Thinking Outside the Box

1) Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day:

I can picture my own personal hell in two ways. One being in a dark, torture chamber with fire all around because that would simply scare me like crazy. However I can also picture a room that has no doors and inside with me are people that I simply cannot stand or have wronged me in the past. (I'm a grudge-holder so being around people that have been mean to me in a way that I can't forget would be unbearable.) Honestly in my way of thinking I probably won't be able to find peace in a horrible environment. I take in what's around me and if everything around is bad and dark then in a sense I would become that way too.

2) Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

I suppose hell can be perceived as this, but I wouldn't find my hell to be like that. Every year for the past four years I have attended dance classes ten hours per week and I love it. This being my passion could never be my hell. Now if I was stuck in school for the rest of my life this would be a different story...

3) How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

I could never imagine not being able to sleep and find peace within the darkness because sometimes I like just being alone. Being stuck is not any way I would want to live...or not live considering these characters are dead. My activities become hell simply if I decide within myself that I'm not going to enjoy doing it. This is a dumb way to go about life. One has to look forward and see what will come so as to get past the less exciting chores without dragging them out and making them boring.

4) Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem. Be sure to analyze their literary techniques, especially their use of allegory and extended metaphor.

They seem to tell us that we only know what we see, and that instead of this we must look beyond to find truth. (This reminds me of Lion King 1 1/2 when Rafiki tells Timon to look beyond what he see's in order to find his dream home and happiness.) They explain that we have to break out of our shells and really take a look at life in order to grow and gain knowledge.