Published in 1939, Sartre’s collection of five novels commences with a story about death. “The Wall”, the first novel, speaks about three prisoners convicted to death, while sharing the same cell in a detention house. The cruelty and horror of the entire novel sits in Sartre’s subtle ability of describing feelings and states in such a realistic and common way, thus making us all understand and truly imagine in a painful way the tragedy residing in a death conviction, deepened by its absurdity and lack of justice.

We see the story through Ibbieta’s eyes in a blaze of contrasting and deep thoughts, although he was trying not to think about the imminent death awaiting them all. The other two characters are a young boy, who is incapable of comprehending and dealing with the situation they’re in, and an older, Irish character who is trying to elude his own thoughts by talking continuously. The end of the story brings an unexpected, almost comical twist, shadowed by the events preceding it.

Jean-Paul Sartre brings to life in such a lively way the question that few of us ever ask if not confronted with death. We prefer not to think about the inevitable until it’s too late to think about it, and this short novel proves this saying in a series of images, casting a shadow upon our own conceptions about life and death.

In a world characterized by a universal duality, we cannot fully experience life until we have seen the opposite: death.

The second novel, “The room” speaks about the decisions a woman has to take in order to override his father’s requests of abandoning her insane husband. This journey leads her to unexplored sensations and feelings, as seen from a madman’s point of view, but judged in a rational way. In this writing, the title may have a double meaning: it represents the dark room in which her ill husband has built a little sanctuary and the more metaphorical meaning of a room: enclosed by 4 walls; he is unable to escape unless he has the key to open the door. Sadly for him, his key is out of reach.

The third one, “Erostrat” can be summarized in just one word: alert. This short novel starts with a man looking down from his balcony on the people he considered to be inferior. Unlike the writers of the age, he treated humans as something unnatural and felt a strong repugnance towards their every action, move, and trait of character.

What he omits is the fact that he is a human being with the same desires, the same will and the same capacity for error as others have. Short phrases, a great number of motion verbs make this novel look like a fast forwarded unfolding sequence of essential images. As explained, Erostrat was a Greek hero who burned down the temple of Efes just to become famous. Therefore, Paul Hilbert wants to be the modern version of the Greek arsonist.

“Intimacy” tells the story of the different phases that a married woman has to pass through in order to live the life that she wants to. Not being in love anymore with her current husband, she decides to leave with lover to Nice. However, a series of decisions lead her not to dump the man who shares her bed, not out love, but rather out of pity, because she is aware that without her presence he would be lost. The storytelling is interesting; the novel is structured in four parts, each having either Lulu or Rirette as the person from which the story is filtered.

The last one, “The childhood of a leader” tells the disturbing story of how a young boy named Lucien is pursuing his father’s dream to become the leader of his factory when he’ll be old enough. The novel sees Lucien as a child, a teenager and finally an adult, but the road isn’t easy: he has to suffer mentally in order to become a leader. Thus we can observe his psychological progress throughout the story, with its ups and downs.

All in all, the collection of five novels gathered under the same roof reflects the meaning of the book’s title: in each one a character must overcome a wall in order to succeed.