Sarte's "The Wall": Themes
The Wall by Sarte, manifest several complex existential themes such
as self-deception and meaninglessness, through the first-person perspective
of the main character's, Pablo Ibbieta, confrontation with death. Pablo
Ibbieta is portrayed as a common POW who is forced into a situation where
he not only must come to realize his own personal mortality, but must also
view and analyze the personal struggle with mortality of two other men,
Jean and Tom. All three men are informed by a prison guard that they are
going to be executed the next day, and the only thing for them to do is
ponder their lives and their inevitable deaths. By examining each
character's reaction, through the eyes of Pablo ...
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in front of me
and I thought, "It's a damned lie." It was worth nothing because it was
finished." In this passage Pablo realizes that his entire life has been a
continuous sequence of events and eventually the outcome must be the same
for him as well as all men, which is death. This passage also shows the
reader that Pablo, like most people, deceives himself about mortality by
not dealing wiht it conscientiously until it is too late. The majority of
people live as if their existence is limitless and their days on earth are
not numbered. Neither Pablo, or the other two men, entertained even for an
instant the possibility of some kind of afterlife. They all view death as
a change from being to non-being. This aspect helps explain the terrific
sense of dread felt by all three of the men, and brings about an important
question central to many existential mind regarding religion. Is religion
and the belief in afterlife something real or is it just a product of the
masses, used ...
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the look would
stay in her eyes, it wouldn't reach me. I was alone." The love that Pablo
has for Concha fades because he only loves her in so far as both of their
beings go, once either of their beings ceases, the love also dies with it.
Pablo has lived his life in deception because everything he thought to have
meaning, such as his love and political views, are totally overshadowed by
true recognition of his inevitabe mortality. It seems by taking Pablo's
perspective after he accepts death, that life truly is a tale told by a
fool, and the true fool is himself, because he has lived his whole life
under an illusion.
The theme of self deception is not only evident in Tom's and ...
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Sarte's "The Wall": Themes. (2007, January 16). Retrieved October 31, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Sartes-The-Wall-Themes/58779
"Sarte's "The Wall": Themes." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 16 Jan. 2007. Web. 31 Oct. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Sartes-The-Wall-Themes/58779>
"Sarte's "The Wall": Themes." Essayworld.com. January 16, 2007. Accessed October 31, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Sartes-The-Wall-Themes/58779.
"Sarte's "The Wall": Themes." Essayworld.com. January 16, 2007. Accessed October 31, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Sartes-The-Wall-Themes/58779.
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