What it means to be "Mad"

Jean-Paul Sartre said, "Why Write? Each has his reasons: for one, art is a flight; for another a means of conquering. But one can flee into a hermitage, into madness, into death" (1199). The key word in this sentence is "madness." Let us focus on that word and what it means to be mad. A mad person is not necessarily a bad person, an angry person, or an uneducated person. Although the word has a negative connotation, the most beautiful things can make someone go mad. Understanding universal ideas can make an individual go mad. On the contrary, the understanding of the smallest details have the ability to drive someone crazy as well. What makes the mad person "mad" is the word, detail. Without attention to detail, madness would not exist.

Sartre was a man of detail. He believed in abstract freedom. By "abstract freedom" I aim to label his idea of freedom as metaphysical and subjective. In class, while presenting, many people were trying to define his idea of freedom. They were all logical in their educated guesses and hypothetical analyses, but my take on his idea of freedom was simpler. I believe he wanted to give the individual the literal meaning of the word freedom.He aimed to define freedom as a person's conscious understanding of the world. He denied and critiqued accepted values and wanted to find a justification for true freedom.

In his book, "Nausea," the protagonist Roquentin is in disgust with the outside world. He begins to realize that this feeling of disgust he feels is towards people and objects all around him. He wants to free himself from comparing the present with the meaningless past. He wants to perceive objects on his terms- new terms- not terms set by others. He is disgusted by the names, colors, and special attributes that people give objects. Roquentin and Sartre apply a detailed observation of "detail" itself. Roquentin is meticulously analyzing and unraveling his disgust for all the details given to objects that exist by accident. Is Roquentin going mad? No, he is just going in over his head trying to understand the truth and meaning of creation.

Freedom, for Satre is the idea of leaving behind the past and applying yourself to the present, without any precedented ideas. The way he thinks might not be applicable to a land full of rules, but he paves way for independence and free thinking. Through my interpretation of Sartre, I believe that madness can be reached when a person thoroughly dissects a specific aspect of life. Think about the idea of death. You have just been in a fatal car accident. The car has flipped over. You see the passenger covered in blood and you are grasping for air with the seat belt tightly pressing against your chest as you face the asphalt. You have created this scenario in your head. Now try and imagine what you think will happen to your friend and yourself. There is no way it can be done without going mad. Most people can not handle the feeling of madness which includes: over-thinking, overanalyzing, researching, breaking down, repeating, rejecting, questioning and denying. Madness is something that comes naturally for people who question existence, mortality and purpose. Satre is enlightening. I might not be interpreting him the right way, but a life just lived without wondering why and how is not a life worth living.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. “From What is Literature?” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticsim.

2^nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York, NY, 2010. 1199-1213. Print.