Free Will

Free Will and Determinism (2)- Puncture

                Sartre, in the excerpt from Existentialism is Humanism, explains how “man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself” (Sartre).  In this, he discusses how, since he believes God does not exist, man has no true human nature to follow.  Therefore, man chooses what path to follow and becomes that.  In this sense, man has total freedom over his life.  Though, he also talks about how some choose to live to deceive themselves (calling them self-deceivers). 

                Puncture follows two lawyers, one addicted to drugs and the other with a wife who is pregnant. Both men carried out actions that define who they became.  The one settled down quietly and is the process of starting a family, while the other used drugs as a comfort up to the point that he was clearly addicted.  Every action each man made was to maintain the man that they defined themselves as.  Paul, the family man, worked hard and made whatever choices he thought necessary to protect and finance his family.  He even goes as far as taking Mike, the drug addict, off their major case to avoid years in court and loss of any more finances.  Mike is fueled by his drug addiction and lives his life recklessly to some degree.  In this sense, even though each man chooses who he would become, they are stuck to the routines that they have allowed for themselves.

                They both still have total free will over themselves, but they continue to act in accordance of who they defined themselves to be.  It is not until the latter part of the movie that they start acting against their norms and show their freewill.  Mike, out of desperation, tries to get out of his drug addiction by quitting everything all at once.  So, he is finally acting in a manner contrary to the routine he set up for himself so that he can continue the case he believes in.  However, when he gave up his drugs, he went into a heavy relapse and found that he could not perform without them.  So, ultimately, he fell back into using until he overdosed.  Sartre would probably have said that Mike was living in self-deception.  He took actions that led him to addiction, and he thought that that was the only way he could properly function.  He fashioned himself into an addict, then could not escape the cycle of addiction.  So, though he had the free will to become what he became, he started losing his free will as he become dependent on his drugs.