My response to "No Exit"

"No Exit" really made me think about the concept of hell and heaven after death. The idea of forever and ever and ever is tough to grasp. We all know life ends because death comes. But once you’re dead, there is nothing else. It’s death and possibly heaven or hell. And that’s why I’m starting to see why people liked the idea of reincarnation; you supposedly get to live again. And in life, you have the whole world. You have billions of people, billions of places to go. You could even go to the moon if you really tried. But if you die and you go to hell, that’s it. It’s you in a room forever, with nothing to look forward to. You can’t tell yourself you’ll move to another city or country or switch jobs or go on a great vacation. It’s just you and the room forever and ever. And maybe some people to torture you.

After finishing "No Exit," I was reminded of a scene from this movie, "Setup." A group of friends tries to steal a diamond, but there’s betrayal and revenge and so on. Anyways, in the movie someone is wondering about why there is good and evil in the world. They come to the conclusion that God created good and evil so that humans can choose between the 2 extremes because they have free will. If all was perfect, then we’d already be in heaven. Both “No Exit” and this scene make it seem as if heaven really is perfect. And then that made me think about whether you’re guaranteed that heaven is better. What if all your favorite people in the world go to hell and you somehow manage to go to heaven? I know I would not be able to fully enjoy what heaven has to offer if I knew I wasn't ever going to see my favorite people ever again. 

In “No Exit,” they always refer to Earth as “down there,” which goes against the usual idea that hell is “down there” and heaven is “up there,” so I thought that was an interesting concept.

“No Exit” also makes it seem as though Sartre believed hell is mostly psychological torture not physical torture. It goes against the usual idea that hell is a place that’s always hot and everyone is thirsty. Maybe that wasn’t hell for Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, which is why their hell is them being stuck in a room with each other. Which makes me wonder whether my hell would be psychological or physical torture. Hopefully I won’t have to find out.