Sartre’s Concept of Existentialism in Don DeLillo’s End Zone

By – J Britto Jenobia & Dr. V. Shekhar (introduction at the end of the paper), Vol. III, Issue. XXVIII, May 2017

Abstract:

The main purpose of the atheist existentialism is ‘God is nowhere’. Since Sartre is an atheist existentialist, he believes that ‘Existence precedes Essence’. The main concept in the book Existentialism and Human Emotions is ‘Existence precedes Essence’. Here Sartre explains that the individual comes first, defines himself and then examines the world. Man invents himself. Man not only conceives what he is to be, but also wills what he himself to be after the thrust towards existence. ‘Nothingness’ to ‘Existence’ is the first principle of existentialism. Existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him. In the novel End Zone, Don DeLillo creates characters which try to make their own essence for their existence in the world. The key concept of Sartre’s Existentialism is fit to the particular novel. This article examines Sartre concept of Existentialism in Don DeLillo’s End Zone (1972).

… first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is  because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be. (Existentialism and Human Emotions,15)

Jean- Paul Sartre belongs to the Atheist group of Existentialist. The main purpose of the atheist existentialism is ‘God is nowhere’. Since Sartre is an atheist existentialist, he believes that ‘Existence precedes Essence’.

The main concept in the book Existentialism and Human Emotions is ‘Existence precedes Essence’. Here Sartre explains that the individual comes first, defines himself and then examines the world. Man invents himself. Man not only conceives what he is to be, but also wills what he himself to be after the thrust towards existence. ‘Nothingness’ to ‘Existence’ is the first principle of existentialism. Existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him. Therefore Man is responsible for his circumstances and that of others.

Man chooses his own self implies that everyone in the world does the same and also means that he/ she chooses all men. Since ‘Existence precedes Essence’, man exist and fashion his/ her own image. The image man create is valid for everyone and for the whole age. And so responsibility is much greater, because it involves all mankind. Even if the choice depends solely on man’s circumstances, passion or wish, he/she is involving all humanity in monogamy, which implies: “ I am responsible for myself and for everyone else. I am creating a certain image of man of my own choosing.  In choosing myself, I choose man.”(Existentialism and Human Emotions, 18)

Every individual is the unique project of creating himself. This project is a kind of motivation to self-define. The self- define involves himself, the physical world, the Other and striving towards unification of these aspects.  The person is self- contained, creating herself/himself for herself/himself alone.

Some of the themes of Sartre’s Existentialism are Anguish, Forlornness, Facticity and Despair. According to Sartre anguish means the feeling that arises when one recognises that her choices legislate for all mankind and she is responsible. Man is faced with the lack of any external source of value and determination. He is faced with the responsibility of choosing the nature and values. In doing so he must face the awesome responsibility of choosing nature and values for all men in our free choice.

End zone (1972) is the second novel written by Don DeLillo. The main protagonist in the novel is Gary Harkness. The novel is about the game football. Gary Harkness is a football player who later becomes the head of the offensive team. In the novel End zone (1972) the game football is compared with warfare. Gary Harkness is also interested in thermal and nuclear warfare. He is obsessed with books related to nuclear warfare.

            The novel is divided into three parts. The first part explains Gary Harkness football practice with the teammates along with senior coach Creed, new person who joins the college Taft Robinson and his relationship with his friend Myrna Corbett.  The second part manifests itself as the narrative which explains the big game between logos and Centrex. The third part explains Gary Harkness experience of depression, alienation, search for self, death of Mrs.Tom wade, president of Logos College, unhealthy senior coach Creed and Taft Robinson decision to give up football.

            The first Sartrean concept that is taken to examine the novel End Zone (1972) is ‘Existence precedes Essence’. This can be justified through the characters Gary Harkness, Taft Robinson, Anatole Bloomberg and the senior coach Creed. Gary Harkness is a young man who studied in several places and came to Logos to satisfy his father’s dream of becoming a football player. He felt depressed and stressful in the past and so he gave up football for some time. He says to be oneness in football stressed him a lot. He declares “oneness was stressed…”(End Zone, 19). Then he decided, “ I give up now I’ll almost surely give up in the most important contests of the future”(End Zone, 19).during this phase in his life Gary felt boredom and started to read: “it started with a book, an immense volume about the possibilities of nuclear war”(End Zone, 20). He was fascinated by the words, “… thermal hurricane, overkill, circular error probability, post-attack environment, stark deterrence, dose-rate contours, kill-ratio, spasm war” (End Zone, 21). These words usually give pain and disaster. But Gary felt “pleasure in these words” (End Zone, 21). Though Gary is fond of football, he felt dissatisfaction and emptiness at a certain stage in his life. Before joining Logos he gave up football to find his own self. He decided to create essence for his existence. In Logos he tries to fulfil his choice of taking football again in his life. He tries to prove his own self.

