35 of the story, he and his wife throw themselves out the window. They commit
suicide. In this work, the main character is the Ionesco’s tool to deliver the ideas of
existentialism. Furthermore, the main character represents the thought of Ionesco. The ideas of existentialism come out through the main character’s thought, his
responses to the other, and his attitudes, which are all absurd. Not only those, the ideas of existentialism are also shown through the old man’s speech and other
character’s opinion toward him. The following discussion focuses on Ionesco’s ideas of existentialism
revealed through the main character, the old man, in The Chairs. The discussion is divided into several subtopics to explain more detail.
1. Consciousness
Consciousness is the important thing to understand existentialism. Sartre
says that human being comes to the world because of nothing so that the world does not have reason to answer what he is. Firstly, man is being, faces the world,
then defines himself. Hence, Sartre says that existence precedes essence. To define what he is, he creates himself. The tool to create himself is consciousness.
The human being is described as the conscious creature. As discussed in the first part of analysis, the old man is described as a man
who is infantile, irresponsible, and feels absurd. All of those things are nothing firstly before the old man was born and faced the world. As existentialism says,
existence precedes essence so that the old man is the one creating himself to be like those things. Moreover, all of those things are done by the old man
36 consciously. As Sartre says that human being is described as the conscious
creature so that what the old man does is consciousness.
Furthermore, the old man in existentialism is categorized as l’etre–pour– soi
or being-for-itself. The old man is it is what it is not. He is what he is not because he always defines himself and makes himself. He can be what he is now
and what he will be. It is definitely related to existence precedes essence. The old
man will change every time depending what he chooses. The old man is not a
thing, which is l’etre–en–soi or being-in-itself, because the thing is essence precedes existence.
The old man is not human being, who is in the thought first, then he exists; but he exists first and then he creates himself. It can be seen in Act
3, when the old woman asks the old man to tell the story. OLD WOMAN
: Tell me the story, you know the story: Then at last we arrived...
OLD MAN : Again? ...Im sick of it ...Then at last we arrived?
That again...you always ask for the same thing … Then at last we arrived...” But it’s monotonous. ..
For all of the seventy-five years that weve been married, every single evening, absolutely every
blessed evening, youve made me tell the same story, youve made me imitate the same people, the
same months. ..always the same ...lets talk about something else. Act 3:3
It shows that the old man refuses the offer of the old woman because he gets bored for telling the same story every single night. Hence, the old man is a man
who likes refusing the request of his wife. However, after several conversations, after the old woman attempts to persuade the old man, the old man starts telling
the story.
37 OLD WOMAN
: Its as if suddenly Id forgotten everything. .. its as though my mind were a clean slate every evening ...
Yes, my darling, I do it on purpose, I take a dose, of salts ...I become new again, for you, my darling,
every evening ...Come on, begin again, please.
OLD MAN : Well, if you want me to.
OLD WOMAN : Come on then, tell your story. ..Its also mine; what
is yours is mine Then at last we arrived. OLD MAN
: Then at last we arrived. ..my sweetheart. OLD WOMAN
: Then at last we arrived. ..my darling. Act 3:3
It shows that the old man accepts the request of the old woman to tell the story. Hence, the old man is a man who likes granting his wife’s request. In brief, the
old man, as human being, consciously changes his choice; and it makes it is what it is
change also.
In the other hand, l’etre–pour–soi is related to l’etre–en–soi. The consciousness of human being to define himself brings him to define his
surroundings. It means that human being defines the meaning of things. The example is like the old man and the chairs. There are so many chairs in a room of
his house. However, the old man itself defines the chairs, which are being-in- itself, whether the chairs are as the meaningless chairs in a room, or as things to
sit, or as only things to make the interior look beautiful. Then, in the story, the old man brings the chairs to every invisible guest to sit.
Consciousness is experience. It means that consciousness is limited by
perspective of experience, lives and stays in the experience. The old man shows it in the story. In Act 19, when all the guests almost come, the old man says
something about the message, which is also his experience.
38 OLD MAN
: Dont be so impatient. Youll hear my message. In just a moment.
OLD WOMAN : Ah ...I hear his voice Do you know, my husband
has never been understood. But at last his hour has come
. OLD MAN
: Listen to me, Ive had a rich experience of life. In
all walks of life, at every level of thought. . .Im not an egotist: humanity must profit by what Ive
learned. Act 19:19
It strengthens that the message is the experience of the old man because the old man says that he has a rich experience in his life. It means that he through all his
life consciously. Moreover, he has a lot of friends from different background. It also strengthens that he has worked at many works and places with different
background; such as soldier, boyfriend, up to the last job, general factotum. It makes his experiences richer. Hence, consciousness is what he chooses and what
he is doing. Furthermore, what the old man says about his experience is categorized as
reflective consciousness. When the old man says about him, he goes into his reflective consciousness. The thought about him is reflective consciousness. There
is I or the old man itself in this reflective consciousness. It means that I becomes
the object. The example is like this. OLD MAN
: Listen to me, Ive had a rich experience of life. In
all walks of life, at every level of thought. . .Im not an egotist: humanity must profit by what Ive
learned. Act 19:19
When he says to listen to him, he is in his reflective consciousness. In the other hand, when the old man thinks about the object outside him, it means that he
moves to his non – reflective consciousness.
39 Non – reflective consciousness is consciousness of human being in his
daily life. Sartre says that the consciousness of human being in action is non –
reflective consciousness. There is no I in this consciousness.
The example of non – reflective consciousness is like what the old man says in Act 2. The old man says, “Its six oclock in the evening. It is dark already.
It wasnt like this before. Surely you remember, there was still daylight at nine oclock in the evening, at ten oclock, at midnight.” The object is not the old man.
Something which is in his consciousness is those objects; such as evening, midnight, the day, Semiramis or the daylight. Thus, there is no I or the old man
itself in his action.
2. Freedom
