"The Age of Reason" - Jean Paul Sartre

The age of reason is 35. How abstract this could be is how precise it is for Mathieu. When your priorities start to become clearer to yourself, there is more chance of one saying no to any proposal rather than agreeing to it because may be it would bring a minor alteration to one’s schedule which more or less signifies the whole of the Age of Reason. To be married or to not to be married so that the same flesh keeps smelling differently, so that those fluids are still sacred which are exchanged in the name of excitement. It is not exactly Jean Paul Sartre is saying but that is how this reader’s interpretation is. Love could be without rhyme or reason so no surprises there, but love could just prolong itself for the seemingly indefinite time till it can’t last anymore because the circumstances are not comfortable enough for the fluids to smell good. Those streets of Paris don’t have much character but those heads have, they are full of Paris and so many other things. We go on, is another interpretation of this reader because we are not left with much choice. Motivation is just like a wave and those gravels of time which it brings forth are coincidental, which are responsible for mood swings because we humans are good at calculating and concluding randomness to fit in to our daily designs of thought and resultant existence. Yes, the thought is our existence without philosophizing it too much. That, I feel Jean Paul Sartre says between the lines.

                                                                       Keep living is not the same thing as keep existing. Now, which is lesser of the two is what Marcelle’s dilemma is and it is not universal, because her concern is not universal when she is trying to matter to herself and the result could be a new life inside her which in some time will try to matter on its own. Ivich is most of us, trying to close eyes but tickled by life, and she is trying to sleep instead of laughing because she is 23 after all and not reaching the age of reason soon enough. She is despondent in her head because she has to be so, juggling hours at various places in Paris at the same time because there is little time and no criteria to judge her judgement.  Off course there is wickedness in Daniel, source of which requires attention from him. He is so much like Marcelle but hides it so much better for nothing in particular because in the end everyone is exposed to Mathieu, including himself, helping his idea of freedom and may be sabotaging it at the same time. Boris is like Ivich just that he loves Mathieu more. His naiveness is dangerous and purposeful like naiveness is most of the time. Rest can do without a mention. It is Jean Paul Sartre work, juicy, stimulating and abstract till it takes a very specific shape and then retains it forever in a reader’s head.