Are You Finished?

The works of the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre are still popular today because the author expresses so well a prevailing mood of our time. He is extremely pessimistic about the ultimate value and meaning of our lives. His most important work is a large philosophical book called “Being and Nothingness,” — a title which accurately describes the content. Better known, however, is his play entitled “No Exit.” It tells the story of a woman and a man who find themselves in a living room. There they are given the impression that they are in hell. But they appear to be quite comfortable until they learn that there is no exit from that room (sound familiar?). There, they will be together, forever. Knowing this, they proceed to make a hell out of the situation.

“That’s the way it is,” Sartre is saying in this play. We find ourselves together in this world, feeling as though we’re in an impossible, absurd situation — in a…