happens next. On the other hand, the plot requires reader intelligence in understanding the relation between what happened before and what happens next,
so that the reader has better understanding of the cause and effect of the events.
3. Existentialism by Sartre and Camus
Existentialism is a movement that focuses on human reaction to existence. Based on The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, existentialism is broadly
known as “a philosophical and literary movement that focused on the uniqueness of each human individual as distinguished from abstract universal human
qualities” Audi, 1999: 296. However, every existentialist has his or her own definition of existentialism. For Sartre, the term existentialism refers to the
doctrine that makes life endurable for human beings and also declares that every action and truth implies “a human setting and a human subjectivity” Sartre, 1987:
10. This definition of existentialism by Sartre is mentioned to make it clear that the concept he discuss does not involve the nihilistic views that were often
charged against existentialists since they were regarded as sinister and suicidal. Sartre states that subjectivity is the starting point of everything. He
describes this term as the “existence as a subject” Sartre, 1987: 13. In this case,
Sartre uses a paper-cutter as his example. He explains this analogy with the following statement:
Here is an object which has been made by an artisan whose inspiration came from a concept. He referred to the concept of what a paper-cutter is
and like-wise to a known method of production, which is part of the concept, something which is, by and large, a routine. This, the paper-cutter
is at one an object produced in a certain way and, on the other hand, one having a specific use; and one can not postulate a man who produces a
paper-cutter but does not know what it is used for. Therefore, let us say
that, for the paper cutter, essence —that is, the ensemble of both the
production routines and the properties which enable it to be both produced and defines
—precedes existence. Sartre, 1987: 13 On the other hand, human is neither defined nor produced with a concept. Another
easier example is to consider a clock. When the creator creates a clock as an object, the clock has its own function and essence. It ticks and works because it
has to show the time. Even before it exists, it already has its own essence. So, the creator makes it to work and function as an object to show time. Unlike the clock,
human is not an object that has its function before they were created. Human exists even before they know what they are created for. Thus, it shows how
“existence precedes essence” Sartre, 1987: 13. This statement may be different from the ethical norms that can be found
in religion ethics such as Christianity and Islam. However, Sartre was one of the atheistic existentialists. Thus, his statements are mostly based on the argument
that God does not exist except in the minds of man. For example: ...if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence
precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or, as Heidegger says, human reality.
What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only
afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be
something, and he himself will have made what he will be. Thus, there is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. Not only is man
what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he s himself to be after this thrust toward existence. Sartre, 1987: 15
By this statement, Sartre shows that actually the absence of God also strengthen
the idea that existence precedes essence. In other words, human beings have to seek for their own essence, their own meaning to be alive.
As mentioned before, subjectivity is the first principle of existentialism. To make their own existence clear, human must also consider their own
subjectivity. Sartre says that Subjectivity is where “man is nothing else but what he makes of himself” Sartre, 1987: 15. This statement means that a person
defines who heshe wants to be. As a result, people are responsible for who he or she is as an individual.
However, the responsibility of a person do esn’t stop at hisher own
individuality. When a person makes a choice, they have to be responsible for the consequences. To put it simply, when a person chooses to act, this act is a truth
which then is believed by the others and involves other people. Here is an example. When we choose to marry, the choice itself does not stop with our own
wishes and responsibilities, but others participate and take part in the decision. So, when we make choices and actions, we have both the responsibility as an
individual and as a person among others. This consequence follows the essence of their subjectivity.
As we understand the concept of subjectivity, existentialists also have to understand that human is in anguish. Based on Audi, the concept of anguish or
angoisse here is closely related with Angst, the German term for a special form of anxiety or fear Audi, 1999: 29. The anxiety here then is defined as:
the representation of freedom’s self-awareness; it is the psychological precondition for the individual’s attempt to become autonomous, a
possibility that is seen as both alluring and disturbing Audi, 1999: 29
In short, anguish is the feeling of awareness when an individual realizes if he or she is the person they choose to be, the lawmaker of his life. The anguish itself is
a form of severe anxiety or anxious awareness that man has to stand alone, without anyone else to hold the total and final respo
nsibilities. ‘Human with anguish’ stands for those who are able to understand that they are responsible for
every decision that they make. By analyzing the way a person interacts and acts, that person is able to see their own decisions and the responsibilities that
accompany the consequences of every choice. Some people are unable to accept this statement and choose to put the blame on other things, such as God or other
people involved. However, this condition does not create a border that separates human from the action. Human is part of the actions itself and people have to be
responsible for every truth that they create as the essence of their own subjectivity.
