All Men Are Mortal

Main Ideas

• The infinity of life turns out to be not a blessing but a heavy burden for the protagonist, depriving him of joy and meaning, for only finitude gives true value to human actions.
• Eternal life becomes a metaphor for alienation: the immortal Raimon finds himself isolated from the world, unable to truly love or suffer, as everything loses its weight and significance for him.
• Through the fate of her protagonist, Simone de Beauvoir reflects on the nature of time, the inseparability of human identity from historical context, and how memory and oblivion shape our sense of self.
• The novel raises questions of freedom and responsibility: immortality does not liberate, but rather turns a person into a prisoner of their own existence, depriving them of the ability to choose and change.
• The book resonates with existential anxiety: only the awareness of one’s own mortality can awaken a genuine passion for life, making one’s actions meaningful and filled with purpose.