Modern Day Existentialism Essay

20th century author and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are—that is the fact” (Nastasi). This quote represents various aspects of the existentialist beliefs that made Sartre well-known amongst the public. Sartre’s basic concept of existentialism centers around the idea that humans are self-constructing, self-creating beings whose lives are given purpose by the choices they make and that they are solely responsible for those choices, regardless of the outcome. In his play The Flies, Sartre addresses these concepts through a retelling of the classic Greek tragedy The Oresteia by Aeschylus, but sets his story in Paris during the Nazi occupation of World War II. The play acts as a call to arms, providing means and grounds for a revolution, but it also acts as a criticism of the Parisians and their choices during this time period, as well as the tendency to place the blame on everyone else
A good example of existentialism in a modern-day text is Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel The Hours, which acts as an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Mrs. Dalloway. The Hours follows a day in the life of three different women who each face distinctive circumstances, but who’s stories are connected by a shared thread. Although the plots of Sartre’s The Flies and Cunningham’s The Hours appear to be vastly different on the surface, each work is an adaptation which tackles similar existentialist themes of the role of the choices we make as humans, as well as our responsibility for our entire lives, whatever the outcome. In this paper I will analyze the major themes of, freedom of choice, responsibility, and the guilt and blame associated with choice in each of the works, then I will connect the two together and explain how they are still relevant in today’s