Another existential concept that is closely related to anguish is forlornness. They go together. Forlornness refers to the lonely condition where God does not
exist and we are the ones who should face all of the consequences by ourselves. Sartre explains this concept
by saying, “we ourselves choose our being” Sartre, 1987: 29. It means that our choices are what are essential to exist. By making
decisions, people are able to find their own meaning of existence. Even though anguish and forlornness are closely related, they are still different. Anguish stands
for a person ’s condition where he or she is aware that they have responsibilities
for the choices that they have made as the result of severe anxiety that the character has felt. It is the feeling of responsibilities as the result of severe
anxiety; the awareness of it. On the other hand, forlornness is the situation where they are being left by God and becomes the ones who made themselves, when
nobody else is there for their escape. It means that a person cannot blame others for the results of the choices that he or she has made. If there is no such thing as
God, human does not able to think that misery happens because of God and it is a sign of something from God. In the end, it is still the person who thinks that
misery is some kind of particular sign from God. Essentially, nobody really stands for a person in everything they choose. Human is the one who creates themselves.
The last term included in this research is despair. The term despair can just be simply defined as a condition of “the complete loss or absence of hope”
Abate, 1996: 384. In this case, human has no more hope for the life they have. A person perceives the world as offering no reason for them to exist since he or she
has no more hope. The despair itself may be the result of the anguish and forlornness that a person has to face in their life. Thus, some people choose
suicide as the escape. The matter of suicide as the result of anguish, forlornness and despair is a
prevalent theme in Camus’ essay, The Myth of Sisyphus. In this reflective work, he discusses the matter of suicide. He argues that actually suicide is something
that happens because of “individual thought” Camus, 1955: 4. Most of the time, suicide is seen as something related with social condition, and that the society
may be the trigger of suicide. For most people, this world is familiar. They live and do everything as a routine. But when something tragic happens and
everything changes, then the person feels different. Camus describes this condition by this statement:
…man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land.
This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. Camus, 1955: 5
The change that makes man begin to feel like ‘an alien’ originates from his
feelings of lonely isolation and separation from the world. At first, everything is just a routine; everything stays the way it is. Regardless, things change and man
starts to ask, “Why?” This feeling gradually develops as the person passes through
the stages of their life. According to Camus, this is the beginning of hu man’s
awareness of his anguish; the beginning of the absurd. When the absurdity is recognized, human seeks for the answers. At the
same time, a person starts to become exhausted by it. He or she feels the anxiety of his struggle, as the anguish becomes stronger. Human becomes exhausted
because of the pattern in his life where he or she always lives for the future. From the time when the person is still a small child, he or she is told to be hopeful with
words such as ‘when you reach your adulthood’ or ‘when the time is right’. Human is living for the future. Human are seized by the time while time flies.
Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it. That revolt of the flesh is absurd. Camus, 1955: 11
This statement by Camus shows how a person faces the absurd. Even though the mind is longing for the future, the body cannot go forward to the future. The
biological condition and the psychological condition clash with one another inside of a person. An absurd awareness develops that a person is longing for an
impossible future, only a figment of his imagination. Therefore, human are bound by the absurd.