            Taft Robinson is another important character in the novel End Zone (1972). He is famous for his speed while running. He was the first black student to join Logos College in West Texas. He was a transfer student from Columbia. “The word on him was good all the way. (1). He ran the hundred in 9.3 seconds. (2). He had good moves and good hands. (3). He was strong and rarely fumbled. (4). He broke tackles like an pushing through a turnstile. (5). He could pass-block- when in the mood”(Americana, 5), all these words about Taft before his reach of Logos haunted everyone. And so Gary adds, “ The mansion has long been haunted by the invisible man”(End Zone, 3). Taft is a man who likes to be alone all the time. He lives in his own world. When it comes to football, he plays his part very well. Other than that he is a silent figure in this novel End Zone (1972). Before joining Logos the first condition he gave to Creed is “I room alone”(End Zone, 228). Though he is a popular figure in football and athlete, he felt meaningless in his life. He missed the essence of his existence. At that end Taft decides to give up football and says , “I’m not playing football anymore”(End Zone, 227). And he found his essence for his existence in religious way saying, “I think, And now it’s time to face Mecca”( End Zone, 227).

            Anatole Bloomberg is a player in the Logos football team. He is Jewish. He reached Logos in order to drop from Jewish culture and find his own existence. he says once, “I am unjewing myself”(End Zone, 44). He is three hundred pound and so the coach asked him to reduce weight. He decides to follow diet but later he realised his weight as his strength and tried to make essence with his own existence.

            Emmett Creed is the head coach of Logos football team. The sports press calls him as “the Big Bend”(End Zone, 9). He is famous for “creating order out of chaos” and “building good teams”( End Zone, 9). He went into obscurity for broking the jaw of the quarterback in his previous college as a coach. This is the first year for Creed to prove himself and also to find his own self. He loves football and so he tries to create essence to make his existence worthy. As a coach he is very strict towards the students and so Taft calls him, “Creed was too much. He was part Satan…”( End Zone, 226). All the four characters stayed in Logos in order to create their own self. They felt emptiness in their life. They want to make their existence with essence.

             Anguish is another major Sartrean concept which prevails throughout the novel. All the players in the novel End Zone (1972) were full of stress, depression, boredom and emptiness. The football they play varies from other football game. The football game played in Logos is all about hitting, kicking, rolling in the ground with bloodshed. This made anguish prevails among all the characters

Man is condemned to be free. This is exactly prevails in Logos. The football player does not have contact outside Logos. All the time they have to think about only football. They are condemned to be free. This attitude depressed everyone in Logos. Above all this despair, depression, stress, the players tries to win every game they played. The big game the Logos team played is against Centrex. And they won it.

            Myrna Corbett is another important character in the novel End Zone (1971). She is the friend of Gary. They used to go picnic and Myrna read story books. She is a fat girl who never worries about weight. Her aim is to go Mexico. But at the end of the novel she had lot of questions. All these lead to find her own self. She felt herself as “unreal person”(End Zone, 217). She never faced her “own reality” (End Zone, 217). She felt her weight as a bad thing and so she says, “I want other things now. I’m ready to find out whether I really exist or whether I’m something that’s just been put together as a market for junk mail” (End Zone, 218).

            The main theme in the novel End Zone (1972) is football. Here football is compared with warfare. The way Logos team play football is almost like a war between two nations. DeLillo recasts the game as a battle:

… I was down and no somebody was running right over me. I heard a lot of noise, pads hitting, men grunting and panting. Then it all came down on top of me. I smelled the turf and waited for bodies to unpile. My ribcage was beginning to ache… somebody’s hand was at the back of my neck and he put all his weight on it as he lifted himself up. (End Zone, 115)

            When Gary talks to one of the player Toon, says that “nobody’s died yet, but then the game isn’t over” (End Zone, 133). This explains clearly that even football game also creates essence by claiming it as warfare.

            All the characters in the novel End Zone (1972) tries to attain essence for their existence and finally they gained it. Thus this paper justifies key concepts of Sartre’s Existentialism.

Introduction to the Authors:

J Britto Jenobia is a research scholar from National College, Trichy. In the present paper, Jenobia tries to explore the Existential dimensions in the work of Don DeLillo – End Zone. She has written many other articles which are published in different magazines and journals. Co-author, Dr. V. Shekhar is an associate professor in the department of English of the same college.

Work Cited

DeLillo, Don. End Zone. Picador, 2004.

Sartre, Jean Paul. Existentialism and Human Emotions. Kensington Publishing corp, 1987.