Inseparable

by Simone de Beauvoir

She is suffocating, she so yearns to escape the constant presence of other people—which conjures up similar types of self-mortification in certain religious orders—that she goes as far as cutting her foot with an ax to escape a particularly odious social obligation. In this milieu, it is necessary to not stand out, not exist for oneself but to exist for others: “Mama never does something for herself, she spends her life devoted to other people,” she said one day of her mother. Under the continual imposition of these constricting traditions, any spirited individualism is crushed from the start. There is no worse outrage to Simone, which is what the novel wishes to bring to light: here is a scandal that could be called philosophical, as it deals with the human condition. The affirmation of the absolute value of subjectivity lies at the heart of her beliefs and her work, not the subjectivity of the individual, one person out of a cross-section of many but of unique individuality, which makes each of us “the most irreplaceable of beings,” to quote Gide, the existence of our consciousness, hic et nunc. “Love the thing you will never see twice.” An unshakable, primal conviction, and one that philosophical reflection will support: the Absolute is played out in this world, on this earth, during our sole, unique existence. It is thus understandable that Zaza was risking everything.