November 22

Today, Dr. Preston started off class by reminding us to have fun during our senior year, and try not to get too caught up in homework/college/scholarship apps/etc. And, if you're having trouble keeping up in English, let him know.

Also, he pointed out this post on his blog, saying that if anyone's interested in becoming a professional writer, talk to him.

Then we took some notes on No Exit. Here's the gist of mine:

• written by Jean Paul Sartre, a French writer, intellectual, and existentialist
• existentialism is concerned with the question, what is the purpose/meaning of our lives?
• what is important/meaningful and why?
• disorientation/confusion in absurd life
• "existence precedes essence"
• Descartes remix-- I am, therefore I think I am
• in No Exit, 3 people (btw, they don't like each other) are sitting in a room, trying to figure out meaning/nature of reality for themselves
• famous line, "Hell is other people."
• Sartre quote: "Men are condemned to be free."
• meaning, freedom requires work! independence isn't easy, we're usually dependent on instruction and characterized by limitation
• for homework, we need to read No Exit, take notes on the story, and answer the questions within the text.
• notes and questions/answers can be put in the same blog post, due Tuesday, 11/26
• as we're reading, we should be drawing parallels between No Exit and the Allegory of the Cave (hint hint essay hint)