Existentialism
in Literature
By
Yza B. Atienza
Janelene R. Mariano
General Description
Existentialism is a movement in philosophy and
literature
that
emphasizes
individual
existence, freedom and choice. It began in the mid-tolate 19th Century, but reached its peak in mid-20th
Century France. It is based on the view that humans
define their own meaning in life, and try to
make rational decisions despite existing in
an irrational universe. It focuses on the question
of human existence, and the feeling that there is no
purpose or explanation at the core of existence. It holds
that, as there is no God or any other transcendent force,
the only way to counter this nothingness (and hence to
find meaning in life) is by embracing existence.
Vignette
The story is all about Dr.Lazaro, an aging medical
doctor and his young son, Ben who rushed in a remote
town in the middle of the night to minister a poor
family whose newborn baby has a terminal case of
tetanus. The journey towards the family & home seems
to take on a different level when it also became a
spiritual journey, most especially for Dr. Lazaro, whose
beliefs about and disbelief in God, faith, love, and time
seem to haunt him with a pressurized intensity; and all
because he sees a wide chasm between him and Ben,
his son, in terms of how they see life: He has lost so
much faith in God and life, his time, and most
especially love for his family.
Gregorio C. Brillantes
• Born in Camiling, Tarlac in 1932
• He is one of the Philippines' most
popular writers in English.
• Known for his sophisticated and elegant
style of writing.
• He often writes about individuals under
thirty, adolescent or post adolescent ones
who struggle with alienation from family,
society and from themselves.
Precept
The proposition
that existence precedes
essence is a central claim
of existentialism, which
reverses the traditional
philosophical view that
the essence or nature of a
thing is more fundamental
and immutable than
its existence.
Paragraph
Justification
(1) Dr. Lazaro remembered
nothing,
his
mind
lay
untouched by any conscious
thought, he was scarcely
aware of the April heat; the
pattern of music fell around
him and dissolved swiftly,
uncomprehended. It was as
though indifference were an
infection that had entered his
blood it was everywhere in his
body. In the scattered light
from the sala his angular face
had a dusty, wasted quality,
only his eyes contained life.
He could have remained there
all evening, unmoving, and
buried, it is were, in a strange
half-sleep, had his wife not
come to tell him he was
wanted on the phone.
Dr. Lazaro seems to be tired
and weary. In a way, he is like
a zombie unmoving but
awake. His life seemed to
have no more meaning
because of the vehement
circumstances that he had
faced in his life such as seeing
and witnessing individuals
who are experiencing pain
usually resulting to emotional
disturbance on the part of Dr.
Lazaro and losing his first son
who had committed suicide.
From the latter, the Lazaro
family’s love for each other
died as well. It made the
doctor focus mechanically on
his job, just to forget his
miseries in life.
Precept
Ultimately, the most
common denominator of
existentialists is a rejection
of authority.
Paragraph
Justification
25
Dr. Lazaro watched the
young face intent on the
road, a cowlick over the
forehead, the mall curve of
the nose, his own face before
he left to study in another
country, a young student of
full illusions, a lifetime ago;
long before the loss of faith,
God
turning
abstract,
unknowable,
and
everywhere, it seemed to
him,
those
senseless
accidents of pain.
This paragraph describes Dr.
Lazaro during his younger
years. He was as faithful as
his son, Ben, during those
times. He relied and
expected much from God
that all of the things that he
desired gave him pain which
eventually
became
frustrations.
Considering
such, he lost his faith to Him.
He doesn’t believe that God
is an authority to his life
because everything he views
opposes to God’s doctrines.
In addition, Dr.Lazaro thinks
that he is the only person
answerable for himself.
Precept
Paragraph
Justification
Existentialists
focus
primarily on matters such as
choice,
individuality,
subjectivity,
freedom,
anxiety and the nature of
existence itself. The issues
addressed in existentialist
philosophy
involve
the
problems of making free
choices,
of
taking
responsibility for what we
choose,
of
overcoming
alienation from our lives, and
so forth.
6
His wife looked up from her
needles and twine, under the
shaded
lamp
of
the
bedroom; she had finished
the
pullover
for
the
grandchild in Bagiuo and
had begun work, he noted,
on another of those altar
vestments for the parish
church. Religion and her
grandchild certainly kept her
busy … She looked at him,
into so much to inquire as to
be spoken to: a large and
placid
woman.
Subjectivity
It is prevalent in this
paragraph that Dr. Lazaro
firmly believes and holds on
to his personal opinions and
feelings instead of the
outside influences. Despite
the fact that his pious wife
filled their home with
religious paraphernalia, he
still seemed not to care
because of being cynical
towards religion.
58-59
Doctor, tell us – “Esteban
took a step forward.
“I did everything: Dr. Lazaro
said. “It’s too late –“
Freedom to Choose
This paragraph capitalizes
the view of existentialists
about having too much
Precept
Paragraph
Justification
He gestured vaguely, with a
dull resentment; by some
implicit relationship, he was
also responsible, for the
misery in the room, the
hopelessness.
“There’s
nothing more I can do,
Esteban, “ he said. He
thought with a flick of anger:
Soon the child will be out of
it, you ought to be grateful.
freedom. The experiences of
him as a doctor made
and led him to have doubts
and later questioned God
why he couldn’t do anything
to snatch the people from
the jaw of death. With these,
he no longer believes in God
and chooses to rely on his
own capabilities.
11
Dr. Lazaro put on fresh shirt,
buttoned it with tense,
abrupt motions, “I thought
he’d gone out again… Who’s
that girl he’s been
seeing?...It’s not just warm,
it’s hot. You should’ve stayed
on in Baguio…
Alienation and
Estrangement
In this paragraph, Dr. Lazaro
said to his wife that they
should have stayed in
Baguio. It seems that Dr.
