Garcin, a man condemned to eternal suffering, is plagued with the legacy he left in his physical life: that he was a coward for avoiding the war. The play more or less surrounds this idea, that one’s freedom is restricted solely because of their guilty conscience. Through the use of past events, and the emotions associated with them, Sartre is able to provide a bitterly true representation of the implications of “bad faith”, thus bringing out the meaning of the work.
Garcin is a, to put it in layman’s terms, a complete asshole. He took advantage of an all-too-loving wife (making her make breakfast for him and his mistress), and ultimately avoids the call to war, which, ironically, is the bane of his existence. Garcin, while attempting to escape to Mexico, is caught by some of his office buddies whom put a shotgun slug in his chest. Garcin, despite his complete rational explanation for avoiding war, is left defenseless against the incriminating banter of his buddies, completely soiling his legacy. Essentially, he must now spend eternity knowing that everyone will remember him as nothing more than a coward, and his only salvation will be if he can convince Inez (one of the two other “souls” trapped in the Hell cell) that he was not a coward; however, Inez is firmly resolute in keeping Garcin in his place. This is, in a way, a parable of the evils associated with living a life of superficiality and self-enforced limitations of freedom. Sartre uses “bad faith” to describe the condition of a human being in which they disallow themselves from experiencing freedom due to false ideals. Garcin is trapped in Hell because he absolutely refuses to let go of his human dignity, which is, again ironically, scoffed at by the Valet who escorts Garcin to his cell. Because of “bad faith”, individuals, to put it simply, do not live the life given to them by consciousness, free of any implications. This, again, is a paradox, because it implies that as a human, one can never identify themselves as anything without thus willingly taking on the constraints thus imposed. In the play, Garcin pleads that he readily accepts any other torture than having to live in his self-imposed hell due to his past, insinuating that he is ready to accept freedom from human dignity. The opportunity is immediately given to him; however, Garcin declines it, instead deciding to find salvation by continuing to do what got him there in the first place: rejecting freedom from human dignity.
Sartre, with the use of “bad faith”, accurately describes the inevitably fruitless “hell” individuals put themselves through to seek purpose, the ultimate goal being, of course, happiness. The entire play is centered on this idea; the only implications holding one back from true freedom are self-imposed and innately ungrounded. Through Garcin’s ailing condition due to his incapacity to let go of the past, he is thus stuck in Hell with no exit, and therefore allows the meaning of the work to be constructed and presented.