Meanwhile, the absurd in life could be found in hu man’s confrontation
with the world; his own world of his or her own making. As mentioned above, then hu
man would start to ask ‘why’ and seek for answers, while the world remains silent. The time keeps on moving and the world gives no answer. Human
has to answer it by himself as the time passes by, but they still hope for someone to help them; in this case, God is the common escape. This dilemma is defined by
Camus as the condition of a person who is “longing for clarity” Camus, 1955:
16. Human want to be united with the world in order to be able to understand and find the meaning of life. However, the world does not provide the answers. The
resulting feeling of being left behind by someone or everything else is the forlornness. People have to use their own mind and struggle by themselves. They
make up the reason for existence themselves. The existence of nostalgia or longing for the world or for God can be seen
in hu man’s actions in seeking to find and understand the answers to the questions
that people have always asked about existence. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus explains that actually the existence of nostalgia in hu
man’s life does not imply that a person would always have to get the truth as soon as possible. If a person is
nostalgic and seeks for the truth as soon as possible, they starts to get another contradiction in their mind and it makes their hope disappear. It is only natural
that man uses their mind first to distinguish between true and false. Yet, there is neither absolute truth nor falsity in the world. Therefore, the hope diminishes, and
the person starts to meet despair. And as the hope disappears, the person then starts to seek for an alternative, suicide.
To explain why people choose the alternative, Camus uses Heidegger ’s
statement in his essay as he discusses the “anxiety” that a person has to struggle
against when he or she faces the absurd. As Heidegger says, “the world could no
longer offer anything to the man filled with anguish ” Camus, 1955: 18, to put it
simply, the anguish itself appears after a person tries to understand why the condition of absurdity happens and then becomes anxious about it. With the
anguish comes the lonely feeling of forlornness, and the despair soon follows. Thus, human would no longer hope for anything in this world and wish that he or
she could just escape this world by committing suicide. It is important to understand that a person who confronts the absurd and
the absurd man are different. When a person understands about the absurd and is conscious of it, he or she still has the probability to escape from the absurd world
he or she has created. This kind of man is similar with the absurd man in a way that both of them are probably getting used to life without any hope. However,
even the person who understands the absurd and is used to life without any hope, this person still has the probability to do suicide. Even if the person knows that he
or she still has a small sense of hope for the future, the person also has a point where he or she probably chooses or considers suicide as an alternative. Camus
explains this condition with the following statement: A man who has become conscious of the absurd is forever bound to it. A
man devoid of hope and conscious of being so has ceased to belong to the future. That is natural. But it is just as natural that he should strive to
escape the universe of which he is the creator. Camus, 1955: 24
On the other hand, the absurd man has a different way of perceiving the absurd condition he or she is in, even though both of them try to understand about their
absurd existence. Camus explains their difference by this: The absurd man, on the other hand, does not undertake such a leveling
process. He recognizes the struggle, does not absolutely scorn reason, and admits the irrational. Thus he again embraces in a single glance all the data
of experience and he is little inclined to leap before knowing. He knows simply that alert awareness there is no further place for hope. Camus,
1955: 27-27
The absurd man simply make the conclusion as: ‘there is no further place for
hope’. Yet, he or she chooses to live for the future. The person just simply accepts that the absurd does exist, and chooses to keep on living with that condition.
For Sartre, it is up to each person whether he or she wants to make their life meaningful or not. Since
‘existence precedes essence’, people determine for themselves what meanings that they want to add to in their life.
Man being condemned to be free carries the weight of the whole world on his shoulders; he is responsible for the world and for himself as a way of
being Sartre, 1987: 52.
This statement means that actually the person has the freedom to choose who he or she wants to be. He can be anyone that he wants but he is also responsible for
all of the consequences related to his or her choices; the person also has responsibilities to the world. Therefore, there are no “accidents in life” since the
person makes their own choices and already knows about the probabilities and responsibilities of their choices. Sartre, 1987: 54
In relation to the concept of absurdity, Sartre also had his own view. This fact was mentioned by Collins, The Existentialists:
Sartre makes a brave appearance when he observes that if the world is absurd, then man ought to face this truth openly rather than allow his
wishes to dictate his philosophy. Collins, 1952: 86
Essentially Sartre sees that the world is indeed absurd. However, human should not permit the difference between the wishes and reality which is absurd to
distort their mind and dictate the reality. People should face the world, which is absurd instead of running from it. This is simply because human chooses their
own essence; they must choose who they want to be.
C. Theoretical Framework
