Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Sartre delays in revealing the location of Garcin and the other characters. At what point does the reader begin to suspect that they are in hell? At what point are we certain?
- Does No Exit function effectively as a pulpit for Sartre’s philosophical ideas?
- If we didn’t know anything about Sartre, Being and Nothingness, or existentialism, would No Exit still be a valuable piece of fiction?
- At one point in the play, Garcin grumbles that he should have been stuck in hell with men, not women, as at least they could have kept their mouths shut. Given what you know about Sartre and his ideas, would Garcin be any less tormented were he stuck in the company of his own gender? Does No Exit share this character’s viewpoint of women?
- Is No Exit’s conclusion – "hell is other people" – necessarily a pessimistic one?
- Think about the order in which the characters enter the stage. Does this order matter?