However, the next day comes and though his cell-mates have been executed, Pablo is left with a chance of survival should he cooperate with interrogation. When asked where the rebel leader (by the name of Ramon Gris) is, Pablo decides he has nothing to lose, and gives them an answer, despite just being supposedly false information. Ironically, Pablo's answer turns out to be the truth, and he is spared (at least for the timebeing. Granted the fact that Pablo never intended to betray his comrade, this situation can be compared to what Scarry points out in "The Body in Pain", which gave the idea that torture and agony can destroy a person's world and essentially erase their loyalties to confess - the payoff being no further torture; in this case, the "torture" being used is giving a payoff of the opportunity to live.
The significance of the story's title, "The Wall", seemingly refers to the division of those people with hope remaining and those without. Pablo, having believed that there is no point in sustaining life any further if he would be dead anyways the next day, clearly has lost all sense of hope. Hunger, warmth, health - Pablo had discarded them all in his acceptance of his death.
I am glad that you referenced Scarry's "The Body in Pain" as I also found descriptions she used in her piece that were comparable to excerpts in "The Wall". Most significant was how all of Pablo's surroundings started to gain new meaning as he knew he was facing death. He states "but I too found that objects had taken on a weird appearance; they were more inconspicuous, less dense than usual. I just needed to look at the bench, the lamp, the heap of coal dust, to sense that I was going to die."
ReplyDeleteI find that it is important to reiterate the irony of the entire story as Pablo has accepted death but manages to escape it without truly trying. Even if his original intention was to give up Ramon Gris' location, there was no guarantee that he would be spared. An important factor of torture is when the confession is made if release will actually be granted.
Satre really focuses on describing the physical reaction to the idea of dying which is the true torture in this story. The torture of the mind causes the body to react in which we have the example of when Pablo experiences excessive perspiration despite the cold chamber he is kept in.
Very straightforward, eloquent observation! I particularly love your analysis of the title. The wall clearly divides people in many ways, such as the anxious from the calm, hot from cold, but I think you summarized it very well into "hopeless from the hopeful." It seems as even if the prisoners want to be hopeful (as in Juan and Tom's case), it's hopeless for them as long as they remain on their side of the wall.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, Pablo accepted that freedom was unreachable in his current situation and gave into his inevitable death. As a result, he separated himself from the life he led. In this way, Pablo was executed at the prison. During questioning, he told a lie that was meant to lead to his death, but it ironically saved him from his execution... that in a way already happened. The irony really is beautiful and horrifying.
Franz, I particularly liked how you referenced the Scarry text in this response. Clearly, Pablo experienced torture’s “breaking down of the self and the world” whilst waiting for his execution. He no longer cares about his lover and friends, views the objects in the room as instruments of torture, and loses control over his bodily functions. However, I don’t believe the torture in this work is Pablo’s slight opportunity of survival; instead, I believe the real torture is the forced contemplation of execution. It is not until Pablo and the other prisoners are forced to contemplate their impending execution for hours and hours that they begin to experience the breaking down of self and the world. Once one thinks for hours on end about death and whether or not heaven and hell exist or if there is just neverending blackness, everything else loses its significance. Even life loses its significance, as life is not worth living after such thoughts. Though the doctor is not physically harming Pablo, he is definitely psychologically torturing him by simply being in the room and serving as a symbol of life. The prisoners are all forced to look at this person whose life is not about to end in a couple hours and take note of his normal bodily reactions versus their own. This symbol of life combined with their own contemplation of death results in complete mental destruction. This torture is far worse than physical torture because it is everlasting: wounds will heal once physical torture is over, but psychological destruction is near impossible to repair. Now that he has been allowed to live, Pablo is forced to continue his life in this state of mental destruction: the worst possible torture that could ever be inflicted.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you described how Pablo gave up on life. It really encapsulates how his view changes after he is told he will die. You mention how he discarded his world view in accepting death, and I think in the story one of the clearest examples of this is when he no longer wishes to have anyting to do with his lover. He discards everything that he loved when, as you put it, he crossed the wall. He even stops caring about his country, which he fought so hard for, and shows how his views and values were destroyed by his impending fate.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that you interpreted the title of the story. Wall can be so many things. Definitely, it is a division or separation of things. As you said, hopeless from hopeful; dead from living. Wall can also associate to the very existence of the wall that prisoners are lined up for their death penalty by firing squad. A very physical barrier that block the path to living of the dying prisoners. Might it also be a psychological barrier that prevent the prisoners from fighting back? In the story, everyone seems to be accepting their death and no one actually fight back. It should be reasonable that when you are dying either way, why not just give a shot of fighting back or escape.
