wall db

The Wall Reflection

When this work was fresh in the public eye, the ending was new and disruptive. It was frightening in its “chance.”   With us and our experiences, “not so much.”

The screw that turns the notches of pain is a physician, one trained to save lives.  But here he practices psychological torment – a sort of Mengele.   https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-medical-experiments

There are three prisoners and they are a really diverse group. In common is that they are all male, all accused of crimes against the state and sentenced to die.  The watchers “watch” how each responds to death coming closer with the knowledge that there is nothing that they can do to stop it.

There is the wall whose image serves a few purposes.  There is a wall between life and death.  There is a wall which defines behaviors for as long as they can be maintained. There is the wall between those who are condemned and those who are not. There is the wall against which people are stood and then shot.

Sartre’s existentialism focuses on choice.  People and cultures may be defined by their choices. EX: Manhood by personal choice or in a certain culture may not include pushing a baby carriage. Making choices requires responsibility for decision making. This can lead to almost constant questioning of possibilities, a certain mindfulness. If I do X, then Y or Z, or AA can result.  They could be taken into subsets of each – almost like backtracking DNA through the generations. How one conducts himself/herself is who he or she is.  The problem is free will with its constant questioning. It seems obvious that choices define us, but Sartre’s was then a newer way at looking at the, at times, quirkiness of life events and situations.

So there you have it.  Be in the wrong place at the wrong time, say the word incorrectly (Farming of Bones foreshadowing), do not move quickly enough or too slowly, all is choice –the pain of freedom.