A woman in love?

WoW....you guys have not made this easy have you.



Helen, in your piece dated 19th Feb., you have mentioned that essence is the "sum total of everyting that we have been [...] here one moment and gone the next." You then ask the question as to how much meaning can it have. I actually think that our past actions do not actually have any significant meaning at all. It is the actions that take place in each moment that have the most meaning to us. Sartre states, (1993, p.56) "She disarmed the actions of her companion by reducing them to being only what they are; that is existaing in the mode of the in-itself." Her understanding of his actions could only be that an understanding, her interpretation of what she obvserved. It will be the man in question that knows the meaning of his actions. Maybe the question is the perceived meaning of anticipated future actions that are of most important. Just as I am experiencing now as I type. I am thinking of the best words to use to convey the most accurate meaning to yourselves even before I touch each key.



I would also like to pick up on the idea of a concrete identity. I don't think the lady is trying to project a concrete identity. I think she is trying to maintain a concrete experience, to hold onto the moment in time, with a very attentive gentleman sitting opposite her. "She speaks of Life, of her life, [...] the hand rests inert between the warm hand of her companion." She is sharing the experience, not with a guy sitting opposite her, but with 'her companion'. I feel that she is so captivated by the moment, unaware as to if, 'the table is round or square.' I also find it interesting that Sartre starts the piece off with referring to the person opposite her as a man, a physical object, obviously a sexual one, whilst when we arrive at the end he is being described, suppossively by her as her companion.



Oliver, you have suggested the idea that the lady is in 'bad faith' because she is not willing to entertain the idea of events after they leave the cafe. I guess Sartre is alluding to the fact that from the guys point of view they will end up in bed together before the night is out. But even if my assumption is correct, according to Sartre it would not be inevitable as the occurance of continual flux could change any future plans either members of the party may hold. Whilst I would initially agree with the idea that we are continually being who we are, the time frame for such a manifestation is but a small one I would feel. An hour or two at the most. Hence, whatever it is that the lady may feel for the man whilst seated opposite him her feelings may not necessarly be the same a few hours later. Her feelings in the cafe are left there, locked in time, unable to be changed in that moment, but both their feelings for each other will be in a continual flux in occurdeance with their experience at the moment of feeling.