ReplyDeleteThe destruction of self and the world around the tortured victim is clear in the story. All of the three prisoners seem to lost the connection between their mind and their body. Both Ibbieta and the other man wet their pants without noticing and the kid can only sit there doing nothing and unable to talk normally. At the end, it is unclear whether it is pure coincidence that Ibbieta accidentally guessed the hiding place of Gris or that after torture, he cannot sense he is revealing the hiding place resulting from the destruction of the world and self.
I agree with your analysis of Pablo's descension into hopelessness, however I think the final crossing to the other side of the "wall" occurs when Pablo realizes he has unintentionally caused the death of Ramon. While Pablo does at one point think that there is no difference between himself dying and Ramon dying, because they are all just bodies (a very existential belief), Pablo also mentions that at least Ramon had something to live for; a purpose for which he stood very firmly. He was a leader and I think Pablo recognizes this, though his world and self (therefore all cares and perceptions of right and wrong) are being destroyed as he awaits his inevitable death. Pablo is, in fact, dying throughout the night as he tries to come to terms with the fact that his life has no real meaning anymore, that he is now just a body that is barely even functioning. In what are supposed to be his last hours, he is taken away for one last questioning, in which he names the fake location of Ramon. When he learns that Ramon was in fact in that location, all he can do is laugh at the irony, and I think this is the final step in Pablo's destruction of world and self. While there might not have even been a chance of recovery beforehand, now I believe Pablo has crossed the "wall" and lost all hope.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Megan's choice of where Pablo crosses to the other side of the "wall". After his ordeal throughout the night and when he is being questioned in the morning, he still returns to a more-or-less normal approach to life after he is released and is waiting in the courtyard. He is able to give what he believes as a false location for Ramon during the questioning, implying that he does still care about something, even though he says he no longer cares about the world. Also, when he is in the courtyard he enters into normal conversation with his friend the baker. However, when he learns that Ramon has been killed in the "false" location which Pablo gave, it seems like this is the moment when Pablo snaps, and his hysterical laughter seems like he has broken into insanity. This is when I believe Pablo's world is truly destroyed and when he crosses "the wall".
ReplyDeletePreston makes an interesting point about when Pablo is released. When Pablo returns to his life after being psychologically tortured with the information that he was going to die, it seems as if he will go about it relatively normal. Thinking before that, when he gives false information to his torturers, he is essentially not caring about himself, yet still shows care for his cousin. This is the first time we've seen someone still act good and kind after a situation of death and pain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the depiction of Pablo. He seemingly has lost hope of surviving, and he is not afraid to die because of the "Wall" was breaking him down. He forgets about what he believes in because the impending death will take that all away. I like the fact that you touched about the ironic solution to Pablo's problem. At that point, he did not care whether he dies or not. It is shown when he laughs when he hears the news that the false information he gave to the interrogators was actually true. He laughs when he is told that his friend was killed because of this. This portrays how senseless he was at the time with no emotions left in him.
ReplyDeleteGreat reinforcement of the story Franz. You seem to have gathered a basic idea of what the author was trying to portray through all of his symbolism. I like you interpretation of what “The Wall” was meant to mean. There truly is a thin was in between Hope and Defeat. Pablo seemed all too willing to cross the line without a fight and easily gave into the idea that he was destined to die. This also makes me think back to the quote we discussed in class where he spoke of pushing back into the wall. I think this also may have been some symbolism as in trying to portray even more how he was trying to make himself cross that line into acceptance of his death. When he have false information about his peer, Ramon Gris, the situation was filled with irony. At this point he had definitely crossed the line and given up hope, yet in the end he gets to live. All of his humanity is already lost and now he must learn to associate himself back into life, without it, once again.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your comment. I particularly liked your analysis of the symbolic significance of the Wall as something that separates those who have hope from those who have none. I would even extend this concept to the distinction between the dead and the living. The prisoners, although not technically dead, have given up on hope, and for all intents and purposes, have died. Their bodies remain, but their souls have died. And the wall suggests that to return to the other side is not possible. However, I believe that once people venture onto the dark side of the wall, they no longer have any resolve to live. It is a mental, rather than a physical bind, but often times that can be the strongest kind of restriction.
ReplyDeleteI liked all of this, but I saw something in the middle paragraph that was not mentioned. I thought it was interesting how after accidentally exposing his comrade he laughed about it. To me this showed that he did not particularly care if he himself died or if it was his comrade. I feel as if he died when he was told he was going to die, so as a result he did not have a preference on who lived and who died because he simply did not care. It seems to me that he increasingly develops a nihilistic outlook on life as the story progresses.
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