No Exit

No Exit

• Genre: Fiction; existential drama; philosophical drama
• Originally Published: 1944
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 11-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: One act; approximate page length varies depending on edition, approx. 60 pages; approx. 90-minute runtime
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The play introduces three characters: Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, who find themselves in a mysterious room in hell. The central conflict emerges from the psychological and emotional torture the characters inflict on each other, as they confront their sins and the reasons for their damnation. The room itself and their interactions serve as the existential “hell” they must endure.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Contains themes of death and the afterlife; psychological torment; discussions of adultery, cowardice, and murder; existential and moral questioning

Jean-Paul Sartre, Author

• Bio: Born 1905; died 1980; French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic; studied at the École Normale Supérieure; was a prisoner of war during WWII; declined the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964; known for his contributions to existentialism and phenomenology.
• Other Works: Nausea (1938); Being and Nothingness (1943); The Roads to Freedom (series, 1945-1949); The Flies (1943); The Age of Reason (1945); Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Subjectivity Versus Objectivity of The Self
• Creating Meaning in Absurdity
• The Possibility of Redemption