Basically, the analogy here alludes to Sartre’s section on the Other and the Look. Here’s an example that he raised himself:
Out of curiosity, I peeked into my friend’s room through the keyhole to see what s/he is doing. However, after quite a while of peeking, I kept feeling an inkling that someone is watching my act of peeking. It is a feeling of discomfort, on the unconscious realisation that someone may be judging me negatively based on the clandestine action that I made. Sartre calls this ever-present state of being watched the Look.
This feeling does not only surface itself only when someone does something worth of guilt. It is ever-present, even in crowds, open spaces, and in your own house. Only when one is totally convinced that no one is present will this discomfort fade away.
Once this discomfort fades away, one behaves as s/he wills. There is this transient sensation of being in complete control over your own actions. For instance, by locking yourself in your own room, you can even strip yourself ***** and dance wildly without ever feeling regulated.
Now, back to the quote. Throughout his works, Sartre greatly emphasises the primacy of radical freedom and condemns the repressive forces of the social realm. In other words, Sartre champions an authentic return to the self - being uninhibited by the Look and the Other. In lieu of this consideration, the reverse would be the extreme vice for him, namely, bad faith. The Look is the primary cause of someone’s falling into bad faith. Hence, he describes this domination of others on the self in the social world as “Hell” - the place where the vice is practised against the will of the people incessantly and intensely.
Putting it in laymen terms, we are all afraid of being judged negatively by others, and hence we are never in total control of ourselves as long as someone else is present. Even if no one else is present, we will still have a lingering feeling of the presence of other people unless we are sure of being physically isolated from others. We can never escape being influenced by what we think of others’ thinking of ourselves in the social world.
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