Character Analysis: No Exit

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When first faced with the choice between the statements “people who need people are the luckiest people” and “hell is other people” it seemed fairly obvious to me that the latter was the choice with which I agreed. However, when I started to write about why I believed hell is other people, I found that I could not come up with any reasons to justify my feelings. How could I make such a definite statement about billions of people? For weeks I pondered the question. Eventually I decided that perhaps learning the context of the quote would help me figure out why I was leaning towards that choice. After learning about No Exit, the play the quote comes from, I can see why I identified with this quote. I believe the meaning of quote has become a bit skewed over time. No Exit is a play about three people who are in hell because of the sins they committed. One of the characters says the phrase, “hell is other people” because he refuses to see that he is to blame for his own sins. I do not believe that “hell is other people” was meant to be seen as meaning that all relationships with people are poisonous. Rather, that we create our own hell through other people. The characters in No Exit all were ultimately in hell because they only cared about
Everyone needs people in order to function in society. In our young, formative years we need other people to socialize us; however, there comes a point when we should not rely on others to function. If, as an adult, you are still turning to others any time there is a problem because you are reliant on them, then that is not healthy. It is not luck to need people, rather a quality we are born with. A poor relationship at an early age can stunt your emotional growth and go on to create bad relationships in the future, supporting the statement that “hell is other

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