The encounter with the unbearable : An existentialist textual analysis of the anxiety in Ormen and Barabbas

This essay investigates how anxiety is portrayed and responded to by the characters in the Swedish novels Ormen (2014 [1945]) by Stig Dagerman and Barabbas (2017 [1950]) by Pär Lagerkvist. The aim is to investigate the issue of anxiety in Swedish fiction by examining the questions how anxiety is depicted, how it affects the characters and how they choose to respond to it. The method of the essay is a version of close-reading hermeneutics using concepts about anxiety written by existential theologian Paul Tillich and influenced by Søren Kierkegaard. By focusing on the existential idea that anxiety has a common ground and is unavoidable, this essay analyses how Iréne and the militaries in Ormen and protagonist Barabbas reacts and responds to the anxiety they are confronted with. In Ormen the snake becomes an extern threat that symbolizes the deepest form of anxiety which manifest for the characters in a lower type of fear. When meeting the snake, characters react in paralyzing fright, nervosity and hopelessness. Likewise, although their responses differ, the characters seem to find it hard to get over the anxiety: protagonist Bill and the most militaries tries to hide the anxiety, Iréne might surrender to it, and Scriver loses his life trying to meet it. In Barabbas the protagonist of the same name struggles with his anxiety of death, which makes him apathetic and inward. His response to anxiety is however not without action: while he seems like a stranger to the world, he still has existential seeking. The result demonstrates how anxiety, while being both a universal and individual experienced phenomenon, often leads to human impotence, making it hard to triumph.