Being and Nothingness Imagery

Being and Nothingness Imagery

Drunk alone or leader of the nations

In the following passage, Sartre uses imagery to emphasize his argument:

“Thus it amounts to the same thing whether one gets drunk alone or is a leader of nations.”

Here, he is stating something about the meaninglessness of our choices, in the grander scheme of things. In doing so, he uses imagery to emphasize the differences in the lives of people. On the one hand, there are people who "get drunk alone," and on the other hand are people who are "leader[s] of nations." These images represent the societal image of "success" and "failure" respectively; however, under Sartre's philosophy, both concepts are inherently meaningless.

The nature of existentialism

Throughout the text, Sartre uses language and imagery that we might associate with existentialism. For example, he states that "it is certain that we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish." The kind of image this text conjures up is one we would definitely associate with existentialism, as it suggests a sense of nihilism.

Struggle

Sartre uses imagery to emphasize the struggles of life. In the following passage he uses phrases such as "carry the weight of the world," in order to emphasize this struggle:

“I must be without remorse or regrets as I am without excuse; for from the instant of my upsurge into being, I carry the weight of the world by myself alone without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant.”

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