Sartre's A Hanging

Humans, in its creation endures constant changes. Similar to life, death in its entirety is a surefire cause an individual must come to terms with. Throughout the stories, “A Hanging” by George Orwell, “The Wall” by Jean-Paul Sartre, and in “War and Peace”(book 12 chapter 11) by Leo Tolstoy, it is evidently portrayed that when prisoners are informed of their sentence to death they enter a state that have negative impacts on themselves. Initially when, one has the knowledge of his inevitable and near death, there is no doubt that the individual will suffer psychologically. In addition, the emotions of the prisoners are at its peak due to the overwhelming thoughts in their minds. The mental and emotional states faced by the individuals will
Pablo Ibbieta the protagonist of Sartre’s story is the prime example of just how great the psychological effect is on someone when told of their scheduled execution. “I’d never thought about death because I never had the reason to, but now the reason was here and there was nothing to but think about it.”. Throughout this one line by Sartre he clearly points out just how the thought of death being right around the corner will take over an individual. There will be nothing else on one’s mind but the thought about death. Sartre notes clearly through his character that no one would ever contemplate about these sort of situations unless they were actually experiencing it, which relates back to the fact that an individual’s thoughts about will change and become dark when sentenced to death. In Tolstoy’s narrative, he describes the feelings of a character before he stepped up to be executed. “Pierre felt as if part of his soul had been torn away. He lost the power of thinking or understanding. He could only hear and see.”. From this excerpt it is evident that the character has lost all hope, everything was dark when seen through his perspective. Pierre faces death itself when walking up in the line towards the center of executions, there he stood with no ways of escape. It is mentioned that he felt as though his soul had been torn away, his soul representing him as a whole person. His soul also represented his mindset, and having it torn away from him means that he was forced to accept what was coming. “He stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.”. This line taken from Orwell’s story directly connects to the idea of accepting one’s inevitable fate and psychologically giving up to the point that it seemed normal to give up your life. The