Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Didactic
There’s no doubt about it; Sartre is trying to get a point across with No Exit. As we talk about in "Character Analysis," many of Inez’s speeches sound suspiciously like the voice of the author himself. It seems that Sartre is often instructing the reader (or the audience) as to how to correctly interpret life, being, choice, and consciousness through the voice of Inez. The scenarios in No Exit are models for the decisions we face every day in our own lives. Should we own up to our past actions? How do we deal with other people? What does it mean to be objectified? To objectify others? Sartre poses these questions, and No Exit’s didactic tone sets the stage for existential instruction.