Marcelle Duffett is his mistress, a woman uncertain about her position in life and who has seemingly fallen into a convenient routine with Mathieu. Upon becoming pregnant, she’s clearly in two minds to keep the baby and comes to despise Delarue for wanting to rid it from her life. If the book does not rise to the stature of a great, or even a very good, novel, it at least does not try to show a great panorama of society, and fail. Everything investigated is seen thoroughly, in perfect focus, but there are definite limitations. Only half a dozen characters are seen, representing very little of society, though a good range of neuroticism. But the chief merit of the book lies in the fact that Sartre has put his story ahead of his theme, and whatever abstract ideas of Existentialism he has expressed, he has converted them into the concrete form of dramatic situation." - The Harvard Crimson If read as a standalone novel, the Age of Reason is a brilliant drama played out over a handful of days. In the following books, as part of the Roads to Freedom trilogy, World War II enters the fray. You can’t help but believe Sartre developed the likes of Daniel, Boris, and Ivich from people he knew, and they’re so magnificently observed as individuals it’s as if they really were living and breathing in the 1930s. Prior to this fateful final meeting, in desperation, he hits his bank and applies for a loan. All is going well until it becomes apparent he can’t receive the loan immediately, which leads him to try and chase down Sarah again.

Ivich was conscious of her youth, and so was Boris, but these were exceptions. Martyrs of youth. ‘I never knew I was young, nor did Brunet, nor did Daniel. We were only aware of it afterwards.’ He reflected without much pleasure that he was gong to take Ivich to the Gaugin exhibition. He liked to show her fine pictures, fine films, and fine things generally, because he was himself so unattractive; it was a form of self-excuse. Ivich did not excuse him : that morning, as on all occasions, she would look at the pictures with her wild, maniacal air : Mathieu would stand beside her, ugly, persistent, and forgotten. And yet he would not have liked to be good-looking – she was never more alone than when confronted with something to admire. And he said to himself: ‘I don’t know what I want from her.’ Exasperated by his brother’s assessment, Mathieu heads off out into the streets of Paris once again. Boris and Daniel With early morning setting in, and Ivich happily admiring her bandaged hand, Mathieu reflects on a feeling of content as Lola takes to the stage and begins to sing. Lola According to Hayman, one reason for Sartre's unfinished projects was his restlessness: when Sartre "worked at long-term projects, it was tarnished by ambivalence. Other work would be clamoring for his time, and simultaneously he would feel guilty about enjoying words instead of taking action." [25] Simone de Beauvoir is quoted as saying, "Without having abandoned the idea of a fourth volume, he always found work that needed his attention more." [26] Sartre writes that during this exchange Mathieu “was furious with himself.” He was furious because he already knows what his brother says is true. He has fallen into a way of life that is easy and comfortable, all the while denying that this is the type of person he really is. Mathieu does not conceive of himself as a conventional, married family man. He sees himself as a radical philosopher, living outside of conventionality. And yet the very details of his life tell a different story. When his friend, Brunet, urges him to join the Communist Party and to fight against the fascists in Spain, Mathieu is still resistant. He actively choses to avoid a life of adventure and danger, even when the opportunity presents itself, and instead continues to live, de facto, a bourgeois life. He is not who he claims to be; and this is why he is furious with himself.With some resignation he admits he's reached 'the age of reason' (so the novel's closing lines) -- but it's not a happy place for him. I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

Mathieu walked out on to the Boulevard Montparnasse, he was glad to be alone. Behind him, Boris and Ivich would soon be whispering together, reconstituting their unbreathable and precious world. But he did not care. All around him, and in full force, there were his anxieties of the day before, his love for Ivich, Marcelle’s pregnancy, money, and then, in the centre, a blind spot—death. He gasped several times, passing his hands over his face and rubbing his cheeks. ‘Poor Lola,’ he thought, ‘I quite liked her.’ Chapter 3 entitled "Please Insert 1: 1945, Jean Paul Sartre", in The Last Chance: Roads of Freedom IV, by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Craig Vasey. Continuum Books, 2009, p. 23. From the article on Jean-Paul Sartre in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale, 1989, p. 372. Available online with library card, retrieved 7/24/2014.By making himself so vulnerable, he exposes himself to his conniving or judgemental friends and acquaintances, ensuring he takes an emotional battering on his way to an unsteady future. Realising the game is up, he finally levels with her (although, frankly, surely Ivich should have figured this out by now, which kind of indicates the self-indulgent frame of mind she’s often in).

He jabbed the knife into his palm and felt almost nothing. When he took his hand away, the knife remained embedded in his flesh, straight up, with its haft in the air. Despite “tumult” and “public opinion” arriving due to the gruesome situation, the pair is led off by a kindly cloakroom lady who disinfects their wounds and applies bandages. The two appear to connect properly for the first time as they wait and eventually return to their table with an enigmatic, relaxed air about them. The Marcelle situation resolves itself in a manner that largely absolves Mathieu from any sort of responsibility (though that resolution comes with one big surprise, as one of the characters makes another revelation that upends things quite a bit, too -- and suggests that maybe Marcelle's best interests are not best served by this particular outcome).Article by Tara J. Johnson on "The Roads to Freedom" in The Facts on File Companion to the World Novel, 1900 to the Present, ed. by Michael D. Sollars, p. 671. In the late Middle Ages, people didn’t think of mental illness as an illness that required a cure. They also didn’t fear those who were mentally ill or deny them certain rights and privileges. Instead, they just accepted it as a normal part of reality.