Lazaro tries to aloof himself
to his family.
Precept
Paragraph
Justification
12
Mrs. Lazaro had resumed the
knitting; in the circle of
yellow light, her head
bowed,
she
seemed
absorbed
in
some
contemplative prayer. But
her silences had ceased t
disturb him, like the plaster
saints she kept in the room,
in their cases of glass, or that
air she wore of conspiracy,
when she left with Ben for
Mass in the mornings. Dr.
Lazaro would ramble about
miracle
drugs,
politics,
music, the common sense of
his unbelief; unrelated things
strung
together
in
a
monologue
Also, whenever Mrs.Lazaro
and Ben go for Mass, he
prefers to be left at home
and would ramble about
miracle drugs, politics, music
-the common sense of his
unbelief.
Precept
There are two major
categories of existentialism
which show opposing views
about human existence –
Godly and Ungodly.
Paragraph
Justification
25
Dr. Lazaro watched the
young face intent on the
road, a cowlick over the
forehead, the mall curve of
the nose, his own face before
he left to study in another
country, a young student of
full illusions, a lifetime ago;
long before the loss of faith,
God
turning
abstract,
unknowable,
and
everywhere, it seemed to
him,
those
senseless
accidents of pain
There is seemingly a
discrepancy of faith in the
Lazaro family. Mrs. Lazaro
and Ben tend to be religious
as proven by their words and
actions. On the other hand,
the protagonist of the story,
Dr. Lazaro had lost his faith
to God. He quickly turned
away, strangely comfortable
in the sad, wallowing
darkness of disbelief.
Precept
Existentialism displays
hostility towards abstract
theories or systems that
propose to describe all of the
intricacies and difficulties of
human life through more-orless simplistic formulas.
Paragraph
69
He[Dr.Lazaro]
used
to
believe in it, too. The power
of the Holy Spirit washing
away original sin, the
purified soul made heir of
heaven. He could still
remember fragments of his
boy hood faith, as one might
remember an improbable
and long-discarded dream.
Justification
Dr. Lazaro acts so ill with the
doctrines of God. Unlike
when he was still young, he
used to believe that the
teachings of God are
essential
for
spiritual
growth.
General Question Guides in Analyzing
Literature through the Existentialism Trend
I. Subject Matter/Theme
1. Does the literary piece highlight absurdity of existence and anxiety that results
from the exercise of free will?
2. Does the literary piece adhere to the principle “Existence precedes essence”?
3. Does the literary piece believe in the idea that life is meaningless?
4. Does the literary piece feature characters/persona who experience the social
distancing between the world and themselves?
5. Does the literary piece stress that a person’s judgment is the determining factor for
what is to be believed rather than by arbitrary religious or secular world value?
6. Does the piece view society as unnatural and arbitrary because of its tradition,
religion and secular views?
II. Characters/Persona
1. Is the existentialist character unpredictable and perversely self-destructive?
2. Does the character seek purpose and authentic existence?
3. Does the character believe that he is the only authority and is answerable only for
himself?
4. Does the character take full responsibility for all his decisions?
5. Does the character fear uncertainty and death?
6. Does the alienated character in the piece struggle against optimistic assumptions
of the people around him?
III. Style and Tone
1. How did the writer portray his belief about life?
• Is his belief towards life optimistic/pessimistic?
2. Does the writer agree that human life is not complete and fully satisfying
because of suffering and losses that occur over his life?
3. Does the writer stress the need for individual choice?
• Is freedom of choice a burden to the writer?
4. Does the writer elaborate conflicting aspects of the main character based
on the structure of the plot?
5. Does the writer critique or attack the prevailing religious, cultural
and philosophical views of his time?
Sources of Theory
Soren Kierkegaard
– He is considered to be the "Father of Existentialism" and
he influenced almost every existentialist after him. He was
a religious philosopher who stressed the need for individual
choice.
– Some of his notable ideas: Three Spheres of Human
Existence, Angst, Knight of Faith, Leap of Faith
Jean-Paul Sartre
– He portrayed humans as lonely creatures, and viewed the freedom
of choice that many existentialists valued as a burden, due largely
to the responsibility that follows any choice. Sartre is one of the
most prominent minds in existentialism, and can be credited for
bringing this philosophy to the attention of a much larger
audience.
Albert Camus
– Moving beyond Sartre's existentialism, he explored the
meaninglessness and absurd nature of the human condition.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
– He was a philosopher and philogist from Germany. He
wrote mainly critical works that attacked the prevailing
religious, cultural and philosophical views of his time. His
work has contributed greatly to the development of
existentialism and so-called continental philosophy.
Some of his notable works: God is Dead, Homer and Classical
Philology, The Birth of Tragedy, On Truth and Lies in a
Nonmoral Sense.
References:
• http://atheism.about.com/od/existentialism/
a/introduction_2.htm
• http://www.docstoc.com/docs/114060045/E
XISTENTIALISM-(PowerPoint)
• http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/315/
2types.html
About the writers
YZA B. ATIENZA is currently taking up the degree of Bachelor
in Secondary Education with English as his field of
specialization at the Mariano Marcos State University –
College of Teacher education (CTE), Laoag City.
JANELENE MARIANO is currently taking up the degree of
Bachelor in Secondary Education with English as his field
of specialization at the Mariano Marcos State University –
College of Teacher education (CTE), Laoag City. At present,
she is the Vice-President of the Communication Arts Guild
of the college.