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Sartre The Wall

Decent Essays

Jean Paul Sartre's “The Wall” takes place during the Spanish Civil War, and documents the capture, imprisonment, and execution of three revolutionaries through the eyes and voice of one of them, who identifies himself as Pablo Ibbieta. As Pablo starts narrating the time spent in the prison cell he discloses that the two prisoners and him, are sentenced to death by a firing squad the next morning. Naturally, they spend the night oppressed by the knowledge of their impending death, they become so detached from their own life that they no longer seem human. While the prisoners are sentenced to die the next morning, the knowledge of their death causes them to give up on life before they are even killed. The story opens up with Pablo narrating his own trial, He being charged for illegal anarchists’ activities on behalf of Spain’s Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. The judges demand him to reveal the location of his colleague, Ramon Gris. Pablo tells the judges that he is not aware of where his colleague would be located. He is placed in a cell with two other men while he waits for his verdict. There are two other men in the cell with …show more content…

He eventually gives up, sits down, and has this already dead look to him. Tom starts talking about the international brigades, Pablo realizes that Tom is just building a wall to not think about death. Pablo feels lost and has a feeling like he is crushed under an enormous weight. He is asked by the doctor if he is feeling cold, but Pablo feels the total opposite. When he touches himself, he is covered in sweat. To evade the thought of death, Pablo tries to think about his past life but none of it seems to have any importance to him anymore. They are offered to give a message to their loved ones, but Pablo feels extremely alone. He begins to detach and disconnect from the world in preparation for his execution. They are all already dead before even

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