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The Age of Reason
Jean-Paul Sartre Book Review

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Plot Summary of The Age of Reason
"The book follows two days in the life of Mathieu, a philosophy teacher, and his circle of friends as Mathieu tries to raise 4,000 francs to pay for an abortion for his mistress Marcelle. Mathieu's conscience tells him he should do the right thing and marry Marcelle but he doesn't wish to lose his freedom. To complicate matters Mathieu is in love with Ivich, a student who is awaiting her exam results. Mathieu goes around all his friends trying to borrow the 4,000 francs but none of them oblige. Thus we get great descriptions of café and bar life in Paris in 1938 as the second world war looms. It is Mathieu's brother who tries to force him to face up to ‘the age of reason' by declaring that he will give Mathieu 10,000 francs if he marries Marcelle. Brunet a friend tries to give his life direction by trying to persuade him to join the Communist Party. In the end he is forced to steal the money from the mistress of Ivich's brother Boris and his friend Daniel, a homosexual, actually gets married to Marcelle.   Mathieu is left to reflect on his life of failure and declares that he has indeed reached the age of reason. "
John Marcel, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Age of Reason
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book) - nature of existence (heavy philosophy)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Pregnancy/Child rearing Yes
Major part of story: - to abort or not abort

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - teacher
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - French
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - unemployed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - France
City? Yes
City: - dirty, grimy (like New York)

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - male homosexuals doing their thing